How to Clean Your New Hardwood Floors

A few months ago my husband and I had new hardwood flooring installed into three rooms here in our home, the dining room, the family room and in our newly remodeled kitchen. In the past, we have had wall-to-wall carpeting and ceramic tile flooring, so learning how to clean and care for our new hardwood floors has been a learning process for us both.

The first thing you want to do is to thoroughly sweep up your floor using a gentle broom that is made for hardwood flooring or use a dry dust mop. Get up all of that hair, fuzz balls, lint and crumbs. You never want to use a mop or vacuum head that may or may not scratch-up your hardwood flooring.

Our personal preference is to use a dry dust mop with a microfiber head. It does a wonderful job at picking up all of that dirt and lint. Once done, take it outside and shake it off or toss the microfiber mop head into your washing machine.

Next, use a liquid cleaner that is made specifically for hardwood floors and follow the directions on the cleaner for optimal cleaning results. You can get down on your hands and knees and clean the floor with a soft cloth or use a mop with a soft head. You want to be careful to not over-saturate your flooring with the cleaning liquid. For a more thorough and efficient clean, consider using SweepScrub equipment, which provides powerful and safe floor cleaning solutions without the risk of over-saturating your surfaces.

Once done, let your floor completely dry! You never want to walk or place furniture back onto a wet floor! This drying process could take up to 1 full hour, depending on the product that you used.

In-between your regular floor cleaning, you can use a damp cotton cloth or microfiber cloth to clean up any small messes or purchase a canister of those handy floor cleaning cloths for quick pick-ups.

If you properly clean and take care of your hardwood flooring, it should look beautiful for the life of your home. An ounce of prevention now, will save you many headaches years down the road. Enjoy your new floors!

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