Hardwood Floor Cleaners

Choosing hardwood floor cleaners for your hardwood flooring depends almost entirely on the finish, or coating, applied over the top of the raw wood. There are a lot of misleading retail products on the market that have caused un-repairable damage, loss of warranty, or additional maintenance expense that would not have been necessary if the proper hardwood floor cleaning products were used.

Select Hardwood Floor Cleaners Carefully

Read product labels thoroughly and ensure they specifically state they are suitable for your floor's finish. For a no-wax, urethane finish our top picks, tried and tested, are Dura Seal and Bona brands.

In addition to being safe and effective for your hardwood floors, Dura Seal's packaging is a handy pop-top bottle so that you can squirt the hardwood floor cleaning product directly onto the floor, as described on our how to Clean Hardwood Floors page.

If you prefer the spray bottle method, Bona is another excellent hardwood flooring cleaner. Get the 1 gallon refill jug for your spray bottle and you're set for a long time. The Bona Hardwood Floor Mop is a great item that combines the hardwood floor cleaner and the mop into one convenient, efficient package. It is a top recommendation from our HTHF contractors and their hardwood floor clients. Learn more on our Hardwood Floor Mop page.

Armstrong® makes the Bruce brand hardwood floor cleaner safe for urethane coated floors. And the Armstrong brand itself is also one of our recommended hardwood floor cleaners.

There are a lot of products out there claiming to be very effective and specifically safe for hardwood floors. Read those package labels carefully and be sure they say they can be used for urethane finished floors ... such as the brands suggested above.

Some labels actually say they can't be used for urethane finishes (in fine print) though they market themselves to wood floor owners since there are different materials used for various types of wood-style flooring.

Other products don't really say at all what finish their product is appropriate for - just 'hard surface floors' for instance - and we suggest you avoid those too. ALWAYS read the fine print.

Hardwood Floor Cleaners NOT To Use

REMEMBER: You are not cleaning the wood itself on a finished hardwood floor ... you are cleaning the finish, the polyurethane coating over the raw wood. Exposing your hardwood floor to a cleaner that's bad for it only takes one application to cause damage.

Oil soaps and products containing wax cleaners are one such example of what NOT to use for polyurethane coatings; yet, they are marketed aggressively to the consumer. An oil soap product coats the floor surface with an oil residue that makes it nearly impossible to successfully recoat for maintenance in the future, even years later. To properly repair a floor contaminated with this type of product it must be completely sanded and refinished - a very costly and otherwise unnecessary event.

Tell-tale signs that an oil soap or wax product has been used, when it shouldn't be, is the appearance of footprints as the floor is walked on in bare feet as well as smudges, smears and marring that won't come off the floor.

If you have already used a wax- or oil-based product on your polyurethane-coated wood floors, we advise that you immediately discontinue use and begin cleaning your floors with a professional hardwood cleaner specifically for polyurethane finishes, such as those we mention above.

In addition, DON'T use a retail cleaning product that must be mixed with water. Do not use wax, paste, polish, abrasive cleaners, steel wool or scouring powder.

Hardwood Floor Cleaner Natural Alternatives

A homemade mixture of 50/50 white vinegar and water works well once or twice a month. You can also spot clean the floors with plain water, or use a mild, all-natural soap heavily diluted with water and applied to the floor sparingly with a damp (not wet) cloth, mop or spray bottle.

Warranty Caution

Warranties by most hardwood flooring manufacturers are voided if the consumer uses the wrong cleaning products for their wood floor type and/or finish.

HTHF contractors tell frequent tales of being called back to a recently installed or refinished hardwood floor the homeowner considers damaged or defective, only to find that a cleaning agent used by the homeowner was the culprit, and there's nothing they can do but live with it or pay for a full sand and refinish.

We can't stress enough the careful selection of your hardwood floor cleaners.

Important Related Topics to Protect Your Hardwood Floor

Clean Hardwood Floors
About Area Rug Pads for Hardwood Floors
Hardwood Floor Rug Pad Recommendations
How to Protect Your Hardwood Floors

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