How To Clean Hardwood Floors
Hardwood floors are a beautiful type of flooring that gives homes a classy look that will make any house stand out from the rest. It is very important to take proper care of them, so knowing how to clean hardwood floors is something you must learn fast.
Hardwood floors only have to be cleaned about once a week unless for some reason they have gotten dirty sooner than your usual cleaning cycle. You can cut down on problems such as heel marks by requiring everyone to take off their shoes before walking on your hardwood surfaces.
What is the best way to clean hardwood floors?
While it really isn’t extremely hard cleaning hardwood floors, you still must decide from several possible methods. Plus, some types of hardwood floors have types of wood stains that require special care so you don’t ruin them during maintenance of your flooring.
Mopping Hardwood Floors
One of the fastest, easiest and extremely efficient methods of cleaning hardwood floors is a simple damp mop. Before you can use a mop, however, you must first get rid of any dust or dirt on your floor. You can do this with a broom or a vacuum. Then, just run the damp mop over the floor, rinse and if needed you can repeat the process. It’s very important when learning how to clean hardwood floors to keep them dirt and dust free so your lovely floors won’t be scratched or otherwise damaged. After mopping, you need to make sure that you dry the hardwood floors very thoroughly so as not to let water seep into the wood.
Hardwood Floor Cleaning Machine
Another method of cleaning hardwood floors is a hardwood floor cleaning machine. Many kinds of these gadgets exist, and you need to use them with a neutral cleaner that doesn’t have too high or too low of a ph level. You have to be careful when using any sort of water on hardwood floors, as it the floor isn’t properly sealed, the water can cause the floor to warp and be ruined. It’s also important to always clean by going in the direction of the wood’s grain, as this will make it less likely the wood will end up being streaked.
Polishing Hardwood Floors
When you purchase various kinds of hardwood floors, the majority of them are sealed with polyurethane, which makes them look very shiny. Some of the other seals used to make a hardwood floor look all polished are called penetrating seals, and they are made of a mixture of wax or oil and soak into the hardwood floors to form a protected surface.
You also can polish hardwood floors after cleaning hardwood floors by buffing them with a wax or special polish. However, this shouldn’t be done too often, as it can cause problems with the glue that holds the floors down in some cases.
Hardwood Floor Vacuum
There are also special attachments for vacuum cleaners for cleaning hardwood floors. These attachments need to be those with soft bristles so they don’t cause damage to the floors. There are several brands of vacuums that meet this requirement such as Bissell and Eureka to name a couple of them. It is also very important when knowing how to clean hardwood floors that any vacuum you use on a hardwood floor doesn’t have a beater brush, as this can definitely damage or even ruin the surface of your floors.
Steam Cleaning Hardwood Floors
You can also use steam cleaning for cleaning hardwood floors. When it comes to knowing how to clean hardwood floors you need to know that steaming helps to kill bacteria and allergens. However, as stated before, you have to be careful not to use too much water as it can damage hardwood floors. This is especially true if your floor has any worn spots, as this can make it easier for water to get deep into the wood and damage it, so care must be taken when using any sort of water or steam when cleaning hardwood floors.
Conclusion
Hardwood floors are very strong and if properly taken care of they can last for many years. However, when it comes to cleaning hardwood floors and knowing how to clean hardwood floors, then you have to be aware of the ways they can be damaged through improper cleaning. It is vital to know that simple things like dust and dirt can be just as bad as something like sandpaper if they rub across your precious hardwood surfaces.