How to Clean Hardwood Floors

How to Clean Hardwood Floors?  I’ve researched this topic forever I’ve tried different techniques I know different products I know different mops I know the floors, everyone has different hardwood floors different manufacturer width size color coding it could be laminate which isn’t really hard one anyway it could be engineered hardwood it could also be unfinished hardwood it could be reclaimed hardwood there are so many different kinds of hardwood floors there’s no one right solution so take what I’m saying as some good general advice and then make sure that you always check in with the manufacturer or the installer just so that you’re protecting yourself and you know covering all your bases hardwood floors are finished in a couple of different ways and my recommendation is to test them very quickly before you actually go ahead with cleaning so that you know exactly what kind of finish you have on your floor.

Polyurethane coat on it the second kind of finish that you’ll see on hardwood floor obviously don’t have it with me would be a hardwood finish kind of like this table here where the wood has been impregnated with a waxy or oily coating and that way it repels any water or liquid the third kind of hardwood floor that you’ll see be unfinished hardwood and this hardwood you can’t put any water on so the best way to test your floor to see what kind of finish you have or if you have to finish it all is to drop just a little bit of water onto the hardwood and see if it beads if it beads you’ve got a coating if the water is absorbed you’ve got unfinished hardwood here are the tools you’ll need to mop and care for your hardwood floor item number one vinegar item number two dishwashing liquid item number three a ring or bucket item number four a micro fiber twist mop item number five a microfiber cloth and finally item number six rubbing alcohol.

A great way to clean hardwood floors and the tried-and-true method that I always use is the following take your dishwashing liquid and put half your pinky nail worth of dishwashing soap into the bucket I like using dishwashing liquid on hardwood floors because it’s a neutral cleaner it’s not harsh it removes dirt well but it doesn’t leave anything nasty behind now everybody freaks out about putting vinegar on their hardwood floor vinegar is a mild disinfectant so oil from your feet bacteria dirt whatever gets on the floor capful of vinegar is enough to get rid of whatever has gone on there secondly vinegar cuts grease and third it doesn’t leave streaks behind I say only as a capful because if you use any more than that you can actually take the finish off which would be completely counterintuitive cap full of vinegar half a pinky nail worth of dish soap and fill your bucket with hot water.

We’re almost ready to go now that I’ve got water in my bucket I’ll soak the mop head for a few minutes first of all you want them up to absorb the water in the product and second of all your mop can sometimes get a little bit stiff so you need to soften it up before you actually start mopping steamie take your mop put it in the cone wringer and start to wring it out and don’t give it a Wimpy reign I’ll notice how my feet are at either side of the bucket which helps me get really good leverage remember the mop has to be almost dry before you can even touch the hardwood floor now we’ll use what I call the S pattern to do some mopping starting at one corner moving your way over to the other corner and then coming right back down to create an S pattern.

What this does is ensures that we’re getting all areas of the floor clean top to bottom left to right and you want to keep your bucket behind you so that way you never have to go back and reach for it if I crouch down and look at the floor I can see it’s almost dry as it is but to be extra diligent I can take a microfiber cloth and just give a quick wipe down to make sure that absolutely no water is left on the floor so keep in mind that we’re sweeping and vacuuming a couple times a week if you can bear it and you should be mopping the floor at least once every two weeks when they are mirror shiny it makes all the difference and people really notice so it is worth the extra effort.

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