Hardwood Floor Cleaning Portland Or
Hardwood floors can look beautiful in any home, but only if you keep them looking clean and shiny. These floors can become covered in grime quickly and become kind of tough to clean. When you clean, you have to be careful that you don’t scratch or otherwise damage the wood flooring, so you need to know the right way to clean them. We have some tips and guidelines you can follow to ensure that your floors look great all the time. These tips are designed for anyone to use, and they make floor cleaning easier and faster because you’ll be doing it the right way.
Get the Right Tools for Hardwood Floor Cleaning
Marge who runs Diamond house cleaning services adds “Cleaning is always easier and faster when you have the proper tools for it, and you have to be careful about what tools you use on your floors”. Don’t try to substitute with a tool that isn’t made specially for cleaning hardwood floors. If you buy a mop for your floor, you want to ensure it is made for hardwood floors. Otherwise, you can scratch your floor.
You have to be extra careful if you have a layer of wax on your floor, as that can be scratched very easily. Using scrubbing brushes and other rough equipment on your floor is not usually good for it, and you need to be gentle and abuse only tools that are designed for hardwood floor use.
You’ll need a wet mop and a dry mop, a mop bucket, and some floor cleaner. Don’t buy the cheapest stuff you can find, either, as that can break down and fail on you, resulting in damaged floors or frustrating cleaning sessions.
Start with Sweeping or Vacuuming
You’ll want to sweep your hardwood floor clean before you put down any chemicals or cleaning solutions. Use a flexible broom instead of a stiff one to ensure that your floor is protected. Even if your floor looks clean, it’s a good idea to do a sweep anyway, because there is likely some dust and other particles that could be removed. By getting rid of that stuff, you will make it easier to clean your floor effectively with the mop and to ensure that your floor isn’t scratched up as you work.
Whether you are sweeping or mopping, always start with the side of the room that is farthest from the door and work your way toward the door. This ensures that you aren’t going over the same area twice and that you are cleaning efficiently and not leaving anything behind.
Time to Mop
When you mop, you can use either a solution of soap and water or a cleaning solution that is made for hardwood floors. If you buy any cleaning chemicals, ensure that they are safe to use on hardwood floors, as some of them can be abrasive and damaging to wood, even if they would be safe on other types of floors. Soap and water are fine though, and they generally get the job done well. So, you don’t have to feel like you need to buy anything special to clean your hardwood floors with. The products you already have at home can work just fine, in most cases.
As you mop, be sure to just use a damp mop and not one that is soaked with water. That’s because water is dangerous to wood, and you want to be careful about how much you are placing onto your hardwood floor. Even wooden floors that are sealed with wax can absorb too much water and become damaged and warped, so go easy on the water you use and only wet the mop enough to lightly cover the surface of the floor with soapy water.
You can then wet mop the floor using water alone afterwards, or squeegee or dry mop the floor clean. It’s up to you what you want to do and what you find works best for you. There isn’t a best method here, though certain floors will benefit from different approaches. You may want to try each of these ways and see what works best for you.
Finish with a Wax One of the best things you can do for your hardwood floor is seal it with a wax. You can buy a wax coating for cheap at most hardware stores and major retailers, and it is generally easy to apply. They may have different application instructions, so we can’t tell you how to apply each and every one here. We can give you some tips about using and choosing wax, though.
Be sure you get either a paste wax or one that is made specifically for hardwood floors. Don’t ever use acrylic or water-based waxes, as those can damage your floors. You should also avoid any one-step or furniture waxes, as they aren’t made for floors.
If you are getting rid of an old layer of wax, use a stripping agent to pull it off smoothly and easily. Trying to get it off by hand without something like this to help you out can cause damage to your floor.
Final Hardwood Cleaning Tips
We want to leave you with a few floor cleaning tips to help you have a beautiful floor all the time.
• Clean Regularly- You ought to sweep your floor every day or every other day and mop it once or twice month. Waxing should only need to be done once or twice a year or whenever you notice that the wax is wearing thin.
• Remove Spills Immediately- If you see something spilt on the floor, then clean it up as soon as you can. The longer it stays there, the more likely it is to stain or damage the floor.
• Keep It Dry- Water can damage your hardwood floor faster than shutout anything, so if you see a spill or notice your floor is wet, you need to make it dry as soon as possible.
• Removing Heel Marks- If you notice scuff marks from heels on the floor, you can simply take a fine steel wood scrubbing pad and some wax and rub it on the affected area gently.
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