Hello Moms, My home has beautiful hardwood floors, but lately even after mopping they look dull. I'd like to find something to bring back the beautiful shine they had when we moved in. I don't know if this would be something I'd use each time I mop or perhaps something to be done every 6 months or so. Any advice would be apprieciated.
Thank you, M.
I have hardwood in my kitchen, dining, and laundry rooms and I use Bruce Hardwood Floor Cleaner on them. I only do this (approximately) once every 2 weeks and they shine like a new penny. Good luck. Hardwood floors are a lot of work!
My hardwood floor company recommends stuff called BonaX. I use to have to go to the floor company to buy it, but now you can buy it at Bed, Bath, & Beyond. It is great!!
Good morning, M..
The French have a wonderful product (which is also manufactured in Colorado) called Bona X, by Bona Kemi. You can find it at any Ace Hardware store. There is a box that comes with a mop and a bottle of the wood floor cleaner. YOU WILL LOVE THIS PRODUCT! It has a velcro fastened mophead that you simply throw in the wash when you finish the floors.
I have hardwood floors in my whole house (except for my basement which has vinly tiles so I use a LOT of hard floor cleaners. I've found the best maintenance tool is a microfiber cloth on either a swiffer or the tool in a Bona hard floor kit. I would definately get GOOD thick microfiber cloths like the ones at a auto supply store. They are $10-$15 for a 10 pack, but hold up forever. Also you do not want a 'flat' cloth like a diaper because it 'grinds' dirt or other hard particles into the finish slowly scratching it. A microfiber cloth (or soft terry) cloth has fibers to lift & hold the particles away from the floor so you don't grind them into the floor. You can use the cloths wet or dry. I use water most of the time but do use the Bona spray cleaner for touch-ups or Quick Shine no-bucket cleaner (squirts like mop & glow) made by Holloway house. They make a concentrate cleaner you can dilute to refill the bottle. I find this to be a great cleaner that is not harsh on the floors. I would not use ammonia based cleaners on wood floors, it is damaging to the sealer. You CAN use amonia based cleaners on laminate wood floors like Pergo. I hope that helps. This is just what I've found out mostly the hard way. Oh, the good thing about the microfiber cloths is that you can use them for EVERYTHING so you don't have to buy something special only for floors. Let us know what worked for you, I'm interested to find out.
Good Luck!
Vinegar and water works well. Gotta love that vinegar!
This is going to sound totally bizarre, but it works. I moved into a house in TX that had almost entirely hardwoods and my mom said that the guy who installed her hardwoods said to use water and a little Windex. He said you should not use those waxes and such that they make for hardwoods because they make the look dull. Well, I did it and my hardwoods stayed so shiny. I don't always take my mom's advice, but she was right on that one!
I am anxious to see responses to your post. Binny
Have you tried Murphy's Wood Soap? You can also use vinegar water for your floors to get them to shine as well. Hope this helps out.
I use a Shark-mop steam cleaner on my floors. You can get it at Bed, Bath & Beyond for about $80 and you'll never have to buy cleaner for your floors again. The cleaning pads stick to the bottom of the mop with velcro and can be put through the washing machine. It uses nothing but water, dries very quickly, leaves the floors with a great shine and you don't have to worry about the effects of chemicals on the children in your home.
Vinegar, vinegar, vinegar! Requires very little 'elbow grease' too. Works best if you mix 1/2 vinegar and 1/2 water, then do a light water-only rinse since the vinegar is acidic. Truly amazing results!
bissell makes a wood floor mop and cleaner. I am not sure you can find it in stores. buy have sreached on the internet and seen it. it is a flip it (I think) it is a wet vac and dry vac. it works great.
Where do you live? I work for a flooring distributor in Wichita and we have warehouses in Merriam, KS, SPringfield, MO, Tulsa,OK, Oklahoma City, OK and of course WIchita. We ahve found that the best thing you can do is not mop with a soapy water. The only thing that you can use is like a dry mop; like a swiffer dry mop. You can not put water on it at all. If you have already lost the shine that it had, there is nothing that you can do to get it back.
we had ours floors redone recently and the company said not to use anything but water on them, I did try murphys soap and dishwashing liquid but they do leave a dull film so I reverted back to the experts and just use water
Don't use Murphy Oil if yur hard wood floors are sealed with wax it will cause a horrble build up and you will be very upset.I did this not knowing it.
I use Orange Glow hardwood fomula (green bottle) on mine after I use the Bissel Flip-It to mop them. The Orange Glow stuff doesn't leave a sticky feeling on them and they are soooo shiny!
I only use Shaklee's Basic H2 on our dark hardwood. It only takes a little!
J.
http://www.jessicagrimm.com
i think it depends if you have real hardwood or pergo. i have the original hardwood in my home and we had it refinished several years ago. the company that we used suggested that we only used windex and hot water to clean them. they said that it is safe and will bring a very nice shine. hope this helps
Rejuvenate. I originally purchased it on QVC, but now buy it at Home Depot. I use it on the hardwoods in our rentals between tenants, and it makes the floors look newly refinished. Am using it currently to return the shine to hardwoods in a house we're remodeling to sell to our son and his wife (22-year-old). She is very impressed with how the floors look and how easy it is to use. Just vacuum and wet mop the floor, let it dry, and apply the Rejuvenate with a microfiber bonnet on your mop. Home Depot carries the microfiber bonnets too. I've also used this stuff on dull Formica counter tops--makes them look like new.
I, too, have hardword floors and I use an old diaper on a swiffer. I spray it with the floor to ceiling mixture of Basic H, made by the Shaklee Corporation. It is very safe, non-toxic and does an incredible job. If you would like to know how to get it let me know.
I am a 51 year old, married with two boys. I have been using Shaklee products for 10 years and have been a distributor for 8 of those years. My mother has alzheimers and lives with us so we have plenty of messes to keep up with. She is a joy and we love having her with us.
