Anyone who has hardwood floors in their homes will want them to look as good as the day when they first had them installed. Although you can use special cleaning products to help ensure that they retain their look, these are not only expensive, but contain chemicals that can be harmful to wooden floors also. Below we look at some other ways in which to clean hardwood floors to ensure that they retain the same look and condition. When it comes to the best way of caring for the wooden floors you have in your home you first need to determine what finish has been applied to them. Many of the newer kinds of wooden floors that one can have installed will have been finished using a polyurethane sealant and all you need to do with these is sweep and then wipe with a damp mop.

However, those wooden floors that have been treated using oils or a penetrating seal will need to be cleaned using a paste or liquid wax. This is also the same for floors, which are left untreated or have a shellacked, lacquered or varnished finish to them. One of the best ways of actually cleaning hardwood floors today is through using vinegar. However, if you want to get the best results possible you should be using is white vinegar, which not only helps to remove the build up of grease on it, but also can help to remove any unwanted odours as well. Also people who have used vinegar to clean their wooden floors have found it helps to remove mildew, a large number of stains as well as wax which has been able to accumulate on the floors surface.

Even though vinegar is effective at cleaning various different kinds of hardwood floors if you have oak floors or bamboo floors there are other cleaning methods that you may want to consider using instead. Certainly, of all the different types of hardwood floors that can be installed in your home today, oak ones when finished properly are the easiest to maintain. If you do have an oak floor and would like it to retain the same look as when it was first installed then it should be cleaned on a regular basis. Each week you should vacuum and then wipe over the surface of the floor with a damp mop using a very mild soap solution.

But if your floor has been waxed then in order to help bring back the shine and remove scuff marks from the surface you will need to have it either buffed, by hand or arranging to hire a machine to do it. But should you have a bamboo floor in your home then the way that this is cared for is somewhat different from other kinds of hardwood floors. Again, like with oak floors you should regularly run a vacuum over the surface before you then mop the bamboo floors down with a mop.

It is important however that the cleaning fluid you use on the surface of this kind of floor does not contain any kinds of oil, acids or caustic ingredients in them so you should avoid using vinegar on this. Another kind of cleaning product which many people use and which a lot of hardwood manufacturers will recommend is Murphy's oil soap. Of all the products now available, which can help you to maintain and care for your hardwood floors this, is one of the most effective and will help your floor to retain its shine. Above we have looked at a number of different ways in which one can clean hardwood floors. But which method you use will depend on not just the type of hardwood floor but the way in which the floor has also been finished. Therefore, it is important that you take your time and carry out some research if you want your floor to retain the look it had when first installed.

Are you interested in finding out about other methods to clean hardwood floors in order to protect and preserve them? Then please visit Clean Hardwood Floors by clicking on the link that is shown here.