How to Maintain Hardwood Floors

• Real Estate Tips
• January 2, 2020

Is your current hardwood flooring looking a little lackluster? There are ways to bring back the shine and color to your floors, but it’s also important that you know how to keep them looking nice longer. Hardwood flooring is a valuable home feature, so take the time to keep up on maintenance.

How to Clean Hardwood Floors

There are proper and improper ways to clean hardwood floors. For starters, using too much water can be bad for hardwood, as water could cause the wood to splinter or crack.

For cleaning, the mop should be damp rather than soaking wet. You can choose to mop with 4 cups water and castile soap to spot clean but using a cleaner could help your floor look good longer. For example, hardwood cleaner is typically safe for all types of wood flooring and fast drying.

How Often Should You Clean Hardwood?

High traffic areas that have hardwood flooring should be swept or vacuumed daily, or at least once a week. This includes hallways, the foyer, and the kitchen. Limiting the amount of grime your floor sees can extend its splendor.

If spills occur, rather than mopping, spot cleaning is preferable to a full mop. If you must mop your hardwood floors, stick to cleaners that provide quick drying and leave no residue.

Best Products to Maintain Hardwood Flooring

There are various ways you could go about taking care of your hardwood floors, but these products may help make the task easier:

• Flat Microfiber Mop

This type of mop reduces the amount of water you use–which is great for maintaining the look and durability of hardwood. The microfiber pad can be removed and washed for easy cleanup, or you may buy a mop with disposable

• Roomba

A Roomba, otherwise known as iRobot, is super convenient to have because it is a cleaning device. There are various models, the 600 series picks up all the dirt and grime from your hardwood floors, while the 900 series mops for a deeper clean.

• Steam Mop

With the cleaning power of steam, this mop sanitizes by killing about 99 percent of germs and it doesn’t leave a residue like regular mops. The Bissell Power Fresh mop does it all and includes a slot for you to insert a fragrance disk. With microfiber pads, it’s safe for hardwood.

• Wringing Microfiber Mop

This type of mop looks like the traditional kind, with a fluffy head. But it can wring itself, so you limit the amount of water used on your hardwood floors. There are mops that come with a wringing bucket or you can get one that simply twists at the handle.