Cleaning & Organizing

Re: Wood floors always look dusty

jjenkins — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:52:45 GMT

I use a microfiber mop pad and Orange Glo. I haven't noticed mine being dangerously slippy and I've been doing them once every week or bi-weekly like this for 2 years. I tried the Method Wood for Good floor cleaner and it left a film on the floors and looked like I hadn't even cleaned them.

I had heard from a contractor years ago about not using Murphy's Oil Soap so I never did that. I think I am going to try the Bona stuff that was mentioned by someone last week.

Re: Wood floors always look dusty

sarah_crishelle — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:23:37 GMT

I always use Murphys Oil soap on my wood floors too. But then not long after, they look dusty. I thought it was just me! Im glad its not! I thought about trying vinager, but I think I will try to find a special kind of cleaner.

Re: Wood floors always look dusty

aeg*5/11/07 — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:46:19 GMT

I don't know what to believe about the vinegar. It's diluted (I think only 1 cup per bucket of water, and the mop is barely wet.) Anyway, if it's good enough for Martha Stewart's floors, it's good enough for me. However, she does say that if you vacuum or clean them with a microfiber mop thing, you don't need to "wash" them often at all.......maybe only a few times per year.

Re: Wood floors always look dusty

Devon&Matt — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:40:04 GMT

This is the BEST way to clean wood floors according to The Cleaning Bug :

"DO NOT...I repeat... DO NOT use vinegar on a wood floor!! I own a cleaning company and am well aware of the damage this method can cause. Vinegar is acidic and will slowly eat away at the poly coating, or wax coating, or oil, whatever your floor is sealed with. It is fine for no-wax linoleum and ceramic but don't use vinegar on wood floors! If you have new wood floors, using anything but what the manufacturer specifically recommends will void your warranty. When in doubt, use just water. I use a product called EcoMist Colloid W and a Rubbermaid commercial microfiber mop and it gets raves from my clients with wood floors."

1) Use a soft microfiber dusting pad (preferably with fringe) and run it along all the baseboards without lifting it. Then run it up and down the room, like mowing the lawn, again not lifting the mop. Lifting the mop allows larger debris to get under the mop pad, which can scratch the floors. You want the larger debris to be trapped by the fringe and pushed ahead of you while dust and dirt is trapped by the microfiber pad. This is why swiffer is horrible...it can scratch!

2) Use the hose attachment on you vacuum to run the perimeter of the room and suck up any trapped dirt near the baseboards.

3) Using a spray bottle, mist the floor lightly with water, or a cleaner specifically formulated for wood floors like EcoMist Colloid W, Dr. Bonners, or Method. DO NOT use Murphy's Oil Soap on your floors, nor should you use Orange Glo. Murphy's Oil Soap will ruin the floors and Orange Glo makes them dangerously slippery. Again, when in doubt, just use water.

4) After lightly misting a small area, use a seperate microfiber pad that is labeled for wet use and mop the area following the grain of the wood.

5) Continue to spray as you go. The floor should dry behind you. Never dump a bucket of soapy water on a wood floor...it will warp, cup, split, and generally need replacing really quickly.

"I recommend the Rubbermaid Commercial Mop with a seperate wet and dry mopping head..they just velcro to the mop. You can get them at Home Depot for about 20 bucks and they do have replacement heads when you start to get icked out by the old ones, but all you need to do is run the wet mop under the shower tap and use some shampoo to clean it out, while the dry mop can be vacuumed with an attachment then thrown into the wash."

We use a similar technique of removing larger debris with a soft dusting pad, then vacuuming, followed up by using the spray/wipe technique with Dr. Bronner's or Method products on our floors. Though we admit we've used Murphy's Oil Soap in the past without any noticeable damage at previous apartments (in fact, a landlord once commended us for keeping his rental floors noticeably clean during our 2 year stay and rewarded us with the full deposit and a handshake). As we noted in the past, there seems like a wide range of techniques and solutions for keeping wood floors clean, with a bit of controversy about using vinegar (we're apt to agree with advice above, as vinegar is indeed an acid).

Re: Wood floors always look dusty

aeg*5/11/07 — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:52:40 GMT

Yes....DO NOT use Murphy's Oil. I love vinegar and warm water, and I don't even do that very often. I vacuum 3-4 times per week and use one of those microfiber duster things.

Re: Wood floors always look dusty

katie102006 — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:57:57 GMT

It's the Murphy's oil. Any kind of oil soap is actually going to do more harm than good. When you wipe them down with it, it looks great, but they end up attracting more dirt. They leave a filmy residue, and over time (not even that long) start to make the floors look quite dull. That residue that is left is attracting the dust and making them look dusty. I'd go with a diluted all purpose, gentle cleaning solution, or diluted warm water and vinegar mixture. then to maintain I just swiffer to dust every now and then. HTH!

Wood floors always look dusty

Crazycrustacean — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:17:56 GMT

I have wood floors that have a satin finish on them. I just had them refinished.

I have 3 cats with fur & 2 dogs (scotties) with hair. I clean my wood floors with 1/2 cup murphy's oil & a 1/4 cup of anti-bacterial detergent in 1/2 a kitchen sink full of water. My floors always look & feel clean right afterward, but then they look dusty.

Any tips for keeping the wood floors from looking dusty? I'm getting so tired of it. Thanks.