In high-traffic areas, like the dining room and kitchen, sweep or vacuum daily if possible and mop hardwood floors once or twice a week. Mop less-trafficked areas once a month or once a season.
Try to do a simple sweep daily, if possible. Then, follow up with a dry mop or dust mop to pick up any remaining dust and dirt. You could even use a microfiber mop or cloth that you don't wet. If you can't sweep your whole home every day, aim to hit high-traffic areas, like entryways or hallways, as often as possible.
Monthly schedule – polish
Polish wood floors every 2-4 months, depending on the traffic in your home, to add extra shine and protection. Hardwood floor polish renews and refreshes the finish that protects your floor.
Bona's mop distributes cleaning solution more evenly than the Swiffer WetJet. Bona's mop head is significantly wider (15 inches) than Swiffer's (9 inches), which makes it easier to clean large rooms but more difficult to navigate in small spaces. Bona's spray mop comes with a reusable microfiber mop pad.
Water You Using to Clean Your Floors? You can safely use Swiffer products on hardwood floors. For a quick clean, try Swiffer WetJet Wood Starter Kit. With just the right amount of solution, it breaks up tough, sticky messes, brings out the natural beauty of your floors and won't damage them.
You can also use a spray-and-mop product or disposable wet pads that are safe for hardwood floors. Unless you use a steam mop designed for cleaning wood floors, steam cleaning is not advised for hardwood floors. Steam can dull the finish and damage the wood.
Do not wet mop wood flooring.
Damp is good. Dripping wet is bad. If you can ring out the mop or pad, you're working with too much water. Excess water will lead to damage of the floor, and even the subfloor.
You can use a commercial wood-cleaning product, like Bona or Murphy Oil Soap. Be sure to follow the manufacturer's instructions. You can also make your own cleaner by mixing one part vinegar to 10 parts warm water. Add a few drops of liquid Castile soap.
Pine-Sol is safe on hardwood floors and can be used to clean and disinfect them. What is essential is to use the right concentration and correctly follow the instructions: Sweep or vacuum the floor to remove loose dirt and debris. Take ¼ cup of Pine-Sol and mix with a gallon of water in a bucket.
Is it better to sweep or vacuum hardwood floors? While sweeping is a great way to clean up large debris, it's best to vacuum hardwood floors to get rid of fine dust and particles that sweeping may miss, especially in the wood floor crevices. Every one to two months, wet-clean surface-treated wood floors.
When debris builds up on the floor over time, they accumulate and can cause tiny scratches in your floor, which might become permanent and eventually become an ugly blemish.
Whether you're cleaning one area or all of your flooring, Murphy® Oil Soap is safe to use on hardwood floors.
Although it may be tempting to deep clean your hardwood floors with a steam mop, don't. “Drastic temperature changes and moisture may warp the wood,” says Steve Stocki, manager of marketing and merchandising at Lumber Liquidators. That's true whether you have solid or engineered wood floors, and for bamboo, too.
An alternative natural cleaning solution is warm water and dish soap (1/4 cup of dish washing liquid for a bucket of warm water). For spot cleaning needs, sprinkle baking soda on the affected area and scrub with a sponge. To ensure the area is thoroughly clean, rinse with warm water and dry.
Ammonia. Ammonia is a pungent chemical that has many cleaning uses in your home, but it should never be used on hardwood floors. “The ingredient damages the surface and dissolves the lignin in the wood,” explains Leanne Stapf, chief operating officer at The Cleaning Authority.
Use a damp-mop with a flat-head mop and microfiber pad or a microfiber string mop that has been thoroughly wrung out when it looks dingy. Move with the grain, and control the amount of cleaning solution by using a spray bottle, aiming for a heavy mist or gentle squirt of about a half teaspoon per 2 square feet.
Soft microfiber mops work best on hardwood floors. You can spray a sanitizing cleaning solution or hardwood-friendly cleaner on before dusting for a deeper clean, but a mop with a gentle microfiber pad is the best option for engineered wood or hardwood floors.
Vegetable Oil & White Vinegar: Mix equal parts vegetable oil and white vinegar together to make a simple, yet effective, cleaner for your hardwood floor. Vinegar is a natural polish that is perfect for cleaning. It's acidity will help break down dirt and grime.
Any vacuum can clean hardwood floors—this is the simplest possible task for a vacuum cleaner. You don't need anything special to get dust, hair, crumbs, or anything else off your wood, tile, or laminate floors.
You can use shark Steam mop on Wood floors but only if they are sealed! If your floors are not, water from the steamer will be absorbed by the wood and damage your flooring from the inside out. Beside sealed hardwood, Shark steam mop can be used on Bamboo, Marble and Vinyl plank floors as well.
Used Swiffer Sweeper pads and Swiffer Dusters may be effective longer than you think. They may look super dirty, but due to the electrostatic charge, you don't have to worry about making a bigger mess as you dust.
According to the manufacturer's website, the Swiffer mop is appropriate for use on finished hardwood floors when you use either the dry or wet refill cloths. Wet refills aren't recommended for use on unfinished, waxed or oiled floors, and you should use them with caution on finished hardwood.
Neutral pH
Vinegar is an acidic substance and over time, can eat away or deteriorate the finish on a hardwood floor. The process may be hastened if vinegar is used in conjunction with very hot water. The result will be cloudy, dull or white patches on your floor.