Not everyone likes to clean when you get dirty floors, there are always more entertaining and better activities you could be doing. But in order to keep yourself and your family healthy, you need to do the mopping of wood floors.
It is possible for mold and mildew to find a home in the cracks, crevices, and joints of hardwood flooring so you do need to clean well. Mopping just makes the cleaning go a little easier and faster.
To make sure you cover all the right spots and use the right cleansers just continue to read our article. It guides you through this process.
How to Mop Hardwood Floors Without Streaks
Contents
There are several steps to this process and it only takes a little bit of time to complete all the steps.
- The first one is to determine what kind of finish you have on your floor or if you have a finish on it.
- If there is a finish, then you may be able to use water and other liquids as the wood floor should be sealed. The sealant helps protect the wood from damage. The next step will be to clean the floor and you can use a mop, broom, or vacuum to get this done.
- After you have finished that step, you apply the right cleanser. This can be vinegar and water, a cleaner made for hardwood floors, or another alternative. Then clean the floor using a slightly damp mop and follow the grain.
- When you are finished you can dry the floor with a clean towel to avoid streaks.
How to Mop Hardwood Floors With a Microfiber Mop

This is one of the preferred mop tops to use on hardwood floors. Cotton head mops are good but they retain too much water. That extra moisture can get through any cracks in the finish and harm your wood floorboards.
With a microfiber mop head, you do the same steps as if you were using a cloth or a cotton mop head. Prepare your cleanser, dip your microfiber mop into the mixture and wring it out thoroughly.
You only want the mop head to be damp and microfiber releases the excess moisture very well. Once that is done, you mop the floor following the grain of the wood.
How to Mop Hardwood Floors With Bona

One of the ways to protect your floors and get them clean the right way is to use a cleaner made for hardwood floors. This product is made for such floors and it goes on nice and easily.
The cleaner comes in ready-made spray bottles so all you have to do is get your microfiber mop and get ready. Like other methods to clean your hardwood floors, you need to sweep or vacuum the dirt and dust off first.
Then you simply spray a little Bona over a section of the floor and use your microfiber mop to rub the cleaner in. Then just repeat these two steps until the whole floor has been treated.
The key will be to use just enough but not too much Bona on the floor.
How to Mop Hardwood Floors With Pine-Sol

Pine-Sol is a good cleaner to use when you have some tough stains to get rid of. The good news is that you can use Pine-Sol on hardwood floors but like other liquids, you cannot use too much at one time.
Also, you will need to sweep and vacuum the floor first. This is a step you will never be able to avoid. Then mix 1/4 cup of Pine-Sol in a gallon of water and dip your mop into the mixture. Make sure to wring very well as you do not want a lot of moisture on the floor.
If you come across some very hard-to-remove stains, then put a little undiluted Pine-Sol on a cloth and rub it into the stain. Once the stain is gone, go over it with the mop to get any excess liquid off the floor.
Then dry the floor so none of the mixtures makes its way down into the wood.
How to Mop Hardwood Floors With Vinegar

Vinegar is a little trickier as it has an acidic quality to it. If you let the vinegar, even diluted, sit too long on your floor it can strip the finish off of it. In order to avoid that from taking place, you want to make sure not to apply too much vinegar to the mop.
Like all the other methods, you will need to clean the floor first. Then mix about 1/4 to 1 cup of vinegar in with a gallon of water and mix well. Once the solution is ready, dip your mop head into it then wring well. Finally, wipe the floor.
Make sure to dry it afterwards as a just-in-case safety measure. Always mop following the grain and use the softest mop head possible. Some mop heads can scratch floors so be careful of that.
Some Final Words
There are lots of cleanser alternatives you can use to clean hardwood floors. The key is to make sure the moisture does not pool and sit there for a long period of time. Keep the mop damp but not soaking wet when you use that cleaning tool.
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