How To Maintain Hardwood Flooring Like A Pro

Maintaining Hardwood Floors like a True Professional

Keeping your expensive hardwood floors is extremely important. You must ensure that the floors are polished, clean and looking absolutely fresh. According to experts, the process of maintaining clean hardwood floors in an art. You must engage in smart cleaning techniques that will ensure that the floor looks cleaner and brand new all the time.

Unlike many other areas in your home, the hardwood floors are known to have a frequent flow of traffic. You are bound to experience mishaps and inevitable spills. The very first step in maintaining your hardwood floors begins with tiny preventive measures. These preventive measures will help you safeguard the expensive floor, and also reduce the overall need to clean the hardwood floors.

The most effective step in preventing any damage to your hardwood floors is by placing floor mats inside and outside the doors. This will reduce the amount of tracked dirt in your property. Whenever it snows or rains, have a boot removal space in your home. This way, you can reduce the chances of dirty boots from damaging the floor. And, when there are no dirty boots in the home, the chances of ice and water seeping in the hardwood floor reduces. A lot of people underestimate the importance of mats and shoe areas. These can save your expensive hardwood floors.

A conventional Cleaning routine for hardwood floors

It is important for you to dust and broom the floors at least once every day. Mopping and dusting will do wonders to the look and feel of the hardwood floor. Of course, when there is too much traffic into your home, the floors must be dusted and mopped more often. To quickly clean the hardwood floor, you should have a mop that is capable of picking up dirt, dust and pet hair instantly. The chosen mop should not cause any damage to the floor surface. In simpler terms, it must not scratch the hardwood floor. The best mop for hardwood floors would be a one with micro fiber heads. The micro fiber is capable of picking stubborn dust and dirt without any hassles or tussles. Also, you can use the micro fiber dusters to get rid of trapped grime and dust.

Fun Fact: Every micro fiber mop comes with a manufacturer’s recommendation. These booklets will help you dust and mop the hardwood floor efficiently.

On a bi-weekly or weekly basis, you must vacuum the hardwood floors. Make use of the floor brush attachment in the vacuum clean to perform this job. Never use the beater bar attachment of the vacuum clean for vacuuming hardwood floors. The beater bar attachment is capable of scratching the wooden surface. And, frequent scratches will destroy the look and premium nature of your wooden floor.

If you need to remove a dust or stain immediately, you must make use of disposable electrostatic sponges or clothes.

How to Mop the Hardwood Floors like a Professional?

First things first, you must become an expert in mopping hardwood floors. This will take several practice sessions, and a little bit of knowledge on how it has to be done. Routine cleaning is required to get rid of grime, dust and oil that gets accumulated with time. And, anything that is not removed during your daily/weekly dusting sessions will be removed with routine clean ups.

When you want to perform a routine cleanup, you must use wooden floor mops and cleaning products for hardwood floors. The cleaning product should be as dilute as possible. This is why you must pick a product that is meant for hardwood floors. Read the label instruction on the cleaning agent before using it.

To begin with, the rag mop or sponge should be saturated in water and then touched with the cleaning agent. The mop should be wired dry. Yet, when you touch the mop, it must feel damp. Now, use the damp mop on the floor. Be very careful about standing water. There should be no standing water on the hardwood floor. This is because water can seep into the wooden floor and destroy its qualities. If you are planning to mop the floor during wet climates, you must turn the air-conditioner or fan on. This way you can speed up drying and avoid water from standing on the hardwood surface.

Choosing the Right Floor Cleaner

There are so many different types of floor cleaners in the industry. Floor manufacturers tend to have their favorites too! If your hardwood is old, and if you are unable to approach a renowned manufacturer – you must carefully choose a product that is formulated for hardwood floors. Never use tile floor or vinyl cleaners for hardwood floors. This is because any cleaner other than those meant for hardwood floors will damage the surface.

Cleaning Hardwood Floors Naturally

Moving on, you can make use of natural ingredients in your kitchen to clean the hardwood surface. Common ingredients for cleaning wooden floors are water and vinegar. Mastering the technique of cleaning wooden floors with vinegar will save you lots of money. Above all, vinegar is much safer than third party chemicals. To clean any surface with vinegar, you must dilute a cup of white vinegar with a gallon of warm water. Then, use an appropriate mop to clean the surface with this solution. Vinegar is a powerful antibacterial agent, and it will ensure that your entire home is sparking clean.

Fun Fact: White vinegar is capable of making the hardwood surface dull. This means, you must test the solution on a small piece of wood before using it to clean the entire floor.

Removing Stubborn Stains from hardwood Floors

Another important factor to be mastered if you own hardwood floors is how to remove stubborn spills and stains from the surface. Removing stains can be an annoying and frequent process. The chances of your hardwood floors getting stained is high when you have kids and pets.

Stains can penetrate deep into the hardwood surface. This is common when the surface has a soft finish. And, if the stain is left on the surface, it could be due to the hard finish. Either ways, you must use a clean cloth to wipe the surface. Never make use of steel wool or sandpaper when you want to wipe stains away. As mentioned previously, these products can damage the wooden surface permanently.

• To get rid of pet stains and dark spots, you should rub the surface with floor wax and steel wool. If the surface is extremely dark, use vinegar or bleach.
• To remove oil stains, you need dish detergent and a piece of soft cloth.
• To remove white stains, use floor wax and mineral spirits.

Conclusion

On the whole, hardwood floors are a great investment for any home. It is important for you to protect and take care of the surface periodically. When compared to other types of flooring, hardwood can be expensive and more demanding. After all, the premium look and exquisite nature of hardwood doesn’t come for free. And, if the surface is maintained properly, it will last for decades. This is one of the major reasons why our ancestors have always invested their time and effort on hardwood flooring.