June 1, 2016

3 Ways to Keep Hardwood Floors Clean Longer

One of your most-asked questions is all about how to make hardwood floors look and feel clean. If you have hardwood floors you know that when they’re clean and shiny they’re beautiful and maybe even bring a smile to your face. But if they’re grungy and dirty and sticky, they’re frustrating and they beg to be washed. So how about a couple ways to keep your hardwood (and just about any other hard surface floor) stay and look clean longer?

Remove shoes at the door

If you haven’t adopted a shoes-off policy, this will definitely help keep the tracked in dirt and debris at the door. Strategically place a rug at each entrance of the home and put a basket with socks or slippers out and accessible for guests. If you have a place to put shoes in your garage, utilize that so you aren’t even bringing the dirt inside.

Vacuum and wash floors very thoroughly weekly

I find that a thorough vacuum and floor washing every week is the best way for me to keep the floors clean and fairly dirt free all week long. By vacuuming edges and corners and doing a thorough job, I find that the floors look better for longer. Of course if you have kids and/or pets you know that you could most likely vacuum and wash floors every day, but I’m guessing you don’t want to be spending your time doing that every day. In my cleaning routine I vacuum on Wednesdays and wash floors on Thursdays – it’s a great system and method that works. Go to this post to find out more.

Spot clean any little messes right away

If you notice a smudge, spill, or mess, tackle it right away. Crumbs under the table after a meal, give it a quick sweep. Juice splatters from breakfast? Wipe it up or bring out your favorite spray mop to clean it right up. It only takes a minute or two to clean up little messes but if left until the next time you wash the floors, your floors will look dirtier and they’ll take longer to clean when you do clean them. Go here for some of my favorite tools and tricks for cleaning hard surface floors.

What do you do to keep your hardwood floors clean longer?