ALL FLOORS DESIGN CENTRE

You know, there is nothing that beats the look of a hardwood floor that has been well taken care of. If you have a hardwood floor in some part of your home you’ll probably remember how good it looked on the day it was installed and buffed to a perfect finish.

You might now be wondering where that finish went. Months and even years of constant walking over the top of your floor will get rid of that shine, but you can get it back, even though you’ll need a little elbow grease to achieve it!

Let’s take a look at how you can get the shine back in your hardwood floors.

Steer clear of oil based cleaners

This is a very important point that’s worth making upfront. Oil won’t do your floor much good at all. If the floor has been finished off with a protective polyurethane coating the oil will damage it, ruining that lovely shine you started off with.

If you’re not sure whether your floor has this coating or not (it may have been installed a long time ago, perhaps even before you bought the property) it’s best to assume it does. Otherwise you will cause more harm than good simply by using something with oil in it.

So what should you clean it with?

Now you know what to steer clear of when cleaning your hardwood floor, here’s what you should use – a damp mop. Sounds rather dull, right? Well it’s the best thing to use on a regular basis to help maintain the finish of your floor. Make sure the mop is no more than damp though, otherwise you’ll soak too much water into the floor. As you can probably imagine, an overdose of water on a hardwood floor is not good.

What about buffing it to a shine?

Most of the time, if your floor has been well taken care of, a simple sweep up of dust and dirt and a quick going over with a damp mop will suffice. However if your floor needs a little more care and attention than this, it’s time to use some wax or polish.

This will require some time to get the shine you want, but most people who tackle the job agree that the end result is worth working for. Start off in one corner of the room and work in a methodical manner to wax your floor. You might find it useful to do one board at a time, working along the length in order to achieve the finished results. Depending on the size of the room it could take you a few hours to do it all. It can be done over a couple of days though; just be sure you don’t stop midway along a single board.

So now you know how to get a shine on your hardwood floor. Once you have it, some simple daily care will make it last as long as possible.