Vinegar and water is one way to disinfect wood floors. Your hardwood floors take a lot of abuse from kids, pets, shoes and spills. All of this activity can deposit dirt, bacteria and viruses onto the surfaces of your floors. While vinegar and water is a recommended nontoxic solution for disinfecting wood floors, beware of cleaning solutions that contain potentially harmful chemicals to humans and pets. A steam mop is another preferred method to quickly and safely clean your hardwood floors, killing about 99.9 percent of harmful germs and bacteria without the use of harsh chemicals. Sweep up loose dirt and debris off your floor using a broom and dustpan. Combine 1/2 cup of white vinegar with a gallon of warm water in a bucket and mix well. The acetic acid content of vinegar kills bacteria and disinfects your wood floors. Dip your mop into the vinegar and water solution and squeeze out the excess liquid. Begin mopping on one side of the room, periodically dipping your mop into the bucket until the entire floor is sanitized.

Allow your wood floor to dry thoroughly before walking on it. Attach the mop pad that came with your steam mop and fill the water tank, following the manufacturer's instructions. Plug in your steam mop and turn it on to allow the machine ample time to preheat. A "ready" light will typically come on when the steamer is ready to use. Slowly push the steam mop over an area of your hardwood floor, pressing the trigger or button that allows your machine to emit steam. best leather cleaning conditioning productsMany steam mops require you to allow the mop to hover over the same area for 15 or 20 seconds to effectively sanitize it. best lightweight vacuum cleaner reviewsRefer to your manufacturer's instructions for exact sanitizing times. best pet hair vacuum cleaner uk

Unplug your steam mop when you're finished cleaning and allow it to cool completely. Remove the mop pad, empty the water tank, and store your machine until you need it next time. Mop pads can often be machine washed and dried for repeated use. : Clean Your Wood Floor With Vinegar-Water Mix Photo Credits BananaStock/BananaStock/Getty Images Suggest a Correctionbest vacuum cleaner pet hair australiaThe only chore I dislike more than vacuuming is mopping -- and my hardwood floor has suffered for it. air duct cleaner for saleNaturally, I was intrigued when I heard about robot floor cleaners. best way to clean black venetian blindsHaving never used one before, I envisioned a robot vacuum with a water tank instead of a dust bin and otherwise-identical functionality.

After testing five robot mops, though, it's clear that my early expectations were off base. None of the models we reviewed come close to matching the delightfully hands-off-nature of most robot vacuums. Options like autodocking and scheduling are almost completely missing from the mopping bot category, making them more of a pain than their vacuum counterparts. Here's an overview of the models we've reviewed to date.iRobot's $300 Braava 380t is a quiet little bot that does a pretty good job at maintenance cleaning. That means that it can handle your garden-variety dust and dirt, but nothing that requires more advanced scrubbing. Combine that with its inability to schedule or autodock, and you may not think the end result equals the effort involved. Read the full review of the iRobot Braava 380t. The $600 iRobot Scooba 450 comes the closest to a real mop replacement. It has dual tanks; one that dispenses clean water (or water mixed with concentrated cleaning solution) and one that collects dirty water.

It also uses a three-stage cleaning process that sweeps, scrubs, and dries the floors -- that's pretty advanced compared to the other four bots. Unfortunately, a full charge lasts only about 40 minutes (that's roughly 300 square feet of floor cleaning), so don't expect it to efficiently mop large spaces. Read the full review of the iRobot Scooba 450. Moneual's $400 Rydis H67 Pro disappointed in every single category. It was error-message-happy in vacuum mode, triggering a distress call at every turn. In mop mode, it stopped regularly -- its side brushes spinning in place -- without explanation, and often was disabled completely. It also consistently struggled to find its dock, often to the extent that it had to be rescued and returned manually. Read the full review of the Moneual Rydis H67 Pro. Ry Crist compared Techko Maid's Smart Maid RS118 to a sad clown in his review -- that should signal your alarm bells. This oddly designed $250 mopping bot can't reach corners. You also can't schedule it to run at a certain time, and it doesn't automatically return to its charger after a run.

It also follows a random navigation pattern. Basically, it has no idea where it has cleaned or when it should be finished with a cycle. Read the full review of the Techko Maid Smart Maid RS118. Yujin Robot's $500 iClebo Arte was underwhelming in spite of its long list of features. And while it navigated efficiently and easily found its way back to the dock, that didn't help with its overall performance. In vacuum mode, it placed in the bottom tier of testing, while in mop mode, it mostly spread the debris from one section of the floor to another. Read the full review of the Yujin Robot iClebo Arte. Snapchat's not just for sexting anymoreFloorMate® Cordless Hard Floor Cleaner 20V LithiumLife™ Extended Runtime BatteryExclusive SpinScrub® TechnologyWash & Dry Mode No ratings yet! | FloorMate® Deluxe Hard Floor Cleaner Spin Scrub Brushes counter-rotate gently to wash & scrub hard floorsDual Tank Technology keeps clean & dirty water separate1.5 Quart Tank Capacity reduces number of trips to the sink