How to Care For and Clean Hardwood Floors

When cleaning your hardwood floor, you need the right equipment to get your hardwoods clean leaving you with less work.

1) First you will need a dust mop, you can purchase this at your local janitorial cleaning supply company store or you may purchase your dust mop at your local home depot , Lowe's, or other home improvement stores in your area.

2) You will also need a commercial mop , and a commercial mop bucket which you can also purchase at your local home improvement store or janitorial supply store.

3) Then you need a broom and dust pan. I like the dust pan with the handle for ease on your back.

4) last you will need cleaning solution to clean your hardwood floor, we recommend Murphy's oil soap hardwood cleaning solution, which is effective on all types of floors including lanolin, laminate, and hardwood floors and you may purchase this at your local grocery store, dollar store, or home improvement store.

When you begin, dust mop your entire area, by going over your floor several times while shaking your dust mop out at a convenient stopping point which should be a corner or some place you won't easily keep walking over. Do this to keep the dust mop free of excess dirt and dust. Once you have done this several times , you can do one of two things to get your dust up. You may take your vacuum cleaner hoses and get up your dust or you may take your broom and dust pan and sweep the dust up in the dust pan.

Now take your mop bucket and Murphy's oil soap and put two cap full of soap into your mop bucket with just enough warm water to cover your mop. Just a quick note, be sure that you use enough water for the amount of soap you use otherwise you may end up with a streaky floor and after getting your water , now you are ready to mop your floor. It is better to mop with a well rung out mop to avoid streaks.

Once you have mopped your hard wood floor, turn on your ceiling fan to dry your floor evenly if you have one. Any type fan will work and if you don't have a fan then just let it air dry.
By now your floor should be dry and clean. Go back over your floor once again with your dust mop picking up any lint that the mop may have left behind.

I recommend you develop a habit to dust mop your floor every other day depending on the use of the area and traffic in and out of your home. Damp mopping your hardwood floors once a week will keep them looking pretty good and add length to the life of the floors.