Hardwood floors, when maintained and cleaned properly, can be a beautiful addition to any home. Taking a pro-active approach to keeping hardwood floors beautiful is essential in saving money and time. Knowing how to clean hardwood floors is critical in proper maintenance and care.
Basic Maintenance
Understanding basic maintenance is key to understanding how to clean hardwood floors. When hardwood floors are properly maintained, the more time and labor intensive cleaning tasks can be avoided.
Hardwood floors should be swept and/or vacuumed regularly. Vacuuming should be done with a soft-bristled brush, in order to avoid scratches and dents in the hardwood.
Care should be taken to clean up any and all moisture from the hardwood floor immediately. Water left standing on the hardwood floor can warp the wood and/or distort the finish of the wood. When mopping a hardwood floor, an almost-dry mop should be used to minimize the amount of water that comes into contact with the hardwood floor.
Consideration should be given to covering high-traffic areas on the hardwood floor. Carpet runners, with non-skid rubber backs, and/or plastic floor mats (near entrances) can help to protect these high-traffic areas. Removal of shoes, avoidance of dragging furniture and other heavy objects, and use of furniture pads also help to protect hardwood floors and eliminate the need for extensive cleaning and repair.
Cleaning Tools
When thinking about how to clean hardwood floors, consideration must be given to the tools that are used to clean the hardwood floors. The use of proper tools is important for proper cleaning.
A good quality broom is essential for proper cleaning of hardwood floors. Floors should be swept regularly – daily in high-traffic areas – to clean dust and dirt from the hardwood floors.
A vacuum with a soft-bristled brush is essential for picking up the dirt and dust between planks. Vacuuming should take place weekly, or more often in high traffic areas.
A micro-fiber or terry cloth dust mop is helpful when buffing a hardwood floor. Used alone, or with a professional wood cleaning product, the mop will remove stains and leave the hardwood floors looking brilliant.
Deep Cleaning
While proper maintenance is important, understanding how and when to deep clean and repair the hardwood floor is part of knowing how to clean a hardwood floor. Over time, the finish and surface of the hardwood floor will need to be screened (or sanded, if the finish is seriously deteriorated) and re-coated with new polyurethane.