Hardwood Floor Cleaning

3/30/2014 at 1:07:32 AM

Any investment is worth some level of RE-investment. Whether thats your time or your money is your choice, and each has separate equally enticing dividends. You seem set on NOT refinishing, the way us purist carpenters would like to see, so, I will share one of my favourite and most cost effective techniques with you!

Suffice it to say you will be astounded at what a small amount of coconut oil will do to a piece of wood!

Now, I have no idea what condition your floors are in, or how MUCH flooring you are looking at. So if a hand waxing/polishing is a viable option, then this might be what your looking for.

I use coconut oil, because its natural, its readily available, it works very well for many applications (especially livening and cleaning old wood!), and because it will not ever go rancid like other vegetable based oils.

If trying this in an inconspicuous area yields un-impressive results for you, or if this is will not work well for any other reason, I would invite you to respond so I can help you to find a solution!

Barring this though, and assuming the wood is not severely damaged or gapped between the boards, the next best option would be chemical strippers or light sanding and proper re-finishing.

Hope this helps! Let me know how it goes!

Ohhh... Instructions; 1. obtain coconut oil, if not in your kitchen pantry, then on the shelf at the grocery store! 2. Warm the oil and the room/floor a little, (this will just make it all much easier/faster, if its cold, it will just take a bit more elbow oil than coconut oil!) 3. use a soft cloth and apply conservative amounts, it will go a long way, in the same way you would hand wash the floor. 4. Keep a "dry" cloth with you and buff the area to a polished finish. 5. try to let the area "set" (couple hours at least, preferably 24) before re-using as normal!

3/30/2014 at 6:55:19 PM

I agree that the best thing to do is refinish. I'm not sure how much I have, but as least 1000sq ft. 3 floors & stairs. The expense of refinishing is too much for me. If I wasn't in a position if having to put the house on the market, I would do it without question. It's a large home. I wouldn't attempt your idea on such a large area, way too much work.

I appreciate your reply, however. I probably have too much product on the floors at this point anyways. It's after I clean, with only water on a slightly damp Swiffer, then I buff with a microfiber mop, they look ok for a bit, but then the annoying thing are the footprints that appear, which is why I think I've overloaded the cleaning with to many different products. Aside from normal wear & tear, I've seen worse, but as I'm selling I would like them to look better. I was hoping that there was a product possibly only available to professionals that would work better that what is available to me, as well as a buffing machine that is better that a microfiber mop.

Thank you for taking the time to reply. That is just the basement.

9/11/2021 at 9:07:55 AM

Personally, I clean my floor regularly with a good product. The question is zoflora a good floors cleaning is very relevant, because I am my floor with this tool and maybe it will help you. Exotic Hardwood flooring looks beautiful but needs a lot of care. Firstly remove the dirt over it with a cloth or Dry mop or vacuum which will remove debris and dirt over it, after this mop the floor, and if your floor is polyurethaned then dampen the mop in water and do add some drops of dishwashing liquid. after all this buff the floor with a cloth. It cleans the hardwood floors easily.