If your wooden floors are generally in good condition, then simply sweeping or vacuuming with a floor nozzle should be sufficient to keep them clean. You can follow up with a damp mop if necessary. Be careful when washing your wooden floors though, as using too much water can cause the woods protective coating to dissolve, and avoid harsh chemicals at all costs. One natural and gentle cleaning solution that will also help your wooden floors to shine, is ½ cup of vinegar and 2 tablespoons of furniture polish diluted with a gallon of warm water.
Here are some more specialized cleaning tips for your wooden floors:
Cleaning your oiled wooden flooring:
- The manufacturer or store where you purchased your flooring from, will have the best advice for cleaning oiled flooring, and will recommend specific products for you to use. Do sweep your oiled wooden flooring regularly though, as dirt and grime can quickly become ground in. Don’t allow stains to remain for long, and try not to scratch the surface with a vacuum cleaner.
- Use plain water if you want to wet clean your floor, or place a capful of liquid oil soap into a bucket with 8 cups of water and use that to mop with. Don’t get the floor too wet, and after washing and the floor is dry, you can buff it with a cloth.
Getting the sparkle back:
- Sweep or dry mop the floor first, and then place waxed paper under a sponge mop and work your way around the flooring, changing the paper as and when necessary.
How to remove stains and smells:
- Urine stains are particularly tricky to remove from wooden flooring, and the best solution is to sand it and refinish it, as the floor colouring will be so hard to match once the stain has been treated. However, you can try blotting the affected area with a cloth first, to get rid of any remaining fluid. Then, spray a specialized product containing peroxide and detergent onto the area and allow it to sit and penetrate for at least 5 minutes. Then simply wipe it clean.
- You could also try using undiluted vinegar to get rid of the stain, but don’t allow the vinegar to sit for too long.
- For more stubborn stains or pongs, you can try buffing the affected area with super fine 000 grade steel wool and floor wax, rubbing it with the gran of the wood wherever possible. Hopefully it will begin to blend in and you can continue rubbing gently until it disappears.
The key to cleaning wooden floors is to do it gently and always follow manufacturers’ instructions, as they will know their product best and will have tested it rigorously. There’s nothing worse than stained or smelly flooring, but tackle it in the wrong way, and you can make the problem much, much worse.