5 Tips For Cleaning Wooden Floors

Achieving sparkling clean wooden floors might seem simple, but it’s important to take care with this cleaning task to ensure you aren’t unknowingly damaging your flooring. Something as simple as using water on the wrong wooden floor can damage the finish, and vacuums can leave scratches if they aren’t designed to clean hardwood floors. While this may all sound like it’s making a simple task more difficult, it’s actually very straightforward! To help you find the best vacuum for your hardwood

floors and share a couple tips for keeping your floors clean, continue reading, below.

Before you look at how to clean wood floors, it’s important to first understand the type of finish of your floor. Now, this may sound tedious, but knowing the type of finish will help protect your floor from damage. That’s because the finish determines the types of products that are safe to use when cleaning your hardwood floors. For instance, if your floor has a modern seal, such as polyurethane, then all you need is a bucket of soapy water and you're good to go! However, if your hardwood flooring has been wax-treated, you will need to avoid water completely, as it will damage the finish. Instead, take a moist cloth with a pH neutral cleaning solution to gently polish the wood. Not sure which finish you have? Well, an easy way to determine whether your floor has an old or modern seal is to place a few droplets of water onto the wood. With a modern seal, the water will sit on top of the wood, whereas droplets will soak through old seals. Just keep in mind large quantities of water will damage your wood, so make sure not to soak the floor. And to test for a wax finish, just take a piece of extra-fine steel wool and dash it with a touch of water. Then, rub the wool on an inconspicuous spot (perhaps one covered by furniture or in a far corner) – if a light grey smudge appears on the wool, you have a wax finish.

TOP TIP: Before cleaning your wooden floors, head over to the Which? website for more information about types of wood flooring.

While it might seem minor, dust has a nasty habit of building up and wearing through the finish of your flooring. This can then result in a dull and rough finish. However, by picking up a cordless vacuum for hardwood floors, you’ll have your floor in tip-top shape in no time! You should try to vacuum once a week, utilising any handy floorcare accessories like power hoses, to get into tighter spaces on the stairs or in-between skirting boards. And if you’re wondering about the best vacuum for hardwood floors, we recommend our very own AirRam 2 for the job! Equipped with AirLOC technology, this cordless vacuum effortlessly glides across both carpet and hard flooring, ensuring an effortless clean of your wooden floors.

You’ve put a lot of time into cleaning your wooden floors thus far, so it makes sense if you’re looking for ways to keep that sheen for as long as possible. The good news is there’s one stylish home decor accessory that will do just that – a rug. Not only do rugs bring a unique look to your home, but they also help keep your clean hardwood floors, well, clean! When choosing a rug for your hardwood floor, feel free to go for any design, style, or colour you like. A darker colour may be useful to better hide dust and dirt in between cleans, but if you prefer lighter colours, then don’t be afraid of going for one. Just follow our tips for cleaning carpets to keep your rug looking good-as-new! However, do try to avoid rugs with vinyl or rubber backing as they can trap humidity, and damage flooring.

And lastly, the best way to keep your clean hardwood floors in their best shape is to avoid wearing outdoor shoes inside. Whether walking the dog, going on a quick errand run, or commuting to and from work, our shoes pick up bits of dirt and dust on the soles. And wearing those shoes inside can end up traipsing that dirt throughout the house, leading to not-so-clean hardwood floors. Instead, grab a fluffy pair of slippers to keep your feet cosy and floors clean while you walk around your home.

With your clean hardwood floors sorted, you might be looking for a few more cleaning top tips to keep your home tidy. Well, for everything from the best way to clean up after pets to top tips for vacuuming your home, head over to our blog.