Cleaning hardwood floors was so hard for me when I moved into a home with hardwood floors, I thought I had hit the jackpot. I did hit it, just in a way I was unaware of. I hit the stress jackpot. I cannot even express how much grief my floors have caused me.
I am not one of those people that can simply cleaning hardwood floors with water. How does that even get them clean? We walk around with our shoes on sometimes plus I have three small children all who play on the floor. A damp mop was not going to cut it for me. Should you have wood floors in a no traffic area, a wet mop might suffice but all in all, we walk on our floors.
I tried the usual line up of cleaners, Pine Sol, Fabuloso etc. Sure they cleaned the wood but they didn’t leave it streak free. Every tiny toe that stepped on the floors would show up. It was almost like it left a film. Either way, cleaning hardwood floors but full of streaky footprints looks dirty and so it bugged me.
I hopped on the Internet to see what other hardwood floor sufferers were trying and some of them suggested vinegar and water. I thought this was a good choice as it is a “green” cleaner and my kids playing on the floor, “green” cleaning products do matter to me.
It may stink but that is only for a minute and the way of cleaning hardwood floors was so well! I had found something that worked…kind of. I still was having the feet marks as the day went on.
Due to extreme frustration, I got back on the Internet and researched some more.
Some people recommended a contraption called the Shark. It is basically a steam cleaner for your floors. I had to have this miracle-cleaning tool! I went and purchased one, brought it home and tried it. STREAKS. I was plagued. I was going to be condemned to a life of streaks. Back to the Internet.
After reading more comments, I discovered cleaning hardwood floors should be with the vinegar and then use the Shark. Ok sweep, mop then Shark.
After trying my new labor-intensive routine, I had found success. While the floors weren’t 100% streak free, they were 95% perfect and best of all, clean enough to eat off of!
While hardwood floors are a beautiful and healthier alternative than carpet in your home, they are not low maintenance. It took a lot of trial and error for me to find my way but once I found the combo that worked, I have had clean, mostly streak free floors. I am personally convinced no products will ever 100% remove streaks the way I would prefer but the vinegar and shark come darn close! So you can also complete your job of cleaning hardwood floors.