The best way to make your beautiful floors look as amazing as they should is to learn proper hardwood floor cleaning. With the right hardwood floor cleaning tips, you can get those surfaces spotless and shining, without damaging that expensive lumber.
You might be under the impression that hardwood floor cleaning in Bethesda, MD is one of those tasks that only the experts should take on. While you are right to some degree, having the right hardwood floor cleaning tips in Bethesda, MD will get you going on the project yourself.
In this article, our house cleaning experts will share their professional hardwood floor cleaning tips that will get your floors sparkling again. These tips go beyond just helping you choose the best mop for hardwood floor cleaning, and teach you something about hardwood to guide your efforts.
Basics To Understand For Hardwood Floor Cleaning
It is most important that you understand the nature of your hardwood floors. Wood is a natural material and its properties allow it to stay clean under a lot of foot traffic, but you still need to clean it from time to time.
One of the first parts you need to identify about your hardwood floor is if they are sealed, and what type of sealer they have. Most modern hardwood floors have a polyurethane sealer that can stand up to almost any cleaning product.
Older hardwood might not be sealed, so you need to be more careful with those floors and avoid getting them too wet. To test if your floor is sealed or not, follow these simple steps:
- Drop a tiny bit of water on an inconspicuous part of the floor.
- See if the water beads up, or absorbs into the wood.
- If the water beads, the hardwood is sealed.
- If the water soaks in, your hardwood is unsealed.
Regular Sweeping Or Vacuuming Maintains Your Floors Best
Dry cleaning your hardwood by sweeping or vacuuming is the best way to keep them clean. Only use water cleaners once or twice per year. Avoiding water on your hardwood is always the best idea, they just don’t need it.
Use a soft bristle broom to sweep your floors so you don’t scratch the finish. Likewise, when vacuuming, you want to raise the beater brush to ensure that it doesn’t do any damage to the top of your hardwoods and that they keep shining.
Getting rid of debris on a frequent basis will prevent anything from scratching the finish of the hardwood floors. Tiny pebbles, pieces of pasta, and even grains of rice could do damage to your hardwoods if someone steps on them.
For Occasional Washing, Choose The Correct Cleaning Product
Every wood floor, and really by that we mean every wood finish, requires a special cleaning regimen. Find out which type of finish you have, then consult the manufacturer about what is the best cleaning product to use on your floors.
If you can’t find the manufacturer or don’t know which type of finish you have, you can test cleaning products on hard-to-see areas. Clean a small area with different cleaners, then let it sit for a few days to a week.
If your floor looks clean and undamaged after a week, that product is most likely safe to use. Be sure to find a product specifically designed for hardwood floors and follow all of the directions that come with it for the best results.
Minimal Moisture Washing For Hardwood Floor Cleaning
Whenever you wash your hardwood floors, be sure to use as little water as possible. If moisture gets into the wood, it can swell and this might cause the floor to break, which is never a good thing. Wooden boards normally shrink down to their original size once they are dry, but damage can occur with the floor moving.
You should use a microfiber or other low-moisture mop when you want to wash your hardwood floors. These types of mops don’t need to be as wet as a cotton or polyester mop, so there is less chance of getting too much water on the hardwood.
Be careful to wring out your mop before going to scrub the floor to ensure that you don’t get them too wet. If you can’t understand this concept, you might want to consult a professional about cleaning your hardwood floors.
Hardwood Floor Cleaning Machine
There are hardwood floor cleaning machines available from various manufacturers. These hardwood floor cleaning machines all work fine, but they really aren’t necessary if you can put in a little extra effort with the cleaning techniques we have recommended.
Hardwood floor cleaning machines can make the job of cleaning hardwood floors easier and faster for your convenience. If you decide to invest in a machine, make sure that you follow all of the instructions to protect your floors from damage.
Even if you do buy a hardwood floor cleaning machine, you will still need to be diligent about sweeping or vacuuming the floors. That is truly the best way of cleaning hardwood, and no machine can take the place of these efforts.
Understand Hardwood Floor Warning Signs
Your hardwood floors will tell you if they need care or if they are getting too much moisture. The shape of the wood will change when there is too much water near them. If you haven’t cleaned them with water, swelling boards could be an indication of a leak in your plumbing.
Hardwood also responds to changes in temperature and air humidity. You should keep track of your hardwood floor’s changes to know when is a good time to clean, and when the added moisture might be too much.
If wood stays wet for too long, it can rot and be damaged beyond repair. Rot is a fungal growth that destroys the integrity of the wood. Understanding the humidity and how your floors absorb water will help you prevent any unfortunate rotting situations.
Should I Recoat My Hardwood Floors?
Refinishing and recoating hardwood floors is a difficult and time-consuming job. You want to avoid this task if you can.
Hardwood floors should only need a recoating after a few decades. If you move into a home with scratched-up floors, it might be worth it to re-coat them.
For the most part, you might be able to touch up scratched areas and continue maintaining the floors with these cleaning techniques. Hardwood floors are incredibly resilient if you keep them clean.
If you have some questions, feel free to reach out. You can contact us online here. You can also call us at 202-883-4003 or 703-677-1050 for booking an appointment.
