I wanna see myself in my hardwood floors

September 15, 2006 3:42 PM

What is the best way to clean a hardwood floor? I've gone the Murphy's Oil Soap route and it just leaves splotches, even after I try to wipe it with a rag afterwards. I'd rather avoid getting on my hands and knees. Anything that is tried-and-true and will make my floor shine?

We have a prefinished floor, if that makes a difference. I've searched other threads and they don't quite answer my question. Isn't there some sort of Swiffer product out there for hardwood floors? Any other method that works for you?

posted by printchick to Home & Garden (9 answers total)

General cleaning with a 4:1 mix of water and vinegar, then use a dust mop with pledge sprayed on it.
posted by idiotfactory at 3:55 PM on September 15, 2006

Yep, vinegar and water. Or just plain water.
posted by LadyBonita at 4:12 PM on September 15, 2006

Water alone is usually fine. Spot clean anything really dirty.

Murphy's works best in my experience if you keep it really watered down, otherwise you get a filmy haze. Use half or less of what they recommend. Also, if you really want to go nuts, you could rinse-mop with clean water. Sounds like a fun weekend!
posted by jeff-o-matic at 4:23 PM on September 15, 2006

Idiotfactory is right, but in case you didn't see my earlier comment in your previous search of old threads, I'm including it -- you might find it useful.
posted by melissa may at 4:25 PM on September 15, 2006

I use Murphy's and have no problems with it, however I do go over the floors at least twice, the second time with plain water. I live in a dusty city, so it's kind of necessary.

I don't use the recommendations on the bottle though.
posted by FlamingBore at 5:04 PM on September 15, 2006

Murphy's doesn't work well if the water is hard.
posted by dragonsi55 at 6:37 PM on September 15, 2006

Depending on the finish, Murphy's is hell for hardwood floors.
posted by hercatalyst at 8:23 AM on September 16, 2006 [1 favorite]

Swiffer does make a wood floor cleaner and it's so easy it's almost fun to clean your floor.
However, it does seem to leave streaks and thanks to a previous AskMe on this subject, I keep meaning to try refilling the bottle with water and vinegar to see if that works better with the swiffer. But you know, I'm hella lazy......
posted by CunningLinguist at 8:53 AM on September 16, 2006

I washed all the old wax off my old wood floors using ammonia and water. Then I applied pastewax, let it dry, and buffed. They look great. The floors were originally finished with oil-based varnish. I'm not sure about wax on floors that are polyurethaned.
posted by theora55 at 9:33 AM on September 16, 2006 [1 favorite]