What do you use of your hardwood floors??
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion: Archive January 2004:
What do you use of your hardwood floors??
Our new house is almost all hardwood floors. I can't seem to get them as nice and shiny as when we moved in. I am not sure what the previous owner used, but whenever we came to look at the house the floors looked awesome. When I clean, there seems to be still residue left over. You can still kind of see footprints. Does that make sense. So help, what should I use?? I have tried several cleaners and none of them work great. I am tired of wasting money.
Do you know what your finish is? Mine is 'Street Shoe' which is a commercial finish that is used in stores and heavy traffic areas. However, we have the 'matte' finish because I was warned that a shiny finish would be frustrating in a few years because the traffic path would wear down the shine and it would be very obvious. So ours are never shiny anyway with the matte finish! However I digress....
I admit I hardly ever wash them! We never wear shoes in the house, so we just use the Swiffer on them to dust. When actually mopping I use a 3/4 water, 1/4 Windex combo. I DON'T like the Swiffer Wet Jet hardwood floor cleaner, nor do I like the Swiffer wet cloths. With Swiffer I only use the dry dusting cloths. I know people who use a Pledge or Endust or whatever brand dust cloths on their Swiffer mop. These are the premoistened dusting cloths and yes, they produce a shine! But I don't think they are good for the floors at all! They will leave a residue and eventually make it that you have to sand the floors to get rid of it. Try just dry dusting and then the water/Windex combo. Also, if you dry the floors with some towels right after mopping you'll get a better result.
For the most part I suggest you NOT mop often. DUST or vacuum them often, as dirt acts as sandpaper and will ruin your finish, but actual wet mopping isn't very necessary. If you have an entrance way with lots of footprints, get an entryway rug and use water/Windex on the stray footprints. Good luck!
You know how people say they LOVE their hard wood floors?? Well, mine drive me crazy. LOL
I have had 2 people tell me to get the Hoover Floormate hard surface floor cleaner. It does tile and wood. You can clean them dry or wet. Their is cleaning solution that you use with the cleaner. I saw one at Sam's the other day and told dh we will be getting one soon. 
I had to clean my floors yesterday (having company this weekend). I swiffered them Thursday, then had to sweep them yesterday, then used my swiffer wetjet with wood floor cleaner...It left some streaks and didnt get some spots as clean as I thought they should be. grrrr I ended up having to get on my hands and knees with damp towel and dry towel in hand. I wash and then wipe dry. THEN I took the Orange Glo wood polish and sprayed it on my floors because I wanted them shinier. It took me about 3 hours, by the time I wiped all the banisters down, etc... ugh I really want one of those hoover floormates~ I have just heard so many good things about them.
Good luck!
We also picked a very natural looking tile for this house and it never dwned on me that it is very porous... So I have to scrub my kitchen floor on my hands and knees too. Dirt collects down in the rough porous looking part of the tiles. Needless to say I just dont clean my house that much. LOL
BTW, I have tried a bunch of different cleaners so far and havent been that impressed with any. I also have just used vinegar and water. We have well water that streaks and spots badly so I would have to mop a section and then quickly go back and dry it.
Thanks for the tips. The finish is not a real shiny finish. I am not as concerned with the shine as I am with the spots of kind of residue. I think it may be the mop that I am using. I used Murphy's Oil floor cleaner this morning, but I used a different mop and they seem much cleaner without the residue. I think I wasn't wiping them down enough. The new mop has a think absorbant terry cloth pad.
The boys and I are very good about taking our shoes off when we come in the house. I need to work on Dh he drives me crazy. He brought in footprints of salt and grime last night. Unfortunately, we have hardwood in our kitchen. With 2 little boys, I have to mop in there every few days.
Conni, I have heard nothing but good things about the Hoover Floormate. In fact, I saw one at Target last week. I may have to treat myself this weekend. I was excited about the hardwood floors because I love how they look. Now, I am wondering what I got myself into. They are a pain to keep clean.
Kate, I used the Orange Glo on my floors a few weeks ago. I didn't read the label first and noticed when I was done it said not to use on floors because it will cause them to be slippery. Gosh, they looked great, but were so slippery that everyone was sliding all over the place!!!! Not good. Were yours slippery after you used it??
I have wood floors and I broke down and bought the floormate! IT IS AWESOME! So quick, and leaves the floors looking squeaky clean! I highly recommend the floormate, it does take a second to get the "hang" of it, but it really does save on time.
Also, we were told NOT to use Murphy's oil soap on our floors, and damn I can't remember why!
I use the EnviroSteamer on mine. Not very often though. Really only about once a month, but I sweep and swiffer every other day. I was always warned against Murphy's Oil Soap and the lot. I heard they just dry out your floors, so you have to keep reapplying the product. I was even told that Murphy's would void out my guarantee for my cherry cabinets!
Mine are pretty old floors and have no finish left on them, but they are in pretty good shape. (No warn down spots,well, ok, where I tried to scrub paint off with a scrubby sponge. Oops.)
I do use Lemon Oil on my wood furniture. Maybe a bit of that on the floors. Hmmm, sorry, I'm not much of a help.
Conni-they make a sealer for tile that should help. Clean them really well and apply the sealer. It should help you to keep them clean.
Kate-We have friends that just redid their hardwood floors and chose the same finish. It's supposed to have a longer lasting finish that the glossy. With kids and a dog, they thought it was a good choice.
I bought Holloway House professional quick shine for wood floors and tile. Seems to make the floor shiner after each use. Not recommended for unsealed wood.
Whoops! It was actually Conni who used the Orange Glo. I would be afraid of both that and the Murphy's Oil Soap ruining the finish. It's not something that shows up immediately, it just might damage it over time. It's the build-up you need to worry about. When we moved in we refinished ALL the floors (we have them everywhere) so we've ONLY used water/Windex and the occasional Street Shoe cleaner the floor people sold us. I have no build-up, so when next I want to refinish them, due to wear and tear (not for a LONG time, they're in great shape after nine years) they will only need to wash them down with some special cleaner, and then they can add a new coat or two of finish. With build up from products, the new finish won't adhere, so you have to SAND them. Quite an undertaking and a big difference between WASHING and sanding. Just something to think about!
As for the kitchen floor, I just wipe up ASAP when something spills and that's all. I don't do the whole floor that way. If I don't notice it or can't get to it immediately, I still only tackle that particular spot, not the whole floor. It might be easier on your to simply wet a dishtowel every night after the kids are in bed, and wipe up under the table. Sometimes I do that. I HATE mopping, and honestly, I don't do it more than four times a year, and the floor truly looks great! It doesn't look dirty. There aren't sticky areas, there aren't telltale areas that show up in the right light that show dirt, etc.
Your husband needs to be tactfully, and in concerned voice, be told that salt and dirt and grime will ruin the floors very soon. That all scratches the wood and ruins the finish. With the finish scratched up, it makes the floor unprotected and then the WOOD gets ruined. Ruining the finish is one thing, that's kind of what it's there for, but when you ruin it so badly the bare wood is exposed (even with hairline cracks in the finish) the water will seep in and destroy the wood. Then you're talking new floors, not just resanding. So in other words, you'll spend a lot of money replacing the floors if you're not careful. I know he's not used to Chicago and salt and snow, but yikes!! Most men understand money, so if you tell him how expensive it will be to replace them, he might remove those shoes fast! LOL!
Good luck! I really love my floors and find them totally non maintenance.
Oh, P.S. You won't like this, but when I DO mop, I usually do the hands and knees with a dishtowel method. Real mops don't wring out well enough to put on wood, IMO. I wring out the dishtowel really well and being on my hands and knees I can see the spots that need extra muscle. Maybe if you do this once, you can clean them up really well and then just dry Swiffer mop them and spot clean them in the necessary spots. You might find them easier to maintain then and be able to enjoy them!
I have hardwoods with a very shiny finish and all my housekeeper will use on them is vinegar solution with warm water. When she first started for me, I was using the Pleadge Mop and Shine and she is Brazilian and said, OH NO!! Vinegar only! I thought she was crazy, but we have had beautiful floors for 4 years now...no residue, no shiny feetprint and smears....try it!
Another thing I should have had added earlier, she refuses to use a mop as well, but she has soemthing like the swiffer stick and she uses cotton tshirts, cloth baby diapers and those kind of really absorbent rags on them.
Marsha, Thats what my builder told me when we were done building our house! He said I would never need to use anything other than Water/Vinegar on cabinets, floors and windows! I, of course, didnt listen...
Well I will have to stop using the Murphys Oil floor cleaner. I have only used it twice, hopefully I didn't do too much damage.
Marsha, thanks for the tip about the vinegar. I will have to use that. I also have cloth diapers left from when the boys were little. Sounds like it would be easy to attach them to my swifter mop stick.
After I dropped off ds at school, I got a big rug to put in the laudry room, along with a shoe rack. Hopefully, dh will get the hint. The floor were just put in a few years ago and look great. I don't want them to get ruined.
Also, in a few area were the previous owner had big rugs, the floors are a lighter color. Does anyone know why this is. I was wondering if she used some type of cleaner that changed the color of the wood and she just didn't pick up the rugs and do underneath them.
I was given the hint in Germany, when we lived there in an apartment with hardwood floors. I've used this method ever since, and find it works better than any commercial products I've tried. I use two cups of white vinegar in a bucket of hot water. I wring my mop out as dry as possible, and simply damp mop. It cuts the grease, and picks up dirt, leaving a nice shine. I love the way the vinegar seems to clean the air in my house as I do this. I have a 4,500 sq ft house that has hardwood in every room but the kitchen, bathrooms and sun porch. On those floors I use the same method, but spray Windex and mop. It cleans and shines the ceramic tiles and the Pergo.
Debbie, simple sunlight will lighten floors. The areas where her rugs covered them was protected from the sun and stayed darker.
The floors are lighter because there is less dirt residue. Not nice, but true. LOL!
What kind of vinegar? I'll have to try it! Just white vinegar? Thanks.
Yes just white vinegar and water.
No need to MOP floors every week, just spot clean and swiffer once a week.
i too have floor mate and would not sell it for $1M!!! I also have a steam mop, which I love just as much. I had nail polish on my floor and the steam mop got it up!!
As long as we are on the subject, when do you get your floors resurfaced? I know there is a time span and hope I am not close!
I always know when to MOP my floor when the kids socks start getting dirty ROFL!!!! but true.
I always look at my kids friends socks since we do NOT wear shoes in the house and am so proud when mine are whiter, stupid I know but just a thing I have.
Cleaning the floors was my job as a child, I learned well..
I use white vinegar and water. We have shiny birch and maple floors. They sometimes look wet they are so shiny. The guy who refinished them said to just use water or vinegar and water on them so that's what I do. He told me to absolutely not use murphy's oil soap and he also said keep furniture polish away from them because they will get super slippery.
I used the white vinegar and they look great. It took all the residue looking stuff off. Thanks for all the help. I told dh that he can not wear shoes in the house, especially with the snow and salt. Now, that they are nice and clean, I am going to just spot clean in the kitchen and swifter.
Thanks for all your help. Gosh Eve, I hope the difference in color is not because of residue. There is a big difference in color. In fact, I had to put rugs in the same places to cover it up.
Floors darken over time when exposed to the light and air. The floors underneath the rugs weren't exposed to that. They'll probably even up eventually.
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