How do you care for your hardwood floors?

[oceanchild]

Our house has almost all hardwood floors, and I love the look of them. Our parents told us the best way to keep them up is to mop them occasionally with just water and white vinegar.

But I've discovered that I absolutely despise mopping, which really decreases the likelihood that I'll actually do it.

So right now I run the vacuum or sweep every couple weeks and try to make myself mop once a month. Are there better options? If I got a swiffer wet jet or something, is that cleaner horrible for the floors?

Thanks.

[JaneDoe]

I think it depends on the type of finish you have. Our hardwoods have a polyurethane finish (sp?) and our installer recommended dry mopping them. I use a dry Swiffer to dry mop and I love it. The installer also recommended that we use a product called Bona to damp mop anything that doesn't sweep up. I don't mop, instead I'm down on my hands and knees using a cloth to get spills up after I dry mop. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I feel that I can better control how much moisture hits the wood that way.

My Mom uses water and white vinegar on her hardwoods. I think it is fine. Our installer said just not to use anything with citrus like Orange Glo. Citrus damages the finish.

[Vishenka69]

I find that Swifter does a better job than a Dyson. I have one with the vacuum function in case I need to pick up stuff that doesn't stick to the cloth. Twice a month our cleaners also apply Method hardwood cleaner on them (if I had to do it myself, I'd probably only do it on monthly basis). Our refinisher said not to use water at all. To clean up stubborn stains I spray papertowel with 409 and scrub.

[Ravenclaw]

I just use a damp mop and dry with a towel. Wish there was an easier way.
Has anyone used the iRobot Scooba on hardwood floors?

[DCJenn]

I vacuum with the Dyson and use either the Method cleaner or Murphy's Oil Soap. OK, I vacuum but the cleaning lady does the floors- usually e/o week.

Jenn

[diggitydot]

We sweep every day (giant dog, 3 cats, 3 messy kids, and 1 REALLY messy husband) and mop with the Swiffer Wet pads designed for hardwoods once a week.

[DCJenn]

There was an older post where I delved into the various types of finishes of hardwoods, since I have one of everything. Pine, oak, varnish, exposed, sealed, polyurethane. It's just fun times for floor maintenance in my house!

Jenn

[poky]

There was an older post where I delved into the various types of finishes of hardwoods, since I have one of everything. Pine, oak, varnish, exposed, sealed, polyurethane. It's just fun times for floor maintenance in my house!

And you use the method cleaner and Murphy's on all of it, or do some get one and some get the other?

[DCJenn]

The polyurethane floors (they're newer and oak) get damp mopped, the OLD (pine) floors get the murphy's or the method. (They're original to the house- they've been refinished at least once that we can tell and some are in bad shape) The front half of my house is the part that was built in 1907 and rehabbed in the 1980s. The back half is the 1980s addition.

In our bedroom (new part of the house) we have some kind of varnish- the yellowy kind. That floor usually only gets the damp mop because the murphys will make the floor greasy.

I try to keep as much of the floors covered as possible but there's still spots that need help!

jenn

[oceanchild]

So how do you figure out what kind of finish you're dealing with?

[DCJenn]

1) Age of your house (-25 years- more likely to not have been redone= polyurethane)
2) Has the house been refinished/gutted/redone? (100 years ago floors were sealed with wax or formaldehyde varnishes. Wax/matte= good, varnishes/shiny= bad)
3) Are they wide boards or skinnier than about 4 inches across? Wider boards are more common in older houses before we killed off all of the large stocks of trees- see age, above
4) Pine vs. oak vs. expensive exotics? Pine- common in standard older homes, oak- Tiger oak floors and furniture and inlays were common from about 1850-1920. Pine was the less expensive alternative BUT wide board pine is more valuable than you can imagine these days. Pine is much softer than oak and shows damage much more readily.
5) Shiny vs. matte - less obvious in newer floors as you can request a shiny finish or a matte finish. BUT, in older floors it can make a huge difference.

OK so, wax- soft dust mop, wipe up spills with plain water, wax and buff every couple of years or as needed (ginormous pulsating pain in the arse w/ hardwoods in Victorian homes. My parents had their own floor buffer.

Varnish- Varnish can usually be oil soap cleaned but you have to be careful because varnish cracks and layers peel off, usually exposing the floor underneath. Water WILL damage the wood after a while. I try to limit the oil soap on my damaged floors but unfortunately, the reason why they're damaged is that they're the most commonly walked on area of the house. (center of the house where we eat) Varnish can get sticky with overuse of products though so you have to be careful.

Polyurethane- use nothing more than a damp cloth or dry swiffer.

The key to keeping floors nice looking isn't the washing, it's the keeping the dirt and grime off via vacuums and dusting. The ground in dirt and dust particles are the villians here, not the schmutz landing on the floor in a spill.

Jenn

[oceanchild]

Oy. Our house was built in 1952. It's been updated somewhat since then, but I have no idea whether anything's been done to the floors.

Can my takeaway be that, barring spills, mopping is not strictly necessary? Because that's really all I'd like to hear.

[Vishenka69]

We have older (wide pine) and new (oak, hickory, sapele) but all have been refinished with polyurethane. Hence I use the same method to clean the whole house.

We're also getting two huge area rugs for our main level (where all the pine is) because the damage from furniture is just insane. I'm baffled as to why anyone would put pine in the most used areas.

[DCJenn]

Yes- mopping is not required but maybe once or twice a year, really.

Jenn

[GrayMatterWife]

We live in a 100-year-old apartment with hardwood floors everywhere, it seems.

This is how I keep my floors in good shape...

I run around the house screaming at my children, "DON'T YOU DROP THAT TOY ON MY FLOOR, SO HELP ME GOD, OR I WILL STRING YOU UP BY YOUR TOENAILS!!!! ARE YOU CRAZY?!?! THAT SCRATCHES!!!!"