Hardwood floors pay back a little care with a lifetime of value
. Hardwood floor gives you a sense of warmth, richness and natural splendor. Maintaining your hardwood floor is not a tough task. Even a regular cleaning and maintenance will give your floor a long shiny life.
If you have a proper knowledge of do's and don'ts in your hardwood floor care then cleaning would be certainly a very easy task for you. Hardwood floor cleaning needs some special care and some special kind of chemicals and products to keep it surface free from any damage for longer period of time.
In this article we will discuss different options and alternatives available for cleaning hardwood floor effectively. It is important for all those people having hardwood floors to keep these options and choices in mind to preserve the beauty of their floors for longer period of time.
Regular Cleaning
Daily cleaning is an assurance of your hardwood's long life. Always use a soft bristled broom to clean your floors. Using hard bristled broom can scratch the surface of your hardwood flooring. Dust mops or vacuum with soft brush attachment is another useful tool to clean your hardwood flooring. Dust mops are effective against the dirt and grime accumulated on the floor surface. To prevent the dirt accumulation into the finish of the wood through foot traffic, regular cleaning of the flooring is inevitable.
Maintenance Cleaning
A non abrasive solution is always suggested to mop the hardwood flooring. Mixture of 1/4 cup of mild dish washing liquid in a small amount of warm water is considered as the best non toxic and non abrasive solution to clean the flooring. Dry off the floor with dry towel attached to dry mop handle right after you have mopped the floor. It is better to take help from floor maker's instruction before cleaning, especially when your warranty is still valid. Those instructions will best guide you. Besides this, you can use baking soda for scratch or scuff marks on the wood flooring. Gently scrub the marks to remove them. For old hardwood floors with insufficient finishing, you can use Murphy's oil soap. Oil soap is not good for finished surfaces so avoid using oil soap as far as possible on finished hardwood floors.
Natural and Commercial Cleaners
Many natural products are available in the market which can be purchased and used for cleaning. However, you can make some of the cleaning solutions on your own that are equally effective and cheap. Natural hardwood cleaners are very usually non-toxic and help to maintain the beauty and shine of the floor for long time. You just need to mix a small amount of vinegar into a small amount of water. Use this solution to mop the sealed floor. For unsealed flooring water is harmful instead use any oil like linseed oil to clean the unfinished wood floors.
If you want to use commercial cleaners, some important cleaners are Bona, Bruce and Armstrong.