How to make your hardwood floor shine? The wooden floor, ground and parquet give a warm, chic and sometimes even rustic style to a house. But how do you wash and maintain it properly?
In this guide, I offer you my best tips and tricks for cleaning and shining a hardwood floor.
1. Dust the hardwood floor
Before starting with my cleaning tips, it is important to dust off and remove all dust and dirt on the wood floor.
Use the vacuum cleaner to suck up dust, dirt and small rocks on the floor before cleaning it so as not to scratch the wood during cleaning.
2. Wash your wood floor with soapy water
For regular cleaning and good maintenance of your wooden floor, soapy water is more than enough.
- Add some liquid dish soap to a bucket of warm water.
- Soak the mop and wring very well before cleaning the wood floor.
- Finish cleaning the floor by drying it with a dry, soft cloth.
Replace liquid dish soap with black soap if there are « more » stubborn stains on the wooden floor.
3. A bubble bath for wood floors
Another grandma’s trick to clean but especially to make her wooden floor shine is the use of a bubble bath.
- Add some bubble bath in lukewarm water.
- Thoroughly wring out the mop (mop) and wash the floor.
- Allow to air dry to finish cleaning the floor.
In addition to cleaning and restoring the shine to your hardwood floor, the bubble bath will leave a good smell everywhere in the house.
4. Rinse aid for quick drying
A really effective trick for a shine and quick drying of the floor is the dishwasher rinse aid.
- Fill a bucket with warm water and add some dishwasher rinse aid.
- Scrub and wash the wood floor as usual with the mop or mop.
- Allow to air dry for a bright, shiny floor.
A few drops of rinse aid are needed for this cleaning tip.
5. Clean with a little white vinegar
White vinegar is once again offered here as a cleaning tip to clean and shine a wooden floor.
Be careful, you should never use undiluted (pure) white vinegar because you risk damaging the surface of the wood permanently.
Here’s how to do this cleaning trick:
- Fill a bucket with lukewarm water
- Add 1 cup of white vinegar to the water
- Thoroughly mix and clean the wood floor with this solution.
As with other things, it is important to wring out the mop, mop or mop very well before starting to clean the parquet.
6. Hide scratches with peanut butter
If you have small scratches and more or less deep scratches in the wood of your parquet floor, there is a trick to remove them or rather hide them.
Peanut butter! It may indeed sound surprising, but peanut butter can help hide scratches in wood.
Here’s how to apply it to your hardwood floor:
- Thoroughly clean the floor to remove all dirt and dust from scratches and cracks.
- Apply peanut butter to fill in the scratches.
- Use a cloth to remove excess peanut butter.
- Allow to dry and reapply as needed.
Do you want more tips for removing those little scratches? Here is an article about it: Removing a scratch from a hardwood floor.
7. Other wood floor cleaning tips
Here are other tips, advice and actions to avoid or to do to properly clean and maintain a wooden floor:
- Never wash a wood floor with a lot of water. Always wring the mop well.
- To avoid damaging and wearing down the wood, use a microfiber mop instead of the traditional mop.
- If you notice the presence of water in places, you must wipe the wood quickly.
- Always use a mild soap or cleaner designed for wood floors.
- Never allow dust and other hard dirt to accumulate on the floor.
- Avoid playing with your dog as much as possible (watch out for claws and scratches) on the hardwood floor.
- Be careful when moving large pieces of furniture so as not to rub and damage the floor.
If you are looking for cleaning tips specifically for a waxed floor then this article offers you several: How to clean waxed parquet?