Hard wood floors are valuable and sensitive, but they don’t need to be specially cared for. There are simple methods to cleaning your hard wood floors while still keeping them in pristine condition. Here are tips and steps on how to clean hard wood floors:
First, here are some things to keep in mind before you clean to make sure they are extra clean and sparkly when you’re done:
- Go shoe free. Keeping shoes at the door and avoiding wearing them on the floors all the time will prevent a lot of dirt from coming in.
- Dust the baseboards. Before a floor cleaning and after you’ve dusted a room, sweep a dust wand over the baseboards. All the dirt will fall to the ground and will be picked up when you clean the floor.
- Work from the top down. Clean your floors last because when you clean the rest of the house, dust and dirt will fall on the floor, so you might as well save the floor for last and get it all at once rather than having to go back after you clean the floor the first time.
Now for supplies, all you need is:
- a broom
- a dust pan
- a steam mop
- steam mop replacement pads
To give your floor a really good clean, move everything from the space, unless it’s furniture you can easily get under, and sweep the entire floor. This allows you to pick up dust bunnies, dirt and larger items that a Swiffer can’t pick up.
Next, use the steam mop to clean the rest. You don’t have to use any chemicals or carry around a bucket, mop or sponge and it does a good job. It’s all natural and will only take a few minutes. You will see the steam on the floor and will see the cleaning pay off when the pad visibly collects all the remaining dirt. Another good thing about a steam mop is that you can just throw the pads in the wash and reuse them. The steam dries pretty quickly so you can put everything back in its place in no time!
For a deeper cleaning every now and then, use a wood cleaning product diluted according to its instructions. Dip a sponge or mop in the water, wring it out as much as possible so it’s just damp, mop the floor with that then rinse the floor with a clean mop dampened in clear water. Wipe up extra liquid to prevent water damage on the wood. This only needs to be done every so often, maybe a couple times a year. The steam mop is perfect for your weekly cleaning.