How To Care For Hardwood Flooring

Hardwood floors are a beautiful addition to any home, but they take lots of care. You want them to look as good as they did when they were first installed. This is easily done if you just follow some simple instructions.

There are many rules for cleaning floors and many cleaners that can help you. If you have hardwood flooring, it can be more difficult to clean the right way. It is tough to keep them shiny and looking new.

This article will help you to learn some of the easier ways to care for your hardwood floors. It will give you ways to clean without destroying them. You can also do some research and find ways to keep them clean.

Ways to Clean the Hardwood Floors

There are many items that you need to have on hand to clean the floors in your home. Some of these supplies are listed below. These items will come in handy for you and your cleaning.

1. Mop with Microfiber Head
2. Vacuum with Hardwood Floor Attachment
3. Disposable Electrostatic Cloth
4. Sponge
5. Rag Mop
6. Fan or Air Conditioning
7. Soft Cloth
8. Dusting Agent
9. Water
10. Hardwood Floor Cleaning Product
11. Vinegar
12. Lukewarm Water
13. No. 000 Steel Wool
14. Bleach
15. Floor Wax
16. Dish Detergent
17. Fine Sandpaper
18. Mineral Spirits

Instructions

1. If the floors in your house just need a quick cleaning, you might do so with a dry dust mop. You could use a dusting agent although there are some mops that do not require this. A good microfiber dust mop can clean up all the pet hair, dirt, and dust.

• You can also vacuum your floors with a good vacuum and a hardwood floor attachment. You do not want to use a beater bar because this can scratch your beautiful hardwood: https://architypes.net/flooring/hardwood/vacuuming/.  You want to use the soft floor brush that can remove the debris from the surface.

• You will then want to use a wet mop to clean the surfaces more thoroughly. This will help remove the more stubborn debris. A rag mop works better for this, but you might also use a sponge mop.

You want to use a damp mop and not one that is completely wet. The wetter the mop, the harder it will be for them to dry. You can use a floor cleaner at this point if you need to.

• You will want to make sure that you wipe up all the extra liquid on the floor. Standing water can ruin your floor and you do not want that to happen. Look here to see other ways that you could clean standing water on your hardwood floors. You might also need to rinse the cleaning agent that you used, making sure that the floor is dry when you are done.

• You can use a fan or air conditioner in your home to help you to dry the surface if the weather is particularly humid. This will help the floors dry completely so that you do not have to worry about standing water. You can also use a microfiber cloth to dry the surface before you use the fan or air conditioning.

• If you want to clean the flooring in your home with a natural product, you can always use vinegar and water. You will use a half cup of vinegar for a gallon of lukewarm water for the right mixture. You must be careful about using vinegar because it can discolor your flooring. Test it first in an inconspicuous spot to make sure there will be no damage. Once you have found that it does not harm your floors, you can do the rest of them.

• There are times that you need to do more deep cleaning, such as pet stains, heel marks, and dark spots. You will take care of these spots and stains with a No. 000 steel wool piece. If there is still a spot left after carefully scrubbing it, you can put vinegar there and let it soak for about an hour.

• To remove oil-based stains you can rub the spot with a soft cloth and some dish detergent. This will help to break down the grease in the oil so that it is easier to clean. Rinse with clean water and make sure that you dry the spot well.

• If you leave any raised areas after using dish detergent and the cloth, you want to remove this with fine-grained sandpaper. Be careful doing this so that you do not ruin your flooring. You should just sand until the raised areas disappear and then stop.

1. You might need to clean up white marks or watermarks that have appeared on your hardwood floors in your home. To clear these up, you can use the No. 000 steel wool and a little floor wax. You could scrub with the steel wool and then add a little floor wax to it.

There are many different products that you might want to use to clean the hardwood surfaces in your home. You can talk to the manufacturer of the floors, and they can give you a list of the best products. They usually have a list of natural products that you can use, as well as some commercial products.

One question that many people have is how often to clean the floors in their home. The answer is to give a daily once-over and then do some deep cleaning as necessary. For the daily cleaning, you should just have to use the dust mop and use the other products to do the deeper cleaning.

Conclusion

There are many ways to clean the hardwood floors in your home, and they can help in different ways. For simple cleaning, you just need to use the dust mop and you will clean them very well. If you have stains of some kind, you can use more abrasive cleaners. Whatever you choose to use, be careful and try not to do any more damage to the floors.

Read Also:

• What Makes Engineered Hardwood Floors So Appealing?
• What You Should Consider Before Hiring a Flooring Service
• A Guide on the Right Type of Flooring for Every Room