It's the second Thursday of the month and at the Bledsoe house, this usually means it’s time to deep clean the hardwood floors. I've decided to take a second look at some different techniques used, just to make sure that my Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaning and Refinishing school has my process up to snuff.
There’s a rather large collection of folks that utilize a simple broom, hot water, mop, and Murphys Oil Soap. This is a great day-to-day regimen to get yourself into and will keep your floors looking well kept throughout the month. Others use more aggressive techniques such as floor strippers, scrapers, or even light sanding once a month. Some of these techniques have their place in the world of hardwood flooring but not all should be used when deep cleaning. I like to think that outside of installation/removal there are 4 steps to regular hardwood floor care: Repairs, Regular Cleaning, Deep Cleaning, and Refinishing.
For this article, we are gonna take a look at just Deep Cleaning. This process for me involves a good vacuum, Bona dusting pad, Bona microfiber cleaning pad, Bona microfiber applicator pad, Bona Powerplus Deep Clean, Bona Express™ Hardwood Floor Revitalizer, or Bona Hardwood Polish. Strippers, sanding, stains, etc. fall underneath the category of refinishing and deep cleaning could be damaging to the life span of your hardwood floors.
Deep cleaning your hardwood floors should be done every 2-4 months. Point B clientele generally schedules deep cleaning service once a quarter. PBHS utilizes the Bona Power Scrubber which is an enhanced cleaning product that can be used on a plethora of different hard surfaces. If you are in the North/Central region of Florida and would like to schedule this service you can do so by clicking here.
Before deep cleaning your hardwood floors it’s a good idea to do your dusting and other “from the top down” cleaning earlier in the same week so the dust and other debris doesn’t fall onto the polish especially while it’s drying. After a good cleaning of everything eye level and above it’s time to hit….. the baseboards. Just a friendly reminder from Nickolas Bledsoe Real Estate Broker Associate at Pepine Realty and Founder of Point B Home Solutions LLC that’s me, that your home is a system of components that work together. The baseboards are just as important to the homeostasis of your home as anything else. But once you are done cleaning those, follow if you’d like the following steps to deep clean your hardwood floors!
Step 1: As with all hardwood floors, before you begin scrubbing, know what type of wood it is and the manufacturer's care instructions. If you need help in identifying the type of wood you have The Real Wood Bible by Nick Gibbs is a great reference.
Step 2: After you have moved all furniture that you want to clean under safely, you will want to start by vacuuming with a hard surface attachment if you have one. Steps 2 & 3 are important maybe the most important steps when deep cleaning. When you apply polish you don’t want any debris left behind drying into the polish and unable to be removed.
Step 3: After you have removed any noticeable debris with a vacuum, and this is the most commonly missed step even by professionals, use the bona dusting pad one time all across the floor and ESPECIALLY around the corners. This step will assist you in getting all of the dust particles you can’t see. I truly believe that this step in addition to the polishing is what will make your floors separate from good to great!
Step 4: Now that you have dry dust mopped the floor you will want to wet mop the entire floor using Bona Cleaning Pad. I think that it is a great idea to use Bona Powerplus Deep Clean. Then let the entire floor dry.
Step 5: We're now ready to polish with the Bona Applicator Pad! You want to make sure that as you apply the Bona Express™ Hardwood Floor Revitalizer. Apply the polish in an “S” formation going with the grain of the wood, work in small areas first, do not rub the polish into the floor, and let stand dry for 20 mins after application.
Tip: As you apply the polish over the floor the applicator should glide over the floor with two fingers on the extension pole. If you find that you've got two hands on the pole scrubbing it in you are going way too hard. That will create unevenness and a funny look.
A great indicator that your floors are doing great is that they will squeak as you walk over them with shoes. Finally, it's always a great night to take your mate out to someplace new just to let the floors settle a bit to last until the next quarter. If you're in the Gainesville area I suggest Spurriers in Celebration Point. I hope this helps!