Cleaning Hard Wood Floors

Shark steamer, works great, and you don't have to buy any products, works with just water that creates steam.

My mother in law has hardwood floors throughout her house. She uses a dust mop everyday, around her area rugs. Then she just recently bought a Bissell steam cleaner. She usually uses that about 1-2 times a week. Cleans up easily, fast, and no chemicals. Best option I can offer.

I would use orange clean (that Billy Mays stuff from tv) It works wonders (or so my mom says). I also bought a Shark that uses distilled water to clean my hard tile floors. It cut back on the cost of cleaning supplies (A gallon of distilled water cost me around a buck or two every month)

Shaklee's Basic H2 works great on, well, everything, including hardwood floors. It's green, super-concentrated so it goes a long way and doesn't leave a greasy residue. It gets out just about anything from anything - oil, dirt, grass, ink, blood, grease, you name it!

I can send you a free sample if you'd like to try it before you buy it. I became a distributor because of my love for their products :)

-C.
http://shaklee.net/carriebarta

I also have hard wood floors. I just use vinegar and water. Its the only thing that I noticed didn't make them too slippery and no build up. I also bought a shark stream vac. But you could just use mirco fiber cloths to dust with. Hope that helps.

I would use one of the steam cleaners for floors. They kind of look like large Swiffers, but you add water, plug it in, and it cleans with steam. I have one by Haan, but I know others make them too. They are about $100, but you don't need to use chemicals and they work pretty well. I am able to keep my light wood floors clean with 2 dogs, and a 2 y/o boy constantly running in and out.

Hi L.,
We have hardwood throughout our house and per the builder's
recommendation, we use Bruce's hardwood floor cleaner.
It does not have the waxy residue and is safe on all hardwood. It gives a great shine. You can find Bruce Hardwood Cleaner at any Hardware store. They also make a cloth mop as well. I do not recommend using
Orange Mop and Glow--EVER as the residue stays on making the hardwood look dirty and filmy and is very hard to undo!
Good luck and congratulations on your new home!

L., I used to own a carpet & flooring cleaning company, so I've done A TON of hardwood floors. I'm not sure from your post what condition the wood is in, so here's my best advice: NEVER use a ton of water! If it's not properly sealed, it gets down in the cracks & warps the boards. I've seen some really dirty, unsealed floors. Get a scrub brush, a bucket of warm water with dishsoap, dunk the brush & shake it off then scrub the floor. Have a towel to wipe it up. If they're sealed, sweep or Swiffer it. When you have the $$, sand them down, stain them if necessary to even out the color, then seal with polyurethane. You can do the work yourself (rent a sander at the Home Depot tool room) and save. The number of layers of polyurethane will depend on the finish you are looking for. Most floors - 3 or 4. I did a gymnasium/dance floor at a VFW, and put 7 coats of poly on it. Good luck!!

I use either Murphy's soap or my Shark steam vac...I love my hard wood floors...I hope this helps!

hi L. if the hardwood floor is wood and now lamenent which i assume it is real wood then the only thing that i have ever had wor for me is liquid gold its in a spray can and you just spray it then mop it with a clean mop
ii have personally tried orange glow and several other things to give our rather dull floors some shine and looking almost brand new.
good luck

Hi L.,
I lived in a home with wood floors growing up and some things my mom used that ruined them were furniture polishes and anything not specifically for wood floors. Because of her experimenting the floors had to be refinsihed much sooner than needed.

In the two homes I have lived with my husband for the last 15 yrs we have had wood. I found Murphy's oil to be a problem with long term use (do NOT use the squirt and mop it ate the finish off our floor). White vinegar and hot water work wonderfully for us. We are rural with very large dogs and a child. The other thing I use periodically is Bona. Cleans great and leaves no residue can be pricey.

I do not allow regular shoe wearing in the house so that type of foot traffic is not a great concern. Our dogs, however are kept mostly indoors and I have never had any problem cleaning up after them with vinegar or Bona. Periodically I will add a drop or two of Castile Soap to the vinegr and rinse. Our floors still look as they did when we built the home!!

I use a sweeper with a hard floor attachment because it is easier for cleaning but also because the sweepers that claim can transition from carpet to hard surface will scratch the floor over time.

I did try the swiffer wet with very very poor results. And I also tried Orange Glo- can't say it was good or bad but for the money I think vinegar worked better. Oh, and Bona has a product you could use to try and freshen your floors until you feel you can afford to refinish them. I have never used but have recently recommended to a friend who just bought a house with floors covered with carpeting and she was very impressed and thankful with the results.

Love your wood floors and don't be overwhelmed by them.
Cyndi

I use a dust mop (dry mop) daily and when needed to get rid of crumbs, etc. and then mop weekly with wet jet for hard wood floors or with a regular mop and Murphy's oil soap floor cleaner. Hardwood floors are easy! Don't be afraid.

Hi L.! Most of my entire downstairs is wood, and I have 4 kids, so it doesn't always gleam and sparkle, but it is usually pretty close. Here's what I do....
I have a microfiber dust mop that I use (almost) EVERYDAY on the dust bunnies and crumbs. I bought it at Target for $10-12, and bought an extra cleaning pad for it. Somedays I use a broom to get in the corners and crevices.
I also bought Flylady's mop and refill pads. You can find her shop at www.Flylady.net. I usually have to use 2 pads because they streak once dirty, but I do this (almost) everyday also. I do not use any soap; I just wet the pad with water, squeeze it out, slap it on the mop and start mopping. It dries very quickly and there's no harm to the floors.
I know everyday seems overwhelming, but it takes me less than 15 minutes (to sweep and mop), so it's not so bad. I often only do the kitchen and bathroom, leaving the front of the house alone.
I throw the pads in with the regular laundry each day, so I always have some handy and ready for a spill or muddy kid. Because I do it (almost) everyday it never gets more than 15 minutes from company ready! I hope that helps!

My husband's family owns a wood floor company and this is what they tell everyone. Use White Vinegar and Hot water and nothing else. You risk getting a sticky build up on your floors when you use cleaners. Ratio is 1/4 cup white vinegar to 1 quart of hot water.

My husband just gave me this info for you:

More than likely the carpet pad started to break down and is a residue on the floor. You will need to take straight white vinegar and a scrub brush to get the residue up. After that you need to mop the floor with the white vinegar/hot water solution to keep it clean. He said your socks are turning black because of the residue from the carpet padding. He said to strongly warn you against using Murphy's Oil Soap on wood flooring as well as other products mentioned. He's been in the business for over 30 years so I trust his advice wholeheartedly.

Hope this helps!

after reading the responses, i'm surprised no one uses the swiffer vaccuum on their wood floors...i use mine probably every other day to get the dust and to pick up crumbs, dirt, etc. also once a week i use a steam mop on mine...i steer clear of the murphy's oil because the wood floors are slippery enough without it, but i'll use it maybe once or twice a year just to protect it...hope this helps!

We too use the Shark steam cleaner thing and it's amazing! I can clean the floors in 5 minutes (and we have a large area of wood floors) and it's just steam cleaning them! I highly recommend that as I have tried everything thing else out there...I'm a clean floor nut and with three kids it's a challenge!

We had exposed hardwood at our old house. I loved it. Vinegar and hot water is the best to clean it. I used a dry swiffer to get the dust bunnies.

HI L.,

We moved into a house 5 years ago and tore up the carpeting to find hardwood floors underneath. We had to have them refinished because I don't think the floors had been restained in the last 50 years. Anyway, we called around and got some estimates and were pleasantly surprised. We chose a company by the name of Premier Flooring. They are based in Avon, Ohio. We had approximately 800 square feet of flooring sanded, filled in where there were cracks & restained for $1200. We looked into doing it ourselves....between renting the equipment & buying the stain, it was going to cost us $900 so we gladly had a professional do it. The floors look great. Anyway, the owner told us to just use water and dish soap or water and bleach to clean them. He said most of the flooring products out there either wear down the finish on the floors or they leave a residue so your floors don't look shiny anymore. Since we have 2 young children we normally have to use the water/bleach combination. The ratio we use is probably around 5:1. My husband is very good about "eyeballing" those types of things and he takes care of the floors.

sweep, then mop with Murphy's Oil Soap....weekly if not even more often. Murphy's Oil Soap will keep them clean and continue to protect the wood.

We just moved into a house with hard wood too and as beautiful as they are, you do need to keep them clean on a weekly basis. I recommend a dust mop for daily sweeping and for mopping, get a hard wood floor mop too. I have been using Method hard wood floor cleaner from Target, but I have been told it can ruin your floors in the long run and to use Bona hard wood floor cleaner that you can get at Costco, Home Depot or Lowe's. Good luck!

My advice is that when you want to refinish your floors, use a polyurethane finish.
Most of the time use a dust mop or vacuum brush to remove loose dirt.
To clean periodically use a DAMP cloth or mop and Murphy's Oil Soap.
Never pour water on the floor to mop.
Just use a damp mop.
If anything gets spilled on the floor wipe up ASAP with a damp cloth.
That is all there is to it.
Enjoy your wood floors.

We had hardwood and I used a microfiber mop and water only. I did occasionally use Orange Glo for hardwood floors and liked it, but mostly I stuck with hot water and the microfiber mop.

We use Murpheys Oil soap to clean the floor and I use Orange Glow and it shines the floors right up! I didnt think it would do as good of a job as it did. We are in the same situation. I would love to get them "refinished" but with 3 children and a dog I think it would be a waste of money.
Have fun cleaning!!!
S.

I miss my hardwoord; it's so beautiful. Use a dust mop or a Swiffer regularly. If it gets bad or scratched I jused the Orange Glo hardwood cleaner and loved it. Use water sparingly, but you can if you need to.

Mop with vinegar and hot water

Clean with murphy's oil soap & ammonia first of all. Don't use a wet mop though; just make sure all of the water is out of it. After it drys; use a lemon oil & mineral oil mixture on it [1/2 & 1/2]. Do this just before you go to bed. That way no one is walking on it until the oil soaks in. Use an old towel to wipe over it the next day to take any excess oil off & the floor should look pretty good. This is what we did when i was a kid back in the 1950's. Just using the right stuff to clean the floor is a must. If it looks like it has been down for a long time & is real wood this procedure will work. If it is a laminate, just use a good cleaning & then maybe put a light layer of wax over the top. Then if it doesn't look right to you; go to home depot!!!! & ask what needs to be done with it.