Cleaning your hardwood floor is a fairly simple matter. You should sweep it from time to time to remove any loose dust and dirt. As long as you have a strong finish on the wood, it should be fine. However, you might want to clean it more deeply occasionally. On tile and stone floors, that usually means mopping with hot, soapy water. However, water is the enemy of a hardwood floor. So, should you mop your hardwood floor or do something else?
Mop Carefully
You can indeed mop your hardwood floor, but you need to keep an eye on the finish and on the amount of water you use. If the water is hot, you could soften a wax or oil coating. In fact, you probably just shouldn’t mop a waxed or oiled hardwood floor. Polyurethane is more resilient and should stand up fine to an occasional mopping. However, you should keep an eye on the amount of water.
Use lukewarm water when mopping your floor; if you need to, you can use a mild cleaner, but plain water is probably fine. Make sure to wring out the mop thoroughly so that it’s damp but not dripping. Mop quickly, and then dry it quickly. You can dry it with a towel or with another dry mop. You can also use fans blowing across the surface of the floor to dry it quickly. You don’t want to ever have enough water that you have standing water.
Cleaning Alternatives
If you’re worried about mopping, you can use some kind of other liquid cleaner. If your floor is waxed or oiled, the manufacturer of that finish will often have a proprietary cleaner designed to work with their product. That would likely be your safest bet.
Using a dry cloth to spray cleaner and then wipe it up is best practice for a polyurethane floor.
Mopping Up Spills
A mop is a great tool to have on hand if you have spills on your hardwood floor. Any standing moisture can seep between cracks in the planks or around the baseboards. That will get to the subfloor and work to undermine the floor itself. A mop can help you quickly clean up those spills.
If you’re not sure what kind of finish you have on your floor or if you’re just nervous about using a mop, you can always contact a hardwood flooring specialist who will tell you the best ways to get your hardwood floor as clean as possible.
Hire a Professional Hardwood Cleaning Company
If you’re looking for the best possible clean, hire a local Portland hardwood floor cleaner to get the best results. Hardwood floor companies are best suited to maintain real-wood and engineered wood floors.