If you have hardwood floors in your home then you want them to stay looking as good as the day when they were installed. Although you could use expensive specialist-cleaning products these often contain chemicals, which in fact can prove to be harmful for your wooden floors. Below we look at some ways in which you can clean hardwood floors so that they retain the look and remain in a good condition.

However even before you decide which is the best way for you to care and clean your hardwood floors you need to find out what finish they have to them. In fact what finish is on your wooden floors will be what will determine the way in which they are cleaned. Most new wooden floors including bamboo and oak ones will have been sealed so just sweeping with a broom and wiping with a damp mop is sufficient. However, floors that have been penetrated sealed or treated using oils will need to be cleaned using either a liquid or a paste wax. The same also goes for floors, which have not been treated or have been varnished, shellacked or lacquered.

One of the best ways of actually cleaning hardwood floors today is through using vinegar. However, if you want to get the best results possible you should be using is white vinegar, which not only helps to remove the build up of grease on it, but also can help to remove any unwanted odours as well. Also people who have used vinegar to clean their wooden floors have found it helps to remove mildew, a large number of stains as well as wax which has been able to accumulate on the floors surface.

Even though vinegar is effective at cleaning various different kinds of hardwood floors if you have oak floors or bamboo floors there are other cleaning methods that you may want to consider using instead. Certainly, of all the different types of hardwood floors that can be installed in your home today, oak ones when finished properly are the easiest to maintain.

If you do have an oak floor and would like it to retain the same look as when it was first installed then it should be cleaned on a regular basis. Each week you should vacuum and then wipe over the surface of the floor with a damp mop using a very mild soap solution. But if your floor has been waxed then in order to help bring back the shine and remove scuff marks from the surface you will need to have it either buffed, by hand or arranging to hire a machine to do it.

But should you have a bamboo floor in your home then the way that this is cared for is somewhat different from other kinds of hardwood floors. Again, like with oak floors you should regularly run a vacuum over the surface before you then mop the bamboo floors down with a mop. It is important however that the cleaning fluid you use on the surface of this kind of floor does not contain any kinds of oil, acids or caustic ingredients in them so you should avoid using vinegar on this.

As mentioned, there are cleaning products, which you can purchase to care for your hardwood floors, and one of these is Murphy's oil soap. Of all the cleaning products available for such floors, this one will not only help to care for your floor properly, but is effective at bringing back the shine on its surface.

Above we looked at some of the ways in which one can clean hardwood floors, but what one you use will depend on the type of wood and the finish that has been applied to its surface. Therefore it is wise to spend a little time finding out more about the kind of wood and finish to your floors if you want to ensure that they maintain the look they had when first installed.