Tips on cleaning a wood floor please

[MadameCheese]

Our bedrooms have wood floors and they don't look great. Would soap and water do the trick?

buy wood cleaner. soap will just make them dull.

thank you, :)

and don't get them too wet when you do them. dampish at most...

yes, we're damp enough here as it is :)

Have they got varnish on?
If not, Kim and Aggie did a good job with a scrubbing brush and biological washing powder in warm water (biological because of being abrasive) - I've done some decking like that since and it's come up great.

yes varnished, not looking forward to being on hands and knees with my 37 week old bump but I suppose it'll do my back good.

If they are unvarnished or the varnish has worn through, you should not expose them to water (ie. don't scrub them) untreated wood doesn't like water and it can swell and rot. The best thing you can do is hire a floor sander for a day and then put 4-5 coats of clear P-U varnish on it. If it is a heavily used area, you can seal it with a product called bona-traffic which lasts forever.

If they are varnished and the varnish is in tact then ordinary furniture polish and a rag should get them clean

furniture polish? Blimey, I'd be skating in my socks?!

right I've bought some proper wood floor cleaner and will give it ago. I foolishly thought previously that furniture polish would be a good idea and got really told off by DH because it was mega slippery - did look and smell nice though :).

I've just ordered some almond scented wood floor cleaner by Method cos I'm sick of the stale smell of Cif camomile after a day or two. Very saddo but am looking forward to mopping wood floors when it arrives. Will let you know.

Johnsons do a lovely soapy wood floor cleaner but I can never find it these days. When babes were tiny and I was very particular I used a squeezed almost dry mop dipped in boiling water with a few drops of tea tree and lavender. It smelled gorgeous.

sainsburys have all the method brand cleaners on offer at the moment - picked up some of the floor cleaner today and going to try it out tomorrow

do you ladies use your wood floor cleaner in water? i shied away from buying some as was advised not to mop my brand new solid oak kitchen floor! but am at a loss as to how to clean it....

I use Pledge Soapy Wood Cleaner -you add a capful to a bucket of water and mop the floors.

Our floors are a mixture -some reclaimed floorboards, some old parquet and some new engineered wood - they all come up nicely

Norbert - you have got me wondering - maybe it was Pledge soapy wood cleaner I used to use. I loved it. Smelled really fresh for days and made the floor sparkle without being slippery. But haven't been able to find it for years so moved to Cif which is :(
Method's very good but still not made my house smell sweet scented and divine like other people's.
Why do some houses smell great - all fresh laundry and polish, while others, however clean, smell that bit stale and musty?

i once made the mistake of cleaning my wood floors with mr sheen ooops....we all kept slipping on it for days :o

i now use mr sheen spray for wood floors.

I use Ecover Floor Soap for ours....

I use the bona system on our wooden floors. My Dad loved it so much that he had me bring one back when visiting in August. The mop head is machine washable and the bottle in the holder can be refilled. Their liquids are also brilliant and well priced.

If you google under shopping it comes up.

Ecover wood floor cleaner here too. Use it diluted in a bucket, but make sure you really wring your mop before putting it on the floor.

I use Flash for wooden floors but it makes it quite dull.
Think I'll try the Method one now.

I bought a mop that you twist to wring the water out. It's reduced the amount of water on the floor significantly. It also does away with the need for a bucket, I just fill the sink.

I use orange oil and alcohol for stains.

The Method smells good and leaves a sheen - not too shiny but looks polished.

I bought some Method today in Sainsbo's. Smells lovely.