Manufacturers and industry experts advise against cleaning hardwood floors with water because wood naturally expands when it's wet and can cause your floor to crack or splinter.
Wet mopping can cause your wood floors to swell
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. Too little, and it the boards can shrink as they dry out.
In most homes, the best wood floor cleaner is plain old soap and water, and the only tools you need are a broom, vacuum, and mop. The best mop for wood floors is a microfiber flat-head or string mop you can easily wring out.
When using a mop, remember that water and wood don't mix! Avoid putting excess liquid on your floor. Lightly misting your floor with a natural hardwood floor cleaner will be enough to give it a great clean. In other words, keeping a gentle touch is one of the best ways to care for wood floors.
How Much Water Does it Take to Damage Hardwood Flooring? An acceptable or normal moisture content in hardwood flooring usually ranges between 6 and 12 percent, but flooded wood flooring can often have up to a 40 percent moisture content, which means there is severe damage.
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.
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.
Once a week, wood floors should be cleaned in high traffic areas with a damp mop. Low traffic areas can be done less frequently, like once a month or once a quarter. Unsealed wood floors are more susceptible to water, so make sure that the mop is just slightly damp.
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.
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.
Ultimately, traditional mops are still the best option for deep cleaning. You can put more pressure on the head, and you can use any cleaning solution (rather than the Swiffer-only options) and as much of it as you need.
I was impressed at how well the Swiffer WetJet managed to trap dirt and scrub off those old stains, even just using the standard cleaning pad. I was impressed at how well the Swiffer WetJet managed to trap dirt and scrub off those old stains, even just using the standard cleaning pad.
The best way to clean hardwood floors is to adopt a regular routine. Use a broom or hardwood floor mop for cleaning wood floors daily. A microfiber dust mop pre-treated with a dusting agent will pick up dust and dirt and prevent scratches. Vacuum your hardwood floor once a week.
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.
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.
You should NOT use vinegar to clean your wood floors regularly. You won't notice any damage right away, but over time, the acidity in the vinegar will break down the floor's finish, allowing water to penetrate and degrade the wood.
Whether you're cleaning one area or all of your flooring, Murphy® Oil Soap is safe to use on hardwood floors.
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.
Yes, a Swiffer mop can make your floors sticky. There are two reasons for this. First, you're overusing the cleaner in the Swiffer mop, and it's causing a build-up. Secondly, you're spraying a large area, and the cleaner from the Swiffer mop is drying before you get to mop it up, causing sticky spots on your floor.
A Swiffer mop can make your floors sticky because of the following reasons: You have overused the cleaner in the Swiffer mop, and it's causing a build-up. You are spraying a relatively large area, and the cleaner from the Swiffer mop is drying before you mop it up, leading to sticky spots on your floor.
1. Sweep often — at least once a week. By sticking to this routine, you can clean your floors before dirt has time to collect on the surface.
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.
The steam doesn't just make clearing stubborn stains an easy job, it also disinfects your floors without using any kind of cleaning agent. It does, however, do a deeper clean with less physical work.