How Often Should You Clean Hardwood Floors? (Revealed)

Hardwood flooring is one of the best adornments you can add to your house. Not only does it look beautiful, but it is also an investment, as it looks really beautiful when the wood gets textured.

However, the only problem with hardwood flooring is that it gets dirty quite easily. Cleaning it every day seems impossible, and people often need clarification about how often you should clean and deodorize hardwood floors.

A general rule of thumb is to do regular cleaning of hardwood floors every 2 to 3 days, vacuum every week, and wet clean them every one to two months to preserve them in the best condition possible. This routine keeps the hardwood healthy and prevents the texture from getting ruined.

In this article, I’ll be explaining how often should you clean hardwood floors and also discussing the best cleaning routine. Stay tuned!

How Often Should You Clean Hardwood Floors?| Best Cleaning Routine

To ensure that your hardwood floor is cleaned properly and its pristine condition is preserved, you must sweep it every 2 to 3 days, vacuum it once a week, and go for a deep cleaning session about once every 2 months.

General Cleaning Every Other Day

When it comes to the optimal frequency of cleaning hardwood floors, you must start with general cleaning every other day. This will keep the dust and dirt away and prevent molds from building up.

Besides, if you follow the general cleaning routine properly, you will see visible results in the overall cleanliness of the floor being maintained.

There are several ways to clean hardwood, but the cheapest easy way is scrubbing with a mop or a brush.

I have also written a detailed article on the cheapest way to clean hardwood floors that you must read if you want to clean your floors within a budget. Hardwood can often get stained quite easily; however, cleaning it is as difficult.

The best way to do general cleaning is to use a soft broom or a dry mop to remove all the dust from the floor.

This helps keep the dirt and grime away and prevents the chances of molds building in between your wooden panels. Make sure you move your furniture and rugs aside and clean the surface underneath.

However, if you ignore cheeky spaces, you may see a quick change in color in the cleaned and uncleaned surfaces.

Dust accumulation can get deeper into the surface of the wood and cause the color to fade and the texture to be spoiled.

Surely, you want to avoid that happening; hence, you should keep the floor clean and perform general cleaning every two to three days.

Vacuuming Once A Week

Vacuuming is an integral part of cleaning hardwood floors. If you have pets at home, it is extremely crucial that you vacuum once a week.

Having carpets, rugs, or pets at home might mean a lot of lint and fur on the floor.

Cleaning this is extremely necessary if you want to preserve the health of your wooden floors.

Besides, it is important for your health, and the fur and lint residues can make you ill if not removed on time.

Once you start to vacuum the floor, ensure your vacuuming is thorough and you go over the entire surface at least twice.

Furthermore, the model of your vacuum can play an integral role in determining how well your wooden floor would be cleaned.

For instance, an upright model is a good option, but you need to turn off the rotating brush to prevent the bristles from scratching your floor.

Cleaning the entire floor in one go sounds exhausting, and it will be proven right at the time of execution.

Hence, a smart way to do so is to segment the floor into portions and move from one portion to another.

Not only will this save time and make the entire process much more organized, but it will also reduce the effort required and make the job much easier.

Deep Cleaning After A Month

Once every one to two months, you must deep clean your hardwood floor to sustain its shine and lush look.

It is important to identify whether your floor is sealed, as it makes a huge difference in how you should attempt to clean it accordingly.

If your floor is sealed, you can use cleaning agents or homemade deep cleaning solutions, and you do not have to worry about the floor getting too wet.

However, suppose your floor needs to be sealed. In that case, you can’t go for any level of wetness other than dampness, and you won’t be able to use cleaning agents or homemade solutions safely.

This is because the water and other harsh ingredients of cleaning agents will not only destroy the surface of your hardwood floor but will also make it weak as moisture can get looked inside of the wood through the pores and cause the wood to chip or swell up.

For a sealed floor, you can follow the procedure mentioned below:

• Dampen a cloth with lukewarm water and squeeze it to remove any extra water. You can also use a mop to dip it into water. The purpose here is to remove any layered dust or grime stuck between the panels so you can work your way around easily.
• Use a cleaning agent and make it into a solution according to the recommended quantity. You can also use any homemade solution.
• Use a mop or a towel to apply the solution to the surface. You can either do it in one go or segment the floor into portions to make the job easier.
• Scrub it with a brush or a mop to make sure that all the dirt and grime that has settled into the surface is removed. If there are scuff marks on the floor, use a towel to rub them off gently.
• Make sure to clean the corners properly. Good scrubbing can prevent dust and grime from accumulating in corners and between wooden panels.
• Work your way in circles while scrubbing and moving along the wood grain. Doing so would eliminate any chances of scratching the surface.
• Make sure to dry the surface with a kitchen towel or anything you’d like. This will remove any extra moisture and lock in the shine your hardwood floor has just achieved.
• Give a different look to the corners and hard-to-reach areas to ensure you got everything.

If you have a non-sealed floor, follow this method for deep cleaning.

• If you are cleaning a floor that is not sealed, you could use a vacuum to take care of all the dry dust and residues on the floor rather than wetting it again and again.
• Once you’re done vacuuming, take a bucket of water, a mop, a cloth, and a scrubbing brush.
• Use a mop to wipe the floor and safely remove any remaining dust thoroughly.
• Afterward, you can use a scrubbing brush and mild dishwashing detergent if the floor is too dirty. This will remove all the dirt and grime stuck between the flooring boards.
• Make sure you dry the surface immediately, as you don’t want the moisture seeping into the boards.
• It is better to perform this by segmenting areas as you can dry the segment quickly rather than cleaning an entire floor and then attempting to dry it.
• It is also best to turn on a fan so the drying process becomes even quicker.
• Make sure to clean the corners properly. Good scrubbing can prevent dust and grime from accumulating in the intersection points and between the corners.
• Work your way in circles and move along the grain of the wood. Doing so would eliminate any chances of scratching the surface and allow the polish to settle.
• Give a different look to the corners and hard-to-reach areas to ensure you got everything.

Can you use Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner weekly?

You can use the Bona PowerPlus on a weekly basis as it is a very gentle hardwood floor cleaner. Bona cleaners are usually strong and designed to be used once every two to three months.

Hence, it is not recommended to use any Bona product except the PowerPlus, in such a high frequency.

I have also written an article on the best bona cleaners for hardwood floors that I encourage you to read. This will help you find the best bona cleaner for your wooden floors.

How To Prevent The Floor From Getting Dirty?

The best way to care for your hardwood floors is not to let them get dirty. You can place doormats on entrances, clean anything spilled immediately, etc.

Below is a list of easy ways to prevent your hardwood floor from getting dirty so it only bothers you a little during cleaning.

• Place felt pads under the furniture

Scuff and scratch marks from moving furniture are very common. Even static furniture that doesn’t move around much can leave marks on your floor as the pressure is exerted from a smaller area.

Hence, it is necessary to use felt pads to ensure the furniture and chairs don’t leave a mark on hardwood floor. If you want to move your furniture around, don’t try to do it with the felt pads, as there is no guarantee that the pads will move along, and you can still end up scratching the surface of your floor.

You should use gliders or any other furniture moving tool if you want to move around furniture.

• Remove shoes when inside the house

The sole of your shoes has a grit effect on the floor, similar to sanding. When you’ve sanded the floor once, grit through shoe soles can cause unevenness in the grain and texture of the wood.

It can also reduce longevity as wear and tear increases by a significant factor. Hence, removing your shoes while entering the house is best to protect your wooden flooring.

• Clean any spillage immediately

You or the children in the house might accidentally spill anything on the floor. It’s a big deal if you clean it immediately rather than letting it sit and dry on the surface.

Hence, use any absorbent cloth or a towel to soak it up and wipe it off immediately to prevent further inconveniences.

• Place mats on entrances

If it’s hard to follow the no-shoe policy in your house or you’re afraid that others might not follow it, it is best to place floor mats on all entrances of the house.

This way, you can at least catch the moisture, dirt, and grime on the mats and prevent them from reaching the wooden floor.

• Please don’t place any potted plants on the floor

It is not wide to place any plants, be they potted or not, on the wooden surface. The main reason is that there is a high chance that you would spill some water in an attempt to water the plants, which might damage the surface over time.

Final Thoughts

Caring for your hardwood floor is extremely important if you want it to last a lifetime. Routine cleaning is the best way to maintain your hardwood’s health and prevent unwanted damage or untimely wear and tear.

If you follow the initial steps correctly, you won’t have to do the final steps any sooner and the overall effort will be reduced.

Follow the cleaning routine mentioned in the headings above and remember the important points. Your wooden floor will surely sustain its fresh look!