How to Clean Wood Floors

Dry Cleaning the Floor

It's important to keep the floor free from debris and loose food. If this is not cleaned up regularly, you run the run of walking over the grit and pushing it into the flooring causing surface scratches and dents. Food debris can get pushed into the crevices between boards and become more difficult to remove.

Therefore, we recommend that you undertake dry cleaning regularly to remove this debris. Keep a brush and dustpan to hand spot clean any areas where dirt builds up or food debris is present. A long handled dustpan and brush is easier on your back, as you do not have to bend down to sweep. Alternatively, if you can store your vacuum in a place that's easily accessible, it can be just as quick to use this. Make sure the beater brush is turned off, and if your vacuum has a "hard floor" mode, turn this on. Also, try to remove any surface dust from the floor daily via dry cleaning.

Remember, when dry cleaning a floor, don't just move surface contaminants, food debris, dust and dirt from one area to another. Be sure to collect in a dustpan and dispose off, or vacuum to remove from the floor.

Damp Cleaning

Damp cleaning needs to be carried out at least once per week. If your floor is exposed to heavy use, this will need to be even more frequent. It is important that you do not cover a wooden floor with excess amounts of water. Excess water can seep into the joints and cause any unprotected wood to swell. Prior to damp cleaning, ensure that you have followed the steps above and that there is no surface dust and dirt remaining. Failure to do this can result in scratches on the floor during damp cleaning.

To damp clean your wooden floor, a microfibre mopping system provides the ideal solution. Microfibre mopping sysytems consist of a frame that holds a flat microfibre pad that can be dampened and swept across the floor. These all ideal for damp mopping the the microfibre pad has a large surface area that can be pushed with downward pressure to clean. This makes the system less reliant on excess water unlike a regular mop. The Robert Scott Pro Mist also includes a spray function, allowing you to easily mist the floor as you clean.

Selecting the Right Product

As mentioned previously, your floor will either be sealed or unsealed. Dependent on what your floor is, you will have to choose a different product to ensure that you do not do cause any damage.

For sealed floors, a product such as Astonish Wood Floor Cleaner, an all purpose product that adds sparkle, protects from dirt and even restores the surface finish.

For unsealed floors you need to pick a product that does not strip away the wax or oil that products the wooden boards. For this, we'd recommend a professional cleaner such as Evans High Class, a neutral cleaner that also odourises that is designed for damp mopping with spray on, wipe off cleaning systems.

If you have a larger amount of soiling built up on the floor, allow to dry and repeat the damp mopping process above.