How To Clean Hardwood Floors?

At the local club chapter one day, I was called upon to give a small speech on how to keep hardwood floors clean. It surprisingly caught me off guard and there was a lot of catching up to do. Incidentally, that same year, we had bought our own house on a mortgage and I was surprised that a chunk of our money went into laying of hardwood floors around the house.

I had completely made up my mind to not have anyone helping me around the house and so the initiative to begin to take care of such heavy investments had to start right from the beginning. I read up a lot about maintaining the wooden floors and this article is only a summary of all that I have known from speaking to the experts and a lot from my own experiences.

Floors are definitely an investment

If you can start from keeping your floors neat and scratch free from day one, I can assure you that you will have no complaints in a long time and that includes giving lengthy invoices from floor maintaining companies a miss.

cleaning the floor

Dusting and sweeping

Draw up a routine for dusting and sweeping your floors.  If you cannot afford to do it daily, you can create a cheat sheet where you can prioritize your work and you can definitely do one room at a time. if you are working like I was in the first few years, I can understand that maintaining the house can be quite daunting still as a matter of precedence, give your hardwood floor the attention it deserves. Believe me, it is well worth the effort.

Your best bet is microfiber dry mopping

My vote would be for an anti-static dry microfiber mop if you ask me in comparison to a broom because the broom can scratch your hardwood floor if it comes into contact with something that has abrasive or sharp edges. Besides, a microfiber mop is more convenient to use than a mop!

Vacuum is the best thing to have been invented

Let me confess that the best thing to have happened to a housekeeper is the invention of the vacuum cleaner. I don’t know where I would be without my turbo speed vacuum cleaner especially on the days that I was working two shifts back to back without breaking down.

Don’t overdo but do stick to your routine

This is a piece of advice to all those striving to keep clean without any kind of help around. Keep it realistic. And for heaven’s sake never ever overdo!

Using proper tools is extremely essential

Besides the fact that you need oodles of determination, there is also something that you very much need and that is the right tools to help you around the house and more so with the tacky hardwood floors. No, please don’t be scared. There is no need to. Just slip into the idea that you will need to be dedicated and you are already there!

Don’t use harsh chemicals. You’d rather go green

Try to avoid harsh chemicals and bleaches anywhere around the house. Besides the health hazard that they bring along, any spillage on the hardwood floor can spell doom in the form of a faded spot of a bubble. That can be irreparable and is definitely going to spoil the look. Avoid spills like plague.

Polish

Polishing your hardwood floor once in a couple of years is highly recommended. Do it earlier than later. Polishing allows the floor to rejuvenate and to do away with the layer of grime which may have settled but be invisible to the naked eye.

Deep clean

Deep cleaning of floors is recommended but make sure that you understand the porosity of your floor before you start using water r other solvents on it. Seek expert advice before experimenting with anything.

Mats

Use mats around the house especially around the entrance up to which people walk in with their footwear on. The mats will make sure that it grabs all the abrasive and sharp dirt before they walk n your precious floor!

Read and discuss

Read as much from the net about the maintenance and upkeep of your floors. Information is power. Discuss it with like-minded friends. It will also help you see the common mistakes that you do!

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