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.
One to two weeks.
Give floors a good wash or steam once every couple of weeks, says Tetro. You might want to wash your kitchen floors a little more often, due to food bacteria that can spread around.
The best way to clean hardwood floors and keep them in shape is to stick to a regular schedule of maintenance. Sweep, dust or dry mop daily.
Any high-traffic areas in your home should be wet mopped once a week. Rooms in your home that are not frequently used—such as a guest room—do not need to be mopped weekly. Mopping every other week or monthly should be sufficient.
Wet mopping can cause your wood floors to swell
Many people ask, can you mop wood floors? The rule of thumb here is that water and wood do not mix. Wood can act like a sponge when it's around water. Too much, and it will start to swell up.
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.
Additional Tips. Regularly dust and clean your hardwood floor to keep it looking like new. Avoid using water and vinegar, soap-based cleaners, wax or steam cleaners on your hardwood floor. Over time, vinegar and water will dull the floor's finish, while soap or wax will leave a residue.
In this case, we recommend giving your floors sweep and mop sessions once a week. Dust and dirt can accumulate over time if no one is going in and out of different rooms. Use a day off or the weekend to sweep floors so that your floors don't absorb this material and lose its prime condition.
1. Sweep often — at least once a week.
Most people should wash their sheets once per week. If you don't sleep on your mattress every day, you may be able to stretch this to once every two weeks or so. Some people should wash their sheets even more often than once a week.
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.
You can also use Pine-Sol® Original Squirt 'N Mop®. It's safe for wood and hard, nonporous surfaces. You can apply it to the floor directly from the bottle.
Polishing hardwood floors is an easy way to add life, beauty and extra protection to your floors. Depending on the amount of traffic in your home, we recommend polishing the floors every 2-3 months with our Bona Hardwood Floor Polish.
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.
"We recommend dusting a home at least once per month for easy-to-reach areas and every three to six months for hard-to-reach areas such as ceilings, corners, door frames, and high shelves," says Jennifer Rodriguez, director of business development at Pro Housekeepers.
As a general rule of thumb, hardwood floors should be vacuumed at least weekly and wet cleaned every one to two months (more or less frequently, depending on traffic).
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.
New and improved Swiffer WetJet mopping pads have a new Absorb + Lock strip that helps trap dirt and grime deep in pad so it doesn't get pushed around and is safe on finished wood floors.
How Often Does The Average Person Clean Their House? Research by the American Cleaning Institute found that Americans spend 6 hours cleaning every week, while a third wonder if they are cleaning enough and correctly. Most homeowners sweep and mop, vacuum, clean the bathroom, and dust furniture once a week.
Home experts recommend that carpets and rugs be vacuumed at least twice a week, and more often in high-traffic areas. If pets are in the home, daily vacuum cleaning is strongly recommended to remove dirt, hair, dander, and the smaller microscopic allergens that are invisible to the naked eye.
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.
Sealed hardwood floors can withstand the moisture and heat from a steam mop, and they clean really nicely with a streak-free finish. However, avoid using a steam mop on unsealed hardwoods, as they're more vulnerable and easily damaged by excessive moisture.
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.