Routine care and maintenance of your hardwood floors will keep them looking beautiful for many years to come. The first step to in caring for wood floors is to vacuum often. By keeping the floor free of dirt and dust you will greatly reduce the abrasive action on any type of floor surface that you have. You will need to make sure that your vacuum attachment is a natural bristle brush or a type that will not scratch your floor. When your hardwood floor needs to be cleaned beyond what a vacuum can do, you need to know what type of floor top coat or finish you are trying to clean. Except for certain prefinished flooring materials, there is only three basic hardwood floor finishes, polyurethane, wax, and oil surfaced floors. The most popular wood floor surface is polyurethane. Polyurethane is the only floor finish that can be used just about anywhere. The three main types of polyurethane used on hardwood floors are; oil modified, water based and moisture cured. Oil modified polyurethane is often applied over oil based stains.

Water based polyurethane is usually applied over a water based stain. For polyurethane finishes, the safest (and easiest) cleaning method is simply to vacuum regularly. Wipe away sticky spills with a damp cloth and then dry the area with a clean, soft cloth. For stubborn dirt, use a glass cleaner such as Glass Plus® and Windex Clear®. NEVER wet mop, clean with oil soap, coat with acrylic dressing, like Mop and Glow®, or apply paste or liquid wax to a polyurethane surface floor. Also contrary to fairly common advice, you should NEVER use diluted vinegar or ammonia to clean polyurethane. The acid can etch the finish, making it dull. Just remember that all abrasive action, aggressive rubbing with a cotton rag, will have a slight dulling affect to the surface. If water spots are a problem, clean the floor in the same direction as the wood grain, and it will be less noticeable. Never use wax products on urethane finished hardwood floors as they can make the surface slippery.

You should not buff or polish these floors either. Oiled wood floors require different care than polyurethane floors. Over time, the wood becomes dry and depleted of oils from foot traffic and normal wear and tear. Start by thoroughly vacuuming and dry mopping the floor to remove any dust and debris. Regular cleaning with a wood cleaner made specifically for oiled hardwood floors, such as Murphy Oil® Soap (diluted ¼ cup soap to 1 gallon of water) is usually all that's needed. best way to clean microfiber couchesFor stubborn stains, allow the cleaner to remain on the spot for 10 minutes to loosen dirt from the flooring. vacuum cleaner price in hyderabadRepeat the process across the entire floor as needed. air duct cleaning white plains

Wipe the floor clean with the soft cloth. To restore oil back into the flooring, apply a small amount of hardwood oil to a clean cloth and wipe over the wood. Wipe off any excess oil with a clean cloth. Let the oil soak into the wood for at least two hours and avoid walking on the flooring or replacing any rugs or furniture until dry. Soak all oily rags in water and store in an airtight metal container. Some oil soaked rags may spontaneously combust and catch fire. Dispose of used rags properly. Waxed floors require a little more TLC than other surface finishes. Aside from routine vacuuming, the secret to cleaning waxed wood floors is to use as little water as possible. For daily cleaning of dust and debris, a dry mop or a very barely damp one can be used. Any excess water left on the floor should be wiped dry immediately as it can sink into the surface and mar the wax. Use only slightly warm water with NOdetergents, soaps, ammonia or chemicals added to clean dirt. Finally, for a really beautiful sheen, finish cleaning waxed wood floors by drying and buffing the surface with a lint free cloth.

Once or twice a year, the old wax will need to be stripped and a fresh coat applied. Strip the old wax with a wax stripper, odorless mineral spirits or fast-drying Naphtha. Rub the stripper into wood and then wipe off with a clean, soft cloth. Keep the area well ventilated as you work and as the floor dries. Soak all used rags in water and store in an airtight metal container. Used rags should be disposed of properly. After the floor has dried, apply a thin coat of paste wax using a soft cloth. Let the wax dry. For added protection, apply a second coat of wax. Then, polish using a cloth or, to make the job easier, a buffing machine. Remember to always buff and polish in the direction of the wood grain. A well finished hardwood floor offers endless natural beauty, long-term durability, and will last for many generations with proper care. Should your wood flooring ever need refinishing, please let us know and we would be happy to restore your floors to their original beauty.Browsing around the blogosphere this past month and it’s clear that most of my fellow bloggers have the much-appreciated Spring Break on their minds at the moment.

But alongside the dream of relaxing poolside for a well-deserved vacation is the less relaxing thought lurking in the back of my mind that it’s also time for another annual tradition: the dreaded Spring Clean!Time to get out the rarely-used extra long feather-duster out, get the curtains down for a wash, get some vinegar solution onto the not-so sparkling windows, and get the floors polished up to perfection!The good news is that if you’ve got a hardwood floor, and you’ve been a good hardwood floor owner and done due diligence throughout the year in maintaining it, then there won’t be too much for you to do on that front (click here for the best way to clean hardwood floors on a regular basis).  The bad news is that if, like most of us, life is too hectic to keep up with maintenance chores, you’re going to need to a little bit of elbow grease and some key ingredients to rejuvenate your floor and bring it back to life.So, here to help you are a few Home Flooring Pros top tips to get the best results when it comes to cleaning your hardwood flooring:Tip #1: Choose the best products for your hardwood finishKnowing exactly what the best hardwood floor cleaning product is for your floor is the most important information you’ll need to get the job done well – and this will very much depend on exactly what kind of finish your floor has.

As far as cleaning goes, there are essentially only two kinds of hardwood floor finish: floors that have been sealed with urethane, polyurethane or poly-acrylic sealant (commonly known as surface-sealed floors) and those that haven’t (this includes unfinished floors AND floors finished with penetrating seals, oil seals, lacquer, varnish or shellac.)Most newly-installed floors are the first kind and have been sealed in this way to provide the most easy-care option possible for modern life: because these surface-sealed floors are very resistant to water and stains, all you need to do is sweep and then damp-mop them with a hardwood floor cleaning solution. For non surface-sealed floors, because they are a lot more sensitive to water penetration you must avoid mopping at all costs! Instead remove dust and dirt build-up by simply sweeping or vacuuming on a regular basis, and then once a year provide the floor with some intense TLC: gently strip back old wax using mineral spirits or a recommended hardwood wax stripper, then nourish the wood with either fresh liquid or paste wax, and finally buff the floor up to a shine.

If you’ve very recently laid a new solid or engineered hardwood floor then the best option for keeping it clean is to use the floor cleaner that the floor supplier recommends.Of course the recommended product is often not the cheapest product, so it is tempting to want to try other options. If your budget is stretched then for surface-sealed floors you can use a basic soap and water mix to mop your floor (by the way, pH-neutral soap like dishwashing liquid is ideal, but check out Tip #4 before you do any mopping); for non surface-sealed floors you can find wax strippers and liquid or paste waxes from a number of manufacturers to compare prices.But do stick to those options only. Regardless of the finish, the following products should NEVER be used when cleaning any kind of hardwood floor:  acidic products like vinegar, cleaners with ammonia, abrasive chemicals or abrasive soaps, bleaches, oil-based soaps, furniture sprays or furniture wax, acrylic or water-based waxes, or anything that claims to be a one-step wood cleaning product!

These kinds of products at best will leave your floors either dull, slippery or, in the case of acrylic-based wax, covered in white residue, and at worst will scratch the hardwood surface and allow more dirt to clog up in those scratches over time!Regularly sweeping or vacuuming your hardwood floor is the first step in keeping it clean overall, and in areas of high traffic you may find it pays to do this on a daily basis.  But if you do find you need to vacuum your floor, then avoid dents and scratches by using a vacuum cleaner with either a brush or felt head!  Any other kind of vacuum head is liable to dent or mark your floor horribly! Use care when vacuuming hardwood floors.Also you may want to make sure that the wheels of your vacuum cleaner aren’t scratching your floor – if they do, then a quick fix solution is to apply sticky backed felt tape to the wheels (and keep a roll of felt tape on hand to replace as necessary.)And thanks to the miracles of modern science, another option to either sweeping or vacuuming is to use a microfiber dusting pad, ideally one with a fringe that will help trap both the dirt and debris. 

According to this reader’s comment on the Apartment Therapy blog using a motion similar to mowing the lawn (i.e. not lifting the microfiber pad off the floor once you’ve started) will keep larger bits of debris on the edge of the pad rather than under it, thus avoiding inadvertently scratching the floor – cool tip!Whether your floor is surface-sealed or not, water is definitely NOT its friend! So it’s pretty important to appreciate the correct damp-mopping technique. NB – if your floor is NOT surface-sealed with urethane, polyurethane or poly-acrylic sealant, you should NEVER, EVER mop it! (See Tip #1 for what to do instead).So assuming you do have the kind of floor that can be mopped, what you need to do is not flood the floor with tons of water! Rather, first ensure that you have a very soft felt or cloth mop; then ensure that after swilling it in your cleaning solution that you wring it out thoroughly so that it is damp, rather than soaking wet, before mopping the floor; change buckets as often as needed, and then go over the whole floor again with clean water alone – again with a damp mop.

Another way of ensuring that you are not over wetting your floor is to decant your cleaning solution in a fine spray bottle. You then spray the solution on the floor and then mop it with a dry mop or microfiber cloth. Finally, whichever mopping method you use – always mop following the grain of the wood, so that you don’t snag your mop fibers on any rough patches.So, you’ve now spent a day or so getting your lovely hardwood floor looking the business and then disaster strikes! Kids/ animals/ or reckless friends are certainly involved, and you know you have to take quick action to save your floor and preserve your sense of calm! Here’s what you need to do if…Chewing gum is stuck to your hardwood floor: fill a plastic bag with ice and then place it on top of the gum, wait for the gum to become dry, brittle and crumbly, remove the dry gum and then clean floor as usual. This method works well for candle wax too!Scuff marks appear on light wood floors: baking soda and a damp sponge will do the job of getting rid of them.

Water spots all over your lovely waxed hardwood floor: use mineral spirits on a very fine steel wood pad to carefully rub out the spot, then reapply a fine layer of liquid or paste wax to re-protect the area.Your dish of spaghetti bolognese has spilt leaving a huge, red, greasy stain on your floor: use a commercial hardwood floor cleaner to deal with this on surface-sealed flooring; for other floors, wipe up the mess immediately with a damp sponge, use a clean cloth to dry the area and then apply your wax of choice.You can cut down overall dirt and dust in your home by adding doormats and rugs in strategic high-traffic areas, but be sure that you choose ones that do not have rubber backing. Rubber backed mats can easily trap water under them – I personally didn’t realize this until it was too late and water under my front doormat had completely ruined the wood underneath resulting in a costly repair job!Finally, no matter how careful or organized you are, there will come a time when your hardwood floor dulls and needs more than the annual Spring clean: in this case I highly recommend that you hire a professional team to refinish your hardwood floor.