Hardwood floors, iso tried and true best cleaner

amother

Wed, Jul 10 2019, 10:24 am

I researched which cleaner is best and bona was so highly recommended. Turns out, contractor says it ruined the finish on our floors. We got them refinished and floor guy said to mix a drop of Murphy's oil with water to clean. I researched Murphy's oil and many people say it's no good for the floors.
I'm so so confused and now I don't know what to use.
Anyone have experience with the best product to use?

Amarante

Wed, Jul 10 2019, 10:44 am

Murphy's oil and water is not good for wood floors.

Most people swear by Bona products for hardwood floors. You can buy their starter system on amazon.

The most important thing is that you need to be fastidious about sweeping and wiping up any spills. Grit is a killer of the wood finish and liquid is obviously not good for woods.

In terms of using the Bona, you spray it on their mop which is one of those microfiber types of mops. You don't spray directly on the floor because you don't want to coat the floor with product.

My wood floors were expensive and so I am willing to spend a few dollars per year to invest in the recommended Bona products. As the saying goes, penny wise and pound foolish.

newlywed613

Wed, Jul 10 2019, 11:04 am

I use murphys oil and drop of water. If ur nervous abt water do murphys oil strait onto a mop and yes clean spills rite away! Hardwood floors r beautiful but boy r they a bother Smile

Amarante

Wed, Jul 10 2019, 11:10 am

Once again DO NOT USE MORPHY OIL SOAP

Here's an article explaining why it is harmful and not recommended. Don't believe me - just google and decide for yourself.

Why do people spend thousands on wood floors and then want to cheap out by using a product that is widely written about as harmful. Why do you want to take the chance.

If they are wrong, you have lost nothing because the Bona and similarly highly rated products haven't harmed your floors and work beautifully.

If we are right, by using Murphy oil soap, you have damaged your expensive floors.

https://www.woodfloordoctor.co.....soap/

Learn the negative effects of cleaning your floor with Murphy’s Oil Soap.

Oil soap is a commonly used, widely available wood floor cleaner. The most favored brand of oil soap is Murphy’s Oil Soap and it is owned by Colgate-Palmolive. With a big advertising budget, Colgate-Palmolive is working very hard to make Murphy’s Oil Soap a trusted household name. Besides, it has been around for a long time and is as widely used as Windex. In case you aren’t that familiar with the product line, the most popular wood floor cleaning products are the Murphy Oil Soap Original Formula and the Murphy Oil Soap Squirt & Mop.

Oil soap, like Murphy’s, is vegetable oil-based. Perhaps because oil soap is marketed as biodegradable, it is enough to make people think that it is a wholesome cleaning product. Especially with all of the toxic cleaning solutions available, many people are turning to natural alternatives. This is just one of the reasons that Murphy’s Oil Soap is in high demand. Regardless of the reasons that consumers choose oil soap to clean wood floors, it actually doesn’t have positive features.

Oil soap is actually harmful to your wood floors. Many floor manufacturers explicitly state that oil soap should not be used to clean wood floors. For example, the Bellawood Prefinished Hardwood Floors Certified 50 Year Warranty expressly states, “Do not wash or wet mop the floor with soap, water, oil-soap detergent or any other liquid cleaning material. This could cause swelling, warping, delamination, and joint-line separation, and void the warranty.” When you apply oil soap, you are leaving a residue on your wood floors. This residue will turn into streak marks. You are putting vegetable oil soap on your wood floors and leaving it on. All of your wood surfaces will have an oil soap coating on them. This makes the finish on your floors look dull.

When you use Murphy’s Oil Soap, you will quickly learn that the advertising claims are fictitious. Obviously, this is not an advisable cleaning method. This is not even cleaning. It is just coating your floors with an oily, sticky residue! If you decide to clean your floors with oil soap, you will notice that in as few as five years, your floors will need to be recoated. The oily residue left behind from oil soap will remain so much so that it may very likely gum up the screening disk when you recoat your floor in the future. Also, the new coating may have adhesion problems. Many homeowners have permanently ruined hardwood floors from using oil soap products.

Despite its popularity, I would not use it on my own wood floors nor would I recommend it. I am talking about sealed hardwood floors. Even though Muphy’s Oil Soap is formulated for sealed hardwood floors, you want to stay far away from it! As you now know, Murphy’s Oil Soap makes many misleading and false claims that sound convincing to anyone who has not done adequate research. For example, it promises to leave no residue behind. It is also supposed to remove wax build-up.

If you decide to give Murphy’s Oil Soap a try, the next step will be learning how to remove it! An effective technique to remove the oily residue is with vinegar or glass cleaners. Murphy’s Oil Soap can penetrate into the surface of the wood. When it is time to get your hardwood floors refinished, they will have to be sanded down past the oil build-up in order for the new finish to adhere. Murphy’s Oil Soap can react with the finish softening it and making it dull. This is obviously irreversible.

If you are smart, please do not listen to the seemingly compelling advertisements about Murphy’s Oil Soap. Using oil soap can be as serious as losing your wood floor warranty!

takeiteasy

Wed, Jul 10 2019, 11:15 am

When I redid my floors 3 years ago I was told to just use water.

BH the floors are holding up great.

amother

Amethyst

Wed, Jul 10 2019, 11:18 am

Verrazano Wood flooring instructed me to use 2 capfuls of vinegar in a bucket of water to wash hardwood floors. They said that all the other floor cleaners are damaging to wood.

amother

Ruby

Wed, Jul 10 2019, 12:20 pm

So many ppl comment on my wood floors that they look so shiny, so new. They are 10 years old and my kids ride baby trikes and scooters inside! I tell everyone, don't use any products. Just use water and put a very few drops of your dish soap into it. that's it. Works like magic. I know about using vinegar on cement tiles, never heard of using on wood. I'd be cautious because its really acidic...

fig

Wed, Jul 10 2019, 1:27 pm

Bona ruins most floors. Google problems with bona and you will find loads of people complaining

amother

Navy

Wed, Jul 10 2019, 1:32 pm

Swiffer sells special hardwood floor products

little neshamala

Wed, Jul 10 2019, 2:05 pm

I was told never to use any water. I use pledge, its great

amother

Wed, Jul 10 2019, 2:09 pm

Op here, lol, I don't know if it's sad or funny, but now I'm even more confused. Everyone here is saying something else Surprised

amother

Aqua

Wed, Jul 10 2019, 2:14 pm

I also just use water with a splash of vinegar. Does the job. Didn’t like Murphy at all. Didn’t leave a nice finish when it dried. I think it depends on how your wood is sealed. Mine isn’t so shiny to begin with.

little neshamala

Wed, Jul 10 2019, 2:28 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Op here, lol, I don't know if it's sad or funny, but now I'm even more confused. Everyone here is saying something else Surprised

Ok, out of curiosity I just did a very quick google search.
It seems vinegar is either not recommended for wood floors, or very controversial. It is highly recomended for ceramic tile floor. Not wood.
Water is either not recommended, or "be verrrrry careful to use only a tiny bit and make sure you dry all the excess right away". (Personally I was told never to use any water on wood but I forgot who told me that)

I use pledge because its designed for wood floors.

tweety1

Wed, Jul 10 2019, 2:32 pm

My mother uses just plain water. Looks gorgeous after 10 yrs. She has the high gloss floors.

amother

Amethyst

Wed, Jul 10 2019, 4:01 pm

little neshamala wrote:

I was told never to use any water. I use pledge, its great

How does using furniture polish not make the floor slippery? I once tried using pledge on a small area and I was slipping and sliding on the floor.

amother

Navy

Wed, Jul 10 2019, 4:14 pm

amother [ Navy ] wrote:

Swiffer sells special hardwood floor products

Just gonna humbly bump my comment up Smile

hope it helps

amother

Mint

Wed, Jul 10 2019, 4:17 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Op here, lol, I don't know if it's sad or funny, but now I'm even more confused. Everyone here is saying something else Surprised

I use Murphy's 3 times a week on my wood floor. Still looks gorgeous after 10 years. It may depend on the seal.

Sunny Days

Wed, Jul 10 2019, 4:21 pm

How bad is using a steam mop?

Marigold

Wed, Jul 10 2019, 4:26 pm

amother [ Mint ] wrote:

I use Murphy's 3 times a week on my wood floor. Still looks gorgeous after 10 years. It may depend on the seal.

I’ve been using a drop of Murphy on my hardwood floors for years and never ever had any issues.
Plain water is probably most recommended but I don’t consider the floors clean this way, so Murphy it is and will be.

little neshamala

Wed, Jul 10 2019, 4:34 pm

amother [ Amethyst ] wrote:

How does using furniture polish not make the floor slippery? I once tried using pledge on a small area and I was slipping and sliding on the floor.

Its not the furniture polish, its the pledge bottle that says "gentle wood floor cleaner"