Wooden floors are a significant investment, so, you want them to look good for as long as possible. However, as they are walked on all the time, they tend to cumulate grim and dust.

Cleaning wooden floors it’s a delicate process, but nonetheless an easy one if you know how to do it. Now we’re going to learn that process.

Let’s Start with Definitions

What kind of hardwood finish has your floor? There are at least 3 kinds:

1. Prefinished floors: every board has beveled edges. These surface-sealed floors are stain and water-damage resistant and easiest to care for and clean.
2. Stained or unfinished floor: its surface isn’t glossy and they get damaged easily.
3. Shiny floors: they have a layer of surface seal, but you have to identify it.
   1. If it’s wax, you can test your floor, moisten extra-fine steel wool and rub it on an inconspicuous area; a light gray smudge would appear on the wool.
   2. If it’s an old or a modern surface seal, place a few drops of water on the most worn area of floor.

i.    If it remains beaded after several minutes, you probably have a modern seal.

ii.    If it seems to soak or darken the wood, you either have an older seal or a poorly-finished one that needs to be handled gently.

For Surface-Sealed Floors
For a start, remember that these cleaning substances are not recommended:

• Oils—leaves a residue
• Waxes or furniture sprays create a slippery surface and makes recoating difficult.
• Straight ammonia, alkaline products or abrasive cleaners—they will only damage your floors!

Sweep daily your wooden floors in high-traffic areas, like the dining room and kitchen. Try to mop once or twice a week (with a damped—never a soaking wet!—mop). Do a half of this effort for the remaining areas.

When mopping, dip the mop into the bucket of prepared cleaning solution. This solution can be a commercial cleaning substance or just water and soap. We recommend using a mix of 2 parts of water with one of vinegar.

After dipping the mop, wring it out completely and mop in the direction of the wood grain. Repeat as needed. When the water gets dirty, empty the bucket, mix a new batch of cleaning solution and continue mopping.

When finished, go back over the entire surface with clean water to rinse.

For Seal-Treated, Waxed or Untreated Floors

Remember that acrylic or water-based waxes can turn floors white, and furniture waxes or one-step waxes create a slick surface or end trapping dirt. So, don’t use them!

Instead, use liquid wax designed for wood floors or paste wax. You might also choose a product the floor manufacturer recommends, a commercial product from the hardware store or mineral spirits.

In this case, a wet/damp mops is banned. Just vacuum and sweep the surface regularly. Every 6 months, strip the old wax and apply a fresh new coat. This treatment will depend of the surface wear.

How to wax it?

• Remove the old wax with stripper or mineral spirits. This gets done when rubbing into wood and then wiping it off with a clean, soft cloth.
• When working, keep the area well ventilated and let the floor dry.
• Then, apply a thin coat of wax. Use an applicator if you’re using liquid wax. Use a cloth if you’re using paste wax.
• Let it dry. You can also apply a second layer of wax.
• For buffing, use a cloth or rent a buffing machine. Buff in the direction of the wood grain!

Keep in mind that a regular maintenance cleaning will do more for your wooden floors than any large-scale action. Sweep or vacuum it often and leave us a comment if you have any tips to share!

It would be easy to forget about insurance when it comes to having your house cleaned, but this would be a mistake. Accidents can happen in any industry or any activity, and that is why it is essential that you inquire about insurance and learn more about what kind of insurance a housing cleaning company offers.

Not all cleaning services are of the same caliber and quality, and that is why it is in your best interest to understand who is professional and who is not. A key part of professionalism in the industry is discovering who has invested in proper insurance. After all, would you rather work with a house cleaning company that has insurance or one that does not? The answer to this question should be pretty clear!

We should pause to point out that there are a lot of house cleaning companies that are not in any way insured or bonded. Is this a problem? If something does go wrong, working with a house cleaning company that is not bonded or insured could turn out to be a very bad idea and one that you could very easily regret.

How much insurance is enough? Oftentimes, the $100,000 level of insurance is what is quoted and used

by

house cleaning companies, but the bottom line is that this is often nowhere near enough coverage.

Savvy and experienced business owners understand that a $100,000 in coverage may not be enough to properly protect their clients. This is why you’ll often see experienced house cleaning business owners boost their insurance levels. It is no coincidence that experienced house cleaning businesses usually offer more than the common $100,000 number.

House cleaning businesses need to have enough insurance to cover several key areas: general liability, bonded and workers compensation for employees. All of these are very important and

should be represented in insurance policies.

If you select a cleaning company that does not have insurance or is dramatically underinsured, then you could be the one left holding the bill if something goes wrong. You may ask, what could go wrong? I’m only having my house cleaned, right? The vast majority of the time, there will absolutely be no problems, but that doesn’t mean that nothing will ever go wrong. Fires, property damage, worker injury and more are all possible. Anytime you allow someone to enter your home, there is a risk that some sort of injury could occur. Likewise, property damage comes in many forms and can be exceptionally difficult to predict. Working with a properly insured house cleaning service is simply a must!