Wives Tales of Hardwood Floors

Hello!  Part of owning a hardwood flooring company is being asked how to properly maintain the wood floors.  Over time people start to realize that the everyday cleaners you can purchase at the grocery store are actually wax based products leaving a film on their floors.  So then they turn to the old wives tales for advise, because they have no where else to turn.  So today we are going to go through these old wives tales and bring some light on the subject!

A good one I heard just last week was a mixture of vinegar and lemon juice with water.  What is funny about this, is I came home and Googled it.  As I was typing "lemon juice and vinegar for" a list of options came up.  Here they are:

• Dandruff
• Kidney Stones
• Ants
• Fleas
• Weight Loss

So this right away tell you that if it "cures" anything from fleas to weight loss, it probably won't be best for your wood floors.  You can actually find people online that SWEAR by using vinegar for their hardwood floors.  A few even add lemon to get rid of the nasty vinegar smell.  However you need to be wary of the acid contained in each of these ingredients.  After time it can actually etch the surface of the wood.

Another one I hear at least once a week is someone uses a steam mop on their wood floors.  Lets think about this...  What is steam?  Exactly!  You are taking super hot water and spreading it all over your wood floors.  Eventually your floors are going to start peeling, cracking, and even whitening leaving a cloudy finish on your floors finish.  I know they seem to work great on the home shopping network, AND they swear it's the best, easiest, safest thing to use on your hardwood floors. Just because it is safe on laminate flooring, does not make it safe on real hardwood floors. Do you use the same rag to clean ALL the same surfaces?  (I know that is pretty extreme, but you get the idea!)  Below is a picture of a damaged floor from a steam mop.



The good ol' wax and oil based products are next.  These seem to be EVERYWHERE!  Stay away from these products.  A lot of the newer products don't advertise to have wax in them , but do some research and I'm sure you will find that the product is wax or oil based.  Not only can these products damage the finish, they also leave a white film on the floor.

Why not use regular dusting products?  You can use them on all of your real wood furniture, so why not on your real wood floors as well?  Unless you want to make your floors into the slipperiest skating rink ever, I would suggest to use these products on furniture only.  This way you will avoid any hospital visits also!

What about ammonia?  This too over time will cause discoloration and deterioration to the floor.  It will also dull the finish, taking years off the life of the floor.

And the #1 culprit when it comes to damaging wood floors?  The wet mop!  If you do in fact use a mop on your floor, it should NEVER be more than SLIGHTLY damp.  Excess water is actually the most common way to damage your wood floors and finish.

Visit our earlier blog: Tips To A Clean Healthy Floor to see what you can do to properly maintain your wood floor.  And don't forget to set up your yearly professional cleaning with your local trusted company.  Just like carpets, wood floors need to be professionally cleaned and maintained at least once a year.  For anyone in the Wichita, KS area you can call us at 316-747-4066 to set up you routine maintenance cleaning.