10 Tips To Cleaning Hardwood Floors
Filed Under Home Decoration Pictures, Decoration Design | Posted on December 20, 2007
Many people choose hardwood flooring because it is easy to maintain and keep looking. Yes, they have a tough chunky look that spells quality and long life. And they will last long and look magnificent throughout if you take the effort to look after them. Its not difficult, and the right kind of care will add years to your beautiful hardwood floor.
Here are 10 tips tell you how to clean hardwood floors.
1. Use a hardwood cleaner once a week to keep your floor looking its best. Hardwood floor cleaners are available at any home improvement center or at a flooring center. They are quite easy to use, and with a little preventative maintenance, you will thank yourself in the future. Simply spray the cleaner on and use a cloth or hardwood broom to buff the floor gently.
2. The worst enemies of your hardwood floor are grit, sand and dirt. These three act like sandpaper grinding, scraping and dulling the shiny surface until it becomes ugly. Use small mats near outside doors to prevent the dirt getting further into your house.
3. The most important cleaning tip for hardwood is preventative maintenance. By cleaning your floors regularly and sweeping or vacuuming dirt and debris, you will save yourself a lot of time and expense in the long run.
4. Water allowed to stand on any part of your hardwood floor can cause warping and discoloration. Be sure to wipe up any spills promptly.
5. Wipe up any spills as soon as they occur. Although you will not have an instant stain when you spill on hardwood floor as you do with carpet, you may expose your hardwood to staining if you do not wipe up spills in a timely fashion. Once stains have a chance to set into the hardwood you may have to refinish the floor in order to get the stain out.
6. Clean your hardwood floor by using a good broom, a canister vacuum with a special bare floor attachment, or a good dust mop.
7. Re-arranging the furniture is fine, but lift it rather than drag it. This will avoid scratches.
8. Pets are among your hardwood floors biggest enemies. They have claws and nails that scratch surfaces. Keep your pets nails well trimmed. Also, keep pet food containers off the floor surface. Pets always spill food around the containers, which will damage the floor over time. Use newspaper or something more durable to protect the floor.
9. If your floor does get a bad scratch in it, get a scratch filler kit of the right color at your local hardware store. Sand and smooth the affected area first, then mix the solution to get the exact right color. When it has dried, lightly smooth with a low grit sandpaper, then polish.
10. The sun can be strong and have much more power than you may think in mid summer. Direct sunlight can discolor a hardwood floor. Protect it with drapes, curtains or blinds.
Hardwood floors cleaning tips
The first thing you will need to do before cleaning is to figure out what kind of floor you have. If you are lucky to have a new sealed floor, it is probably a surface sealed floor which requires relatively little care. If your floor is older, it is probably a penetrating seal treated floor. This type of floor needs more involved care with waxes and oils.
For cleaning hardwood floors, in the case of a surface sealed floor, you merely need to mop using a product recommended by your flooring manufacturer. Products like Oil Soap solution (which don’t generally contain oil) are usually safe. A damp mop and a little soap are often also safe for this type of floor. Make sure to dry the floor completely when you’re done, since sitting water can damage a surface sealed floor.
If you have a penetrating seal treated floor, you will not be able to mop with water-based products. Instead, for routine cleanings, you can simply sweep or vacuum your floor. Every once in a while, for a deeper cleaning, you will need to strip the old wax coating and apply a new one. You can do this once or twice a year, if you like.
Use a stripper, and follow the manufacturer’s directions. Allow the hardwood floor to dry and try to ensure proper ventilation. Then purchase a product for waxing your floor that is approved by your floor manufacturer. Follow directions and apply one or two coats, or as many as desired.
The final - and most important - step is applying a hardwood floor buffer. This process is necessary to allow the wax to properly sink in and seal the floor, as well as to achieve a beautiful shine. Most people opt to rent or purchase a hardwood floor buffer machine, since it makes the job much easier. You may be interested in knowing that by purchasing the hardwood floor buffer machine, it will pay for itself after just three to four cleanings!
Random Posts
2 Responses to “10 Tips To Cleaning Hardwood Floors”
Leave a Reply
[...] 10 Tips To Cleaning Hardwood Floors [...]
Great article. I work in the hardwood floor industry and I hate seeing floors that people have not looked after properly.