How to Care for Your Hardwood Floor

Even though hardwood floors can be expensive compared to other flooring types, they look absolutely stunning, especially when you take care of them and keep yours clean. A hardwood floor can last you for many years, proving to be an excellent investment, but proper maintenance is necessary if that is going to happen. It’s also a sustainable flooring option, with hardwoods being replenished faster than they are being cut down and used.

This kind of flooring can go well with just about any room design format, and if you want your hardwood floors to provide that brilliant aesthetic that they are so good at, then the following floor care tips will help.

Regular Cleaning Is Key

One of the most important hardwood floor tips we can share is that they should be cleaned frequently. It is best if you can sweep or vacuum the floor every day. We also recommend that you mop the floor at least once a week. Always do the dry cleaning before you attempt a wet cleaning, though.

How often you need to clean the floor and how often deep cleaning is required will be determined by how much foot traffic the floor gets. If you have a lot of people living in your home, you will need to clean the floors more often and give them intensive cleaning care frequently.  

That may sound like a lot of work, which is why many people will set up a cleaning schedule for their home, setting aside a time of day for routine cleaning and then a day in the week for more detailed cleaning. This helps to keep your hardwood floors looking amazing for a long time.

What Tools to Use for Hardwood Floor Cleaning

You could clean your floor with a broom and dustpan, but you can take advantage of more sophisticated cleaning tools than that to give your hardwood floors a more thorough cleaning and save yourself some work. Our tool of choice would be the microfiber dust mop. It is effortless to use, and it cleans more thoroughly than a broom would. The microfiber dust mop is easy to keep clean- much easier than regular brooms- so you can tidy your floor with a clean tool every time rather than brushing old dirt and grime across it. Many of them have removable heads that can be replaced with new heads very cheaply.

The second cleaning tool you’ll need is a vacuum, but not just any vacuum. You need to be careful about the kind of vacuum cleaner you choose, because the wrong kind will scratch your hardwood floor. You can either use a vacuum’s hardwood floor attachment or buy a vacuum made specifically for hardwood floors. The second option will be better and reduce the risk of scratching, but it will likely be more expensive as well.

The final tool you’ll need is a wet mop. The microfiber mop is the best option, since it does not scratch hardwood floors and does not absorb a lot of water. A regular cotton mop that uses thick, braided strands of fabric to clean with will hold a lot of water and will easily over-wet your floor. You want a mop that is damp rather than soaked with water, which is why we recommend that microfiber mop.

You have to be careful about using water to clean your hardwood floor. Water can cause warping and rot, so use it sparingly and opt for a cleaning solution rather than plain water. It’s really easy to damage your floor by using too much water or by using the wrong kind of cleaning chemical or mop. That’s why many people prefer to have professionals clean their hardwood floors for them, using services like Imagine Maids in Denver to ensure their floors are cleaned properly, thoroughly, and safely.

You have to treat your hardwood floors delicately, because they are easy to damage if you don’t know what you are doing.

Tips for Keeping the Hardwood Floor Clean

How do you give yourself less work to do and make sure that your floors stay looking clean most of the time? Try these tips.

Ban Shoes

You could enact a rule in your home that no shoes are allowed on the hardwood floor, just like you might to protect a nice carpet. Shoes can scratch your hardwood, so you may want to limit inside shoes to house slippers to protect the floors. That also gives you less dirt and other debris to clean off the floors.

Add a Mat

The addition of a mat to the doorway or entryway closest to the hardwood floor is a good idea if you want to cut down on dust and dirt on the floor. This will give people a chance to wipe their feet before they start walking on the floor.

Keep Cleaning Tools Close by

Spills are dangerous for hardwood floors, and wet spills can create sticky spots or soak into the floor and damage it. Dry spills can scratch the floor as people walk over them and create friction between the debris and the floor.

So, you will want to clean up any spills from your floor very quickly. You might want to keep some cleaning supplies close by so that there is no delay in removing spills of any kind. Keep a broom and dustpan handy for dry spills and paper towels or a microfiber mop on hand for wet spills. The sooner you clean up spills, the less likely you are to have a damaged floor. This simple precaution will greatly extend the life of your hardwood floor.

Hardwood floors are not difficult to clean, and they can look very attractive when kept clean and well maintained. As long as you know the right cleaning methods, you can keep yours in great shape and ensure it stays spotless.