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hardwood floor cleaning 101. Anyone want to teach?

16 years ago

i've never had hardwood floors before and I do now in my kitchen and I'm at a total loss as to how to clean them. I'm just getting ready to move into my kitchen and I want to be prepared.

so could someone be so kind as to walk me through how to clean my beautiful walnut floors? I need specifics. I realize sweeping daily but with what? All I've ever used is a broom. Is that still ok? Then beyond that.

I know this sounds like such an idiotic question but honestly I'm at a loss.

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Comments (4)

User
16 years ago
I use a microfiber cloth over one of those swiffer floor cleaners that you push over the floor. Use it as needed. When it's time for "wet" cleaning, I lightly dampen a cloth with water only and wipe and then dry. We have an oil finish on our floors and once in a while, I spritz a mix of 1/3 white vinegar/ 2/3 water on the floors for cleaning. I would not waste my money on any cleaning products - they just aren't needed.

Never never never use Murphy's soap.
kitchenlover
16 years ago
I don't have hardwood in my kitchen but in all my bedrooms and living/dining room.

I just moved into my house last summer so I'm learning, too.

I started by using a broom and dustpan to sweep up loose particles. This got old, and seeing as I had to use a vacuum for my area rugs, just started to use the vacuum with the beater brush off instead of the broom.

I bought a microfiber mop (Mystic Mop?) that has washable pads that are attached with velcro and use this as my next step. I lightly dampen the pad and sometimes add a bit of Method pink grapefruit cleaner.

If I'm feeling really ambitious I'll follow up with a damp white rag (I use the cheap, bundled washcloths) in the high-traffic areas.

You might want to think about getting a rug for your kitchen. I have a 4x6 indoor/outdoor rug in mine that grabs lots of particles tracked in.
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Thanks for your suggestions on chemicals and warnings against drum sanding. I went shopping Monday morning for chemicals, and in the meantime Mr. Weedy made faster passes on the floor with the sander to avoid heating up and globbing the shellac or whatever was on the floor. Results: Denatured alcohol did nothing. I tried wiping with a rag, scrubbing with steel wool, flooding a small area and letting it sit, all with no results. Guess it's not shellac. I then tried lacquer thinner. Scrubbing with a rag seemed to have an effect, so I did a fairly large area. Once it dried, however, there was minimal results, and less so on the unsanded wood than sanded. I tried it in one of the bedrooms that had a single sanding pass, and quit once I started feeling a little stomach cramping. :-) Yes, I had the windows open and a fan going. Sanding that didn't seem any different from the area I didn't apply the lacquer thinner. Didn't try the mineral spirits yet. In the meantime Mr. Weedy had sanded one of the bedrooms about 18 times with 60 grit (seemed to create more dust than 20 grit), and made headway. I took an orbital sander with 40 grit to the spots left behind (slightly deeper grooves/dents) and here's where we're at: Bottom left corner is where I hand sanded. Lowe's had no oxalic acid, but we've got some in our garage 100 miles away, so we'll work on the kitchen again later. Also, in the meantime, we used a belt sander on the mosaic inlay portions to get off the lippage, machine sanded over it to even out the belt sander marks, and then chipped away with a hand sander to get the residual off. This shows what our eventual goal is, but it'll be dozens of hours if we have to hand sand off this finish. I've done some more googling and may try citrus strip or Formby's furniture restorer to remove the finish. We've also got this area that had tile over it. The thinset seems to have bleached out the wood where it touched, but even aggressive hand sanding is having a tough time evening out all the discoloration. I'm still very open to additional suggestions to attack this. And I must say that I now know the answer to the question, "why would anyone cover up hardwood floors?" Anyone who asks has never personally refinished them. :-)
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Youre right that theres a lot of hardwood info out there. Its taken me many years to be able to grasp all the info. If you are looking to replicate the orginial look of the floors back to when the house was orginal than my best advice is find a HW professional who deals with historic renovations. Not only will he be able to find any wood you may need but he may be able to keep some of what you already have and patch in new stuff flawlessly. He'll be able to go over your house and tell you just exactly what your options are. You wont have to worry about finding the wood. Just write a check. Probably a large one. Its not cheap. Hopefully you allotted enough for the floors in your budget. Now if youre trying to do this DIY. Get ready. Its not easy. Infact i dont think theres enough space for me to go over everything you need to know. Biggest points i can make. Get a hold of a pro hardwood guy who only does hardwood. Not that guy on the corner in town that does carpet vinyl tile and wood. Stay away from them. The pro can help you get the best choice for wood. Red oak is very very common and many mills offer "antique" looking oak. If you have any other questions (be specific) and ill try my best to help.
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domesticah
16 years ago
Hi. I have wood floors throughout my house, including the kitchen. My floors are refinished with 2 coats of polyurethaine (sp?) over (naturally colored) oak,and 3" planks(rather than that new floating flooring.) I have to say, I cook a lot, so my kitchen floors get dirty. I've had the floor refinished in the kitchen 2x in seven years because of my over-zelous cleaning. Don't let this happen to you. The second time I refinished them, the floor guy told me only use a white vineger and water solution (or just water) to clean wood floors. I vacuum every day in the kitchen and use a string mop with plain water every day and the vinegar solution about every two weeks. I wipe up the excess vinegar solution up with an old towel (to prevent it from looking streaky). Different rules apply for waxed floors and other types of wood flooring -- so you may want to call a reputable installer and ask their opinion if you have one of the new kinds of floors. Good luck.
marie26
16 years ago
I just rented a home with hardwood floors. They, unfortunately, are not refinished so I'm afraid to clean them with water because I'd heard that water can ruin the floors. Other than refinishing them myself (which I really don't want to put the effort and money into it), how should they be cleaned?

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