cleaning wooden floors

A_LANCASHIRE_LAD_2

Hi
We have recently moved into our house and need to clean the floors . They are all stripped floorboards but having never cleaned these not sure what to use , obviously cant use polish as it would make them dangerously slippy . They have got really dirty and dusty as we live in an old style house with a dirt track outside
Any one help please ??????????????

tawnyowls

This is a pretty good site for anything to do with wood floors:
http://www.woodfloordoctor.com/_how_tos/articles/cleanpt2.shtml

Gingham_Ribbon

There's a thread on cleaning laminate that I'll look out for you.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=211999

Poppy9

You can buy a special wood cleaner is specialist decorator merchants. I think it cost about £5 a bottle.

If you use a wet mop make sure you ring it out well. To treat the floors do not varnish them after cleaning as everytime you scratch them then dirt will get into the scratch. Much better to buy a wax (can't remember the name but costs about £45 a tin). Sounds a lot but I did my dinning/living room twice with it. Any scratches you just rewax. You apply it with a brush and it goes on very easily. I will try to dig out the name of it.
Found it: Osmo Hardwax Oil

JoeyEmma

That floor doctor website seems good, however you have to pay $5 to read each of the full articles. Not very money saving.

tawnyowls

JoeyEmma wrote:

That floor doctor website seems good, however you have to pay $5 to read each of the full articles. Not very money saving.

Do you? I just click on this link and it brings up the full thing. Are you looking at something else on the site?

A_LANCASHIRE_LAD_2

Wow thats a long winded site !
Im going to steam clean them i think when i invest in a polti

msraec

i've been using the same vileda microfibre type mop for ages for laminate...use the regular pop on/velcro cloths wrung out in water and a splash of vinegar then buff it with the fluffy cloth head to dry it off and get rid of any streaks..works for me and chuck the one for washing in the machine with everything else..havent needed to replace them for years

in the kitchen i've got slate-look ceramic tiles that have an uneven surface...the vileda doesnt work so well on these and they get alot more grubby being in the kitchen...any tips on getting them really clean without resorting to hands and knees with a scrubby thing? (also i try not to use chemicals where poss)...have been considering a steam cleaner but not entirely sure whether this would be suitabe for cleaning this floor or what else i cld use it for (dont want another gadget that'll take room up in understairs cupboard)...any tips/advice out there much appreciated

donna73

in our house we have the original solid wood parquet flooring in the hallway, lounge and dining room, this is great with kids around very practical, but it could do with a really good clean and i was wondering if anyone has any ideas.

in the past i've normally just used hot soapy water, or very diluted bleach, but its not doing the wood much good.

so yesterday i tried 1 part vinegar with 1 part oil (and added some drops of lime essential oil to make it smell nicer), this definately worked as my cloths were filthy!!!!!and the colour of the wood looks richer. but theres still a lot of ingrained dirt.

not sure whether to just keep repeating the process, or whether anyone has any ideas of something more effective

any suggestions gratefully received!

Seakay

http://www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2751

Would suggest the HG product to clean (see link above) and then either continue with your oil and vinegar treatment or wax polish it (v hard work unless you have an electric polisher) or treat it with linseed oil once a week or so. PLEASE don't use bleach on your lovely floors, it will do horrible things to the wood -once you have a good polished wax or linseed or other oil layer on then it's fine to wipe down, but try not to leave water sitting on the surface
A few ideas about soap here:
http://www.care2.com/channels/solutions/home/1427

donna73

thanks seakay, will have a look at both those links, and see if i can get the floors in a better condition.