Use a Store-Bought Chemical Abrasion Kit
You use a chemical solution to prepare the flooring and etch the old finish so the new finish will bond. Then you'll apply a new coat of finish to restore your floor. The Rust-Oleum Transformations Floor Wood and Laminate Renewal Kit ($42) is a popular option.
Olive Oil, White Vinegar, & Water: Mix all three of these natural ingredients together and you'll know how to make hardwood floors shine naturally.
With wood floors, it's not enough to just sweep and vacuum. Even more important is to treat your floors using a proper cleaning product, such as Murphy® Oil Soap, which gently cleans finished wood without leaving any residue behind and keeps them looking like new with proper maintenance.
An easy way to fill in microscratches and shine wood floors is to polish your floors after mopping. After dusting and spray mopping, use a designated microfiber mop pad to apply polish to wood floors to add shine. Bona floor polish is easy to use and adds a protection and shine with every application.
You can use a commercial wood-cleaning product, like Bona or Murphy Oil Soap. Be sure to follow the manufacturer's instructions. You can also make your own cleaner by mixing one part vinegar to 10 parts warm water. Add a few drops of liquid Castile soap.
Water and Vinegar Solution: One of the simplest and most effective ways to clean hardwood floors is with a mixture of water and vinegar. This solution is inexpensive and easy to make, and it won't damage your floors like harsh chemicals can.
Avoid ammonia – Ammonia will discolor, deteriorate, and dull the finish. Using ammonia to clean a wood floor will take years off of its life. Steam cleaners are bad news – You should only use steam cleaners on carpets and other surfaces that they are designed for.
Do not wet mop wood flooring. Damp is good. Dripping wet is bad. If you can ring out the mop or pad, you're working with too much water.
Use a broom or hardwood floor mop for cleaning wood floors daily. A microfiber dust mop pre-treated with a dusting agent will pick up dust and dirt and prevent scratches. Vacuum your hardwood floor once a week. Use your vacuum's “hard floor” setting.
It's safe for wood and hard, nonporous surfaces. You can apply it to the floor directly from the bottle. For more information about the Pine-Sol® lineup of products, visit our FAQs page.
Since vinegar is an acid, it will actually break down the finish on the surface of your floor, and over time it will reduce the shine, and leave a dull appearance. Using vinegar and water to clean floors can also lead to an excessive amount of water on the floor, which can cause swelling and discoloration.
Here's a secret: Tea's tannic acid makes for an excellent surface shine, according to HGTV. Boil a couple of teabags in some water and dump the tea into a bucket. Wring out a rag or mop in the solution and use it to mop the floors.
New and improved Swiffer WetJet mopping pads have a new Absorb + Lock strip that helps trap dirt and grime deep in pad so it doesn't get pushed around and is safe on finished wood floors.
For heavy cleaning, dilute 1/2 cup Murphy per gallon. Clean well with wrung-out mop, and mop any excess water. No visible residue, no rinsing required.
One of the biggest culprits is Murphy's Oil Soap. Even though it says it is safe of wood, it actually leaves an oily film on the top of the hardwood. With the oil on there, it eliminates the ability to buff or coat the floor again.
Bona is safe for all unwaxed, unoiled, polyurethane-finished wood floors. It's a water-based, pet-safe, pH-neutral formula. It doesn't leave a residue and dries in about a minute and a half.
If your floor could use a wax coating, the best hardwood floor cleaner is the SC Johnson Paste Wax. This wax is really all you need for restoring your worn out wood floors. The hard-finish wax blend has a multipurpose formula that deep-cleans hardwood floors and leaves them shiny and satiny.
Get the most out of your Cleaning Time and use products like Murphy® Oil Soap that can get the job done. Whether you're cleaning one area or all of your flooring, Murphy® Oil Soap is safe to use on hardwood floors.
For best results, mop your high-traffic areas no more than once a week. Other areas that see less foot traffic can be cleaned once a month, or (prepare to put your feet up) even once a quarter. Too much mopping can wear down the seal on your floors or oversaturate them with water.