Monthly Archives: January 2017

There’s no denying the attractiveness of a hardwood floor that immediately arrests your attention the moment you step into a home. The beauty and elegance associated with a hardwood floor are unmistakably timeless. On the other hand, a hardwood floor is extremely durable that can retain its originality for years and also has the ability to withstand wear and tear for long periods.

However, a hardwood floor is bound to lose its texture and capacity to withstand wear and tear if proper care of the same is not undertaken regularly. Any home cleaning project is incomplete if the floors of a house or dwelling are not cleaned and maintained periodically. Following are some of the recommended ways when it comes to floor cleaning.

1. Sweep up and mop daily

One of the simplest floor cleaning tips that you can take advantage is to ensure that the floorings in your home are swept and mopped on an everyday basis. Use a good quality broom with soft hairs (the bristles should be hard-wearing and should not come off easily) for sweeping the floors thoroughly. Investing in a broom that’ll serve you for years will be a practical decision and will not cost much either.

A broom will enable you to sweep out tiny and microscopic particles that get deposited over time and may cause scrapes on the hardwood floor. After you’re through with sweeping, use a moistened mop or swab (preferably of fabric) for wiping the floors. This’ll keep the floors spic and span.

2. Take out the vacuum cleaner once in a while

There are areas in your home that you won’t be able to access with the broom. Spaces beneath cupboards, settees, beds and other household furniture are some of the areas that the broom won’t be able to reach. However, specks of dirt and microbes easily find their way into the most impregnable of areas and settle down. You can conveniently clear the dust from areas that a broom cannot reach with the help of a vacuum cleaner.

Any standard portable vacuum cleaner comes with extender attachments and accessories that can help in drawing out dust particles from parquets, tile grouts, and other difficult-to-reach areas.

3. Either wax or wash clean the floors

Whether you’ll use wax polish or detergent water for retaining the glossiness of the hardwood floor will depend upon nature of the surface sealing.  Surface sealing could comprise of synthetic resin like polyurethane or urethane that lends toughness to the parquet, cork, timber or amalgamated flooring. Once the sealing dries up completely it makes the floor highly resistant to water, oil, alcohol, dilute acids, and alkalis.

The interior decorator or the company that you engaged for doing the flooring in your residence may have suggested you a premium quality cleaning product for holding on to the patina. However, high costs might act as a deterrent from using those products on a routine basis. The safest and the most practical option for you are to use water and a mild detergent as far as surface-sealed hardwood floor cleaning is concerned.

You’d just need to mix a quarter or a half cup of mild cloth-washing or dishwashing detergent to a pail containing water. Thereafter dip a swab and squeeze the cloth fully before mopping the floors. If you want to avoid the floor picking up smudges or stripes, better stick to using distilled water.

4. What if the floors are untreated or treated with shellac or varnish?

Floors that have been left untreated or shellac, varnish or oil has been used for surface sealing are vulnerable to humidity and not as durable as floorboards treated with synthetic resin. In such a scenario, you’d have to take out the old waxing from the tiles using a stripper. After the panels have dried fully, apply a fresh wax coating.          

Picture Credit: jarmoluk