Cleaning your hardwood floors can become a nightmare if you don’t maintain them. Truth be told, if you want the finish on your hardwood floors to last, you need to keep up with all of the dirt, food, and water that makes it’s way onto the floor throughout the day. To help keep your maintenance to a minimum, I suggest you either enforce a “no shoe” rule in the house (except when you have company over) or in a less drastic measure place thick rug near ever entryway to the house. If everyone gives a couple of wipes on the rug before stepping onto the hardwood floor, there will be less debris on the bottom of their shoes that could end up on your floor.
Follow these tips to keep your hardwood floors looking great:
Clean up any spills immediately.
Using a swiffer or a vacuum do a quick pass over the floor every other day.
Always clear all debris from the floor prior to wet mopping.
When wet mopping, make sure to only use products recommended for use on finished wood floors.
Wet mopping tips:
If it’s your first time using a cleaning product, always test it out in a small area in a corner first.
A little bit of cleaner goes a long way. Don’t over do it with the cleaning product and follow the labels instructions. Murphy’s Oil Soap recommends diluting 1/4 cup to 1/2 a cup of Murphy’s Oil Soap in a gallon of warm water. If you use more than this, it’s likely you end up with slimely floors and have to mop it two or three times.
Do not use Pine-Sol, as it is not recommended for use on wood floors.
Depending on how dirty your floors are, you may need to use two or three fresh buckets of cleaning solution. If the water is black, chances are you’re just reapplying dirt and debris back onto your floor.
Always ring out your mop before applying it to the floor. You do not want to end up with puddles of water sitting on your floor.
Once you are done wet mopping, attach a microfiber cloth or even a terry cloth to a Swiffer and do a quick pass over the hardwood floor. This will help the floor dry faster, and help prevent streaking.
Do you have a great cleaning tip? Send it to tips at maids-express.com, or drop it in the comment section.
Tags: hardwood floors, Murphy's Oil Soap
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 at 10:20 pm and is filed under Floor Cleaning.
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