How To Keep Hardwood Floors Dust Free
Solved! This Is the Best Manner to Clean Hardwood Floors
Go hardworking hardwood spic-and-span with these condom solutions for dusting, deep cleaning, and stain removal.
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Q: I take never given much thought to cleaning my scarlet wood floor, but I'k starting to notice how dirty information technology has become. What's the best way to clean hardwood floors? I'd love recommendations for wood floor cleaning techniques, and a good hardwood flooring cleaner.
A: It's truthful, regular cleaning is a must to maintain hardwood floors. Because unlike floor finishes have unique care requirements, the best way to clean hardwood floors will depend on the type of finish rather than the woods species (e.thou., blood-red, maple, or oak). If yous utilise the incorrect method or cleaner, you could impairment the wood.
Read on to learn how to place your floor's stop and select supplies for dusting, deep cleaning, and removing stains. Using these recommended techniques for the best style to clean hardwood floors will go along yours looking great for years to come.
Outset, effigy out what kind of finish your flooring has.
In that location are two chief types of hardwood floor finishes: surface finishes and penetrating finishes.
- Surface finishes such as urethane and polyurethane form a protective, waterproof bulwark on the surface of the flooring. When liquids come into contact with surface finishes, they pool rather than penetrate the forest. It'south safe to utilize water and water-based cleaning products on surface finishes.
- Penetrating finishes such equally linseed or tung oil soak through the surface of hardwood floors and then are usually topped with a wax coat for added sheen. These finishes hands absorb h2o, and water tin warp wood floors. Utilise but solvent-based cleaning products instead of water-based ones on floors with penetrating finishes.
The easiest way to check if a flooring has a surface terminate is to take a precipitous knife blade to a small, subconscious area of the floor and scrape off a tiny amount of stop. If the scraped cloth is articulate, your flooring probably has a surface finish. If scraping the floor finish smudges it, but no clear material comes away, the floor probable has a penetrating terminate.
RELATED: New Floors? 5 Top Hardwood Options to Know
Bust dust by mopping, sweeping, or vacuuming regularly.
Dry out mopping, sweeping, and/or vacuuming on a weekly ground are the best ways to rid hardwood floors of calorie-free dust, dirt, and pet hair accumulation. This routine works on floors with either surface or penetrating finishes.
The best mop for wood floors is usually one with a large, flat caput affixed with a microfiber fabric pad, such every bit the Swiffer Sweeper. These mops have pads with tiny synthetic fibers that attain into the grooves of forest floors to choice up and hold dust without scratching the wood.
To continue costs downward and lower your environmental impact, choose pads that can be removed, auto done, and reused. Uniform on a variety of hardwood floor mop brands, a pair of reusable pads like the Sometime Dwelling Kitchen Mop Pads costs less than $xv.
If you lot prefer to sweep rather than mop, opt for a broom with synthetic fiber ends to aid trap nerveless grit in the broom head and preclude it from resettling on the floor.
If your preferred mode of grit busting is vacuuming, use a flooring-brush attachment and avoid the beater bar—its rotating brush can dent wood floors. Move your cleaning tool from one side of the floor to the other, paying extra attention to areas where adjacent floor boards meet. These nooks are hiding spots for trapped dust.
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Scrape off food stains.
Remove caked-on food by carefully inserting the tip of a plastic knife nether the lower border of the droppings and then gently sliding the knife up. Rub the scraped spot with a make clean textile slightly dampened with a few drops of water, then make a 2d pass with a dry cloth to dab up the water.
If using this technique on a flooring with a penetrating end and a minor section of the wax coat gets stripped by the knife, reapply a dollop of the hardwood flooring wax to the area with a soft textile, buffing information technology in to return the area shiny and spotless.
Fight oil stains with TSP.
Oil and grease stains on floors with surface or penetrating finishes easily suspension downward when exposed to trisodium phosphate (TSP). Don protective gloves and safety glasses, and dilute ii tablespoons of TSP in i gallon of warm h2o in a large saucepan. Dip the tip of a clean textile into the solution, so employ gentle circular motions to work it into the stain. In one case the TSP dissolves it, run a h2o-dampened cloth over the area to sop up the TSP, then quickly dry out the area with a clean cloth.
Ice out wax and glue.
Dried candle wax, crayon marks, and chewing mucilage on floors with surface or penetrating finishes can easily be removed with ice. Fill a Ziploc freezer bag with a few ice cubes, identify the chilled bag over the buildup until it becomes breakable, then scrape information technology off with the edge of a plastic spatula.
If the spatula removes the protective wax from a floor with a penetrating finish, utilize a soft cloth to reapply a solvent-based hardwood flooring wax to the scraped area, then buff information technology into the repaired area with the material.
Scrub water, ink, and pet stains well.
Spots left past water, ink, or pet urine are some of the most stubborn stains. For floors with penetrating finishes, it's best to tackle these stains with the following steps using only an appropriate hardwood flooring cleaner and a scouring pad designed for a penetrating-finished floor.
- Remove the spots from floors with penetrating finishes by lightly sanding the stain with extra-fine sandpaper.
- Gently scrub with a coarser "00" course steel wool wet with mineral spirits.
- Wipe away the mineral spirits with a damp cloth, then utilise a dry cloth to remove the water.
- With a soft cloth, employ a solvent-based hardwood flooring wax to the scrubbed area and buff information technology in to restore its shine.
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Deep clean the floor with a quality hardwood floor cleaner.
The type of wood floor cleaner that'll work all-time for your floors depends on the floor'south stop.
If a surface-finished hardwood floor however looks dingy or deadening subsequently dusting, deep make clean information technology with any pH-neutral, wax-complimentary, and petroleum-free cleaner, such equally Bona PowerPlus Hardwood Flooring Deep Cleaner, or a homemade solution comprising ¼ cup of dish soap and 1 gallon of warm water.
The all-time fashion to mop wood floors with a surface stop starts with saturating a sponge mop with the cleaner, wringing out the excess liquid until the mophead is clammy but not dripping, and so mopping 3-pes sections of the floor at a time using circular motions to draw out dirt and crud. Then, rinse the mop in clean water, wring out the backlog, and damp mop the flooring again to soak upward lingering cleaner. Apply a soft, clean fabric like the AIDEA Microfiber Cleaning Cloths to dry the flooring.
If your floor has a penetrating terminate, the best way to deep make clean it is to strip away the grimy old wax coat and reapply a fresh wax coat. Rub a clean cloth saturated in mineral spirits over 2-foot sections of the flooring at a fourth dimension, letting the mineral spirits dwell for 5 minutes on each section earlier wiping abroad with a fresh cloth dampened slightly with h2o. And then, dry thoroughly with a fresh, dry out material.
Finally, apply a solvent-based hardwood flooring wax, such equally Trewax Paste Wax, with a soft material. Employ the amount the manufacturer recommends. And then use the cloth or an electric polisher (buy ane or hire one at a hardware shop) to vitrify the wax in circular motions, polishing in 2-human foot sections at a time.
Perform the appropriate deep-cleaning routine on a biannual basis, whether you run across grimy buildup or not. It can be hard to notice gradual changes on a flooring you walk on every day, but later on it'due south clean yous may be impressed past the difference.
RELATED: The Best Hardwood Floor Cleaner Machines of 2022
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Final Thoughts
When looking for the best way to clean hardwood floors, first determine the type of stop on the floors. The type of finish determines the kinds of cleaners and methods that will safely help clean the floor. While a good deep cleaning can help restore the look of forest, information technology's commonly just necessary a few times each year. In betwixt, regularly mopping, sweeping, and vacuuming can help maintain the finish and keep floors looking their best.
FAQs About Cleaning Hardwood Floors
Whether there is natural wood floor or engineered wood floor underneath your feet, there are leap to exist questions nigh what's rubber and effective for cleaning wood floors. Keep reading for answers to some of the most popular questions about how to clean wood floors.
Q. Tin can I apply vinegar on hardwood floors?
Using a hardwood flooring cleaner made with white vinegar can assistance with cleaning heavily soiled hardwood floors. It's important to dilute the white vinegar, using ½ cup of white vinegar for every gallon of water, as information technology tin be too harsh and dissentious on its own.
Q. How practice yous deep clean old hardwood floors?
Deep cleaning erstwhile hardwood floors is very similar to cleaning newer floors. Choose a method and cleaner that'due south made to clean wood floors with the same type of finish. Even so, information technology's important to test a small-scale area and become slowly, as the wood may need some small repairs or accept damage that'due south merely visible up close.
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Q. Is Dr. Bronner's safe on forest?
Dr. Bronner's is a pure castile soap that is prophylactic on wood if it'south diluted. To make your own bootleg wood floor cleaner, add simply a few drops to a spray bottle filled with water.
Q. How do you become ground-in dirt out of hardwood floors?
Microfiber padded mops are keen for surface dirt, only ground-in dirt may require the utilize of a plastic knife to scrape out dirt, a vacuum zipper to pull it out, or light sanding if it's truly trapped in the wood.
Q. Why are my forest floors still dirty after mopping?
There are a lot of reasons wood floors seem dirty after mopping. Brand sure to rinse the mophead thoroughly and oft, as a dirty mop can't concenter new dirt it encounters on the floor. Also, swapping out mopheads can help when dealing with very dirty floors. To find out if the floor is clean, wipe a white material over newly mopped areas to come across if the flooring is still dingy.
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Source: https://www.bobvila.com/articles/best-way-to-clean-hardwood-floors/
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