Oak floor cleaning - suggestions needed please

happy_miser

Does anyone know the best method for cleaning solid oak flooring that was pre-treated but has had some of the surface varnish damaged by mopping with supposed floor cleaners. We previously used a regular mop with the solution diluted in water and really wrung the mop out so the floor wasn't too wet.

Have just bought an Extendable Flat Mop (pad-type) from Asda that can also be wet, but their Customer Services don't have or recommend a cleaning solution. Can anyone help please, as have just had flooring re-varnished and don't want to mess it up again?

poppet

In an ideal world you would only use a cleaning product which had undergone testing against the coating which you have on your particular floor.

But if you dont know what brand of coating was used becasue it was a prefinished product off the shelf, or it came with a house you have recently moved into, your only "safe" option is to use mere water and no chemicals.

The bare wood is only protected by the coating, once the surface coating has been compromised the wood underneath is vunerable ans suseptable to damage, so keeping your coating in tip top condition is extreamly important.

Some cleaning products "can" cause damage to surface coatings causing them to split or peel, again leaving the bare wood underneath open and vunerable.

If your coating is coming off - you should get it re-coated asap and refrain from any kind of mopping untill then.

happy_miser

Thanks Poppet, have followed your advice for the time being until we get it sorted.