How to Clean Hardwood Floors (and Make them Shine) | Real Estate
Whether your household came with hardwood floors or you upgraded to them just after moving in, hardwood is an financial commitment truly worth preserving. And to that end, it is significant to know how to correctly clean and keep hardwood flooring. Here’s how to keep your hardwood floors in major condition for several years to appear.
Vacuum Your Flooring Before Cleaning Them
Before you use any form of cleansing remedy to your hardwood floors, it is a fantastic notion to 1st operate a vacuum about them to take away dust and debris. If your vacuum has a “hardwood floor” setting, that’s the a single you are going to want to use. You can also sweep your floors prior to cleaning them if you’re not at ease employing a vacuum, but lots of vacuum cleaners are rated for hardwood flooring and are developed not to bring about destruction.
Use the Proper Cleaning Solution and Instruments
Hardwood flooring need to have to be dealt with cautiously so they retain their construction and end, so it’s critical to use the suitable cleaning items. Stefan Bucur, founder and operator at house structure business Rhythm of the Household in Lewisville, Texas, says, “One particular huge oversight homeowners make is using vinegar or acidic dependent options. The acid in the vinegar can eat absent at the ground finish, creating it deteriorate speedier.”
Jeremy Henley, founder and CEO of genuine estate technological know-how enterprise TheQwikFix in Carlsbad, California, agrees. “Choose for a gentle, pH-neutral cleaner exclusively created for hardwood flooring,” he suggests. “These cleaners are formulated to eliminate filth and grime with out harming the wood.”
There are wooden-cleansing products you can obtain that really don’t include harsh chemical compounds or acidic solutions, and you can find them at your nearby household advancement store. But if you’d fairly make your personal remedy, you can use a combination of biodegradable cleaning soap or castile cleaning soap and h2o. Usually, you’ll want to use a compact sum of cleaning soap – as tiny as 1 teaspoon – blended with numerous cups of water.
No matter what solution you use, if you are putting a new solution to do the job (possibly just one you’ve ordered or made yourself), it’s a good thought to exam it out on a little patch of flooring that is not really visible. You can, for instance, test an spot of hardwood beneath a piece of home furnishings and make guaranteed you like the success right before utilizing that product or service during your property.
In addition to working with the ideal option, it is essential to use the correct resources when cleansing your flooring. The finest alternative for cleansing hardwood is a microfiber mop or cloth, states Bucur.
You should not Oversaturate Your Flooring
Once you have found the right cleansing answer to use on your hardwood floors, you’ll need to have to be watchful not to use also much of it. As a standard rule, if your floors are completely soaked, you have gone overboard.
“(Oversaturating) can lead to unwanted water destruction to prefinished hardwood floors, and can lead to the notorious wood warping and enlargement impact where by your wood planks expand and bend out of their place,” states Bucur.
Use a Sealant Every single Couple Years
You don’t have to use a sealant each individual time you clean up your hardwood flooring. In reality, you especially should not do that. But you really should intention to seal flooring just about every handful of decades to help them stay away from destruction and glimpse their greatest.
“A sealant coupled with a hardwood finish can make your wooden floors shine and glimpse brand new, and it is the default choice for most house owners who want to deliver their hardwood floor back again to existence without the need of paying out also much money,” claims Bucur.
Make Upkeep Aspect of Your Regimen
You may possibly make a decision to clear your hardwood flooring once a week or when every other week. But really, sweeping and dusting just about every other day or so will make them a lot easier to clean and maintain.
“Just one of the easiest and most helpful approaches to preserve your hardwood floors seeking thoroughly clean and shiny is to dust and sweep them frequently. This will support to get rid of grime, dust and other particles that can scratch and boring the floor of your floors,” says Henley. “Use a comfortable, dry cloth or a dust mop to carefully sweep the flooring, and make guaranteed to get into corners and crevices.”
Give Your Floors Ongoing Security
It’s vital to use the proper cleansing resolution for your hardwood flooring so they don’t maintain destruction. But there are other ways you can choose along these lines.
Henley advises to keep away from walking on hardwood floors with superior heels that have the possible to bring about chips or dents. He also suggests employing felt pads under furniture legs to avoid holes and scratching.
Putting rugs in superior-website traffic parts of your household could also help your hardwood flooring past lengthier by stopping use and tear. Furthermore, rugs are a fantastic way to add some texture to your interior and spruce it up.
“With a very little little bit of regular treatment and consideration, your hardwood floors will keep on being a gorgeous and timeless feature of your home,” suggests Henley.
