Hardwood Floor Cleaning Service
Protect your most valuable interior investment with a restorative wood floor cleaning!
BONA DEEP CLEAN
Our wood flooring experts will get the dirt that is stuck deep down in your wood grain, as well as the oils and soiled residue that gets lodged between plank edges and ends. Soil becomes trapped and compressed into the small crevices in your hardwood, stuck on the urethane finish, and in porous and undulating surface areas such as with hand-scraped and distressed wood floors.
We use and recommend one product, and one product only, to deep clean wood floors – Bona Deep Clean. This is NOT the same as the Bona product that you buy in stores. In fact, we would not recommend using Bona consumer products on hardwood floors, unless recommended by the manufacturer.
Our counter-rotating brush wood floor machines reach deep down in the wood grain, edges, ends, bevels, cracks, and crevices, and character marks such as knots, removing all of the trapped dirt, oils, and residue build-up that accumulates over time. This deep down dirt attracts new soil and can affect the longevity of your floor finish over time, so it’s important to deep-clean wood floors at least once a year.
CLEAN THE SPACES IN BETWEEN
Wood Floors Attract Dirt
When soil particles transfer to wood floors, most of the dirt is initially loose, and therefore easily spread to other furnishings. Unlike carpet and rugs, wood has a difficult time trapping dirt on the surface. But over time, some of the dirt builds up into the tiny pockets and crevices of the wood.
With grainier hardwood species, like oak and hickory, soil also becomes trapped in the open grain. You test your grain “openness” by running your fingernail across the width of a plank. Filled faces, or perfectly smooth finished floors, will not catch your nail. Of course, if you do have a smooth or filled face, scratches and blemishes can be more prominent and you may still have crevices in between the edges and ends of each plank – which these spaces can also accumulate dirt.
Most wood floors do require a deep cleaning, at least every other year, preferably once a year, to remove soil buildup from the natural crevices and edges of the planks. Deep cleaning also helps protect your finish by removing acidic contaminants and other abrasive debris that gets lodged in crevices.
The most popular species of wood floors include oak, hickory, maple, birch, and walnut. Oak and hickory floors will have prominent wood grain, and typically the grain is not filled which adds depth of texture to the appearance of the floor and also serves to mask imperfections, scratches, and overall wear.
However, with open grain wood floors, dirt tends to get trapped where mops can not reach. The same is true for hand-scraped and distressed hardwood flooring; there is a tendency for soil to get lodged in the character marks and imperfections, as well as in the edges and ends where the planks are joined together.
DIY WOOD FLOOR CLEANING
Care For Your Hardwood
If you have urethane finished floors, we strongly suggest using a lightly damp mop to clean your floor. Use a small amount of water on your mop pad for regular cleanings. Do not spray or apply water directly to the floor. Ensure that the mop pad is made of a microfiber fabric for the best results.
Do not over-wet the mop pad. You should apply just enough water to help the mop pick up dirt. For regular cleanings, gently run your mop across your floors, in the direction of the plank lengths. This will remove loose soil. Next, apply more pressure on each pass to remove grit and grime that is lodged in the crevices.
If you need a very deep clean, it is best to use a damp microfiber cloth and clean by hand. You can use a soft toothbrush to remove deeply lodged dirt.
