Wednesday, November 26, 2014

How to Make Your Hardwood Floors Shine!




Hardwood floors are beautiful but very tricky to clean. Here are some tips on how you can keep your floors clean and damage free…

  • First things first, make sure your floors are swept or vacuumed. Use a microfiber dusting pad for sweeping (do not use Swiffer as it’s prone to scratching) and make sure that your vacuum has a floor-brush attachment or an electric broom. In order to protect your wood floors you want to make sure they are properly cleaned of all debris including little rocks that might have gotten tracked inside which can scratch the floors.


  • Make sure you know the finish of your floor. Determining whether or not you have a finish on your floor is the most crucial step because you do not want to accidentally damage them. How to determine which finish you have: http://www.hardwoodinfo.com/articles/view/admirer/7/211

  • Choose the right cleaning agent. The right cleaning agent is solely dependent on which finish you have however, a common list of cleaning products you should not use is anything that has bleach, ammonia or something that will leave a residue including oil or furniture spray. One thing we want to point out is that people have previously recommended using vinegar to clean hardwood floors, we strongly advise against it. As a cleaning company we have seen people use vinegar on hardwood floors and completely damage them. Vinegar has an acid which slowly eats away at whatever finish the floors are sealed with, also if you use anything other than what the manufacture recommends this can void your warranty.

  • Water is a wood floors worst enemy. Do not dump a bucket of water on a wood floor as it can cause splitting and warping. Make sure you choose a cleaner specifically formulated for wood floors and dilute it according to the label instructions. Use a sponge or string mop and dip it in the cleaning solution, the most important part is that you must ring the mop out. Make sure the mop is damp, almost dry and not soaked. Depending on how dirty your floors are you will need to switch out the cleaning solution half way through the process.  

  • The last step. Make sure once you’ve mopped the entire area you go over it with a dry cloth in order to remove and excess cleaning solution, dirt and to avoid streaking.


So, there you have it! A clean, sparkling, and dust free hardwood floor. Do you have any recommendations that you want to share with us?  

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