Hardwood floor care

[Jason McCullough]

This one is a two parter; the internets are so far useless.

Downstairs, we have brand new hardwood floors; red oak that came from the factory pre-stained/sealed/whatevered. It's immaculate and just gets dusty.

Upstairs, we have who-knows-how-old red oak that looks like every square inch has 50 years of collected goo on it.

How should I regularly clean both of these?

For the downstairs, I can dry mop, but it doesn't seem to get it very clean. Damp mopping works great, but everyone talks like you'll destroy the wood that way.

For the upstairs, we're going to get it resanded and sealed or replaced sometime in the next couple years; what cleaning should I do until then?

[Dean]

Scooba!! (http://www.irobot.com/sp.cfm?pageid=128)

At least that's what a friend of mine uses.

[Joel]

We use a combination of lemon juice and olive oil to clean our floors, which don't have a very good finish on them at all. We figured at first the oil would just help smooth things over, but we found that as the wood soaked it in, it actually seemed to cause the stains and funky bits to rise to the surface. YMMV, so don't ruin your whole floor on my advice. :)

[Bullhajj]

The guy who did our floors suggested a cleaning product for us to use. We keep a stock of it in our closet. I can look for its name, or you could ask the guys that are doing your work for a recommendation.

[Space]

Joel - I am genuinly interested in the olive oil + lemon juice floor cleaning solution. What parts olive oil with what parts lemon juice do you use?

My dad and I made the wood flooring on the main level of my parents house, and it's got some stains in it from red koolaid, I think, from many christmases ago. We haven't been able to get them out.


For general cleaning, we use just a regular dust mop. Not the funny yarny ones, the one with a terry cloth pad. I hate them and I don't think they do much. Most of the time I just sweep with a regular broom. We do use Murphy's Wood Oil + water when we mop it.

[Joel]

I don't think you have to be exact in the mixture. I've seen various ratios, from 1:1 to 1:4 (favoring the oil). We used something more towards the latter.

We've got a Scooba that, when it works -- we're waiting on a replacement battery from iRobot -- does a good job picking up dirt from the floor, but it doesn't keep the hardwood oiled and doesn't seem to draw out deep stains. It's no replacement for oil soap or the lemon juice and olive oil treatments.

Bear in mind our landlord did a joke of a job finishing our floors, which he installed and finished himself. I don't think there is any polyurethane on them at all, just a basic all-in-one stain and sealer. (And there are huge cracks in between planks that have allowed water to seep underneath and warp sections of the wood.) Our concoctions may work differently on properly done floors. That said, I've seen the lemon juice and olive oil recipe used by lots of people, so it should work on most finishes.

[Lurb]

I usually vacuum my wood floors and only use some cleaner product diluted on water very occasionally if something sticky drops or whatever.
Mopping seems to just move the dust around and using a regular broom scratches the finish.
Still I'm glad the finish is quite matte, as shiny wood floors tend to look dirty no matter what you do to them.

[Bullhajj]

Woodwise is the stuff that was recommended to me. I sweep with a broom and then use one of those terry cloth pad mops to put down the woodwise stuff. You spray it right on the mop.

[forgeforsaken]

I mostly just use a swiffer, but when I mop I use Murphy Oil Soap.