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Love your gleaming hardwood floors but tiptoe around how to clean them? You’re definitely not alone. From today’s post, you’ll learn how to properly clean and maintain your hardwood floors and make them sparkle like new.
Things to Consider Before You Get Down to Cleaning
Everyone has different hardwood floors in terms of width, size, color, coding, and manufacturer. It could be laminate, engineered hardwood, unfinished hardwood, reclaimed hardwood, or any other kind of hardwood floor, which you should consider when choosing your cleaning tools and floor maintenance products. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, of course. So, if you’re not sure the methods suggested below can actually suit you or have some uncommon flooring that might require special maintenance, you might be better off hiring professional cleaners from companies like eMop. But if you’re not new to floor cleaning and just looking for some great pieces of advice that will help keep your floors clean longer, feel free to follow our recommendations.
Do Some Testing
Our first recommendation is to test your floors quickly before you actually go ahead with cleaning them. This way, you’ll know for sure what kind of finish you have and what cleaning techniques will benefit it most.
The first common type of finish you can see in many homes is polyurethane, which is famed for its natural look and high durability. The second kind of finish would be a hardwood finish, where the wood has been impregnated with a waxy or oily coating, which quickly repels water or any other liquid. The third kind of hardwood floor that might come your way is unfinished hardwood, which can’t put any water on.
The best way to test your floor is to drop a little water onto your hardwood floor and see what happens. If the water beads, you’ve got a coating. If the water is absorbed, chances are you have unfinished hardwood.
Tools You Might Need
Now that you know what kind of finish, or the absence thereof, you’re dealing with, you can think about the tools that can help you mop and care for your hardwood floor.
- Vinegar
- Dishwashing Liquid
- Wringer Bucket
- Microfiber twist mop
- Microfiber cloth
Preparing Cleaning Solution
Take your dishwashing liquid and put half your pinky nail worth of it into the wringer bucket. The reason why you want to opt exactly for dishwashing liquid is because it’s not harsh you’re your flooring due to its ph-neutral properties. Moreover, it fights dirt without leaving any nasty streaks behind.
Lots of people are wary about cleaning with vinegar. But in fact, it acts as a mild disinfectant that can deal with foot oil, bacteria, dirt, and whatever gets on your floor. So, a capful of distilled white vinegar would be ideal for effective cleaning. That said, make sure not to go overboard using vinegar because this might ruin your finish or make it less glossy.
Now that you’ve added some dishwashing liquid and vinegar, fill your bucket with one gallon of warm water. Now you’re all set to go!
Start Mopping
You want to soak your mop in the prepared solution for a few minutes. After that, take your mop and put it in the cone wringer. Take care to wring it out properly. For the best possible effect, you want to put your feet at either side of the bucket, which ensures good leverage. Remember: the mop has to be almost dry before you can even touch the hardwood floor.
There are lots of techniques that can help you clean your floor like a pro. But one of the most effective ones is the so-called S-pattern. Starting at one corner, move your way over to the other corner and then come right back down to create an S-pattern. What this technique does is helps cover all areas top to bottom and left to right.
- Useful tip! You want to keep your bucket behind you when you’re working. That way, you’ll never need to go back and reach for it.
Evaluate the Result
Crouch down and scrutinize your floor once finished. Make sure it’s almost dry and no wet streaks are visible on it. If you want to be extra diligent, give your floor a quick wipe down. By doing so, you’ll ensure absolutely no water is left on the floor.
Keep in mind that doing the sweeping and vacuuming a couple times a week and mopping your floor at least once a week will help keep your home tidy and clean. And when your floors are mirror-shiny, it makes all the difference, and people really notice. So, it’s worth the extra effort!
David Prior
David Prior is the editor of Today News, responsible for the overall editorial strategy. He is an NCTJ-qualified journalist with over 20 years’ experience, and is also editor of the award-winning hyperlocal news title Altrincham Today. His LinkedIn profile is here.
