Aesthetic and hardwood floors go hand in hand. The wood floor, the real wood floor, actually is something that can take anyone aback the moment one sees it. It can completely change one’s perspective about you. It sounds really shallow that someone is judging you higher just because you have hardwood flooring. But that is almost the truth. It is not only because of the wood floor price but also because it looks too elegant and classy as if it’s a thing that is not within reach. One who has it is special.
Safe Cleaning of Hardwood Floors with Castile Soap
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High-Maintenance
That kind of floor needs high maintenance. It’s not just a requirement; it is a demand. A wooden floor cannot get away with water, steam, abrasive tools, harsh chemicals, and the things that you cannot use on hardwood floors; that list is endless. The only protection you have on your hardwood flooring is the thin coated finish. Aren’t we all used to seeing how, after a few years, all the wooden furniture gets weirdly dull and needs burnishing? Now, what wrong we are doing with the furniture. We regularly clean it, and we hardly use water or any moisture to clean them. Yet they lose their sheen pretty soon.
Rough On the Wood
Now imagine the rough use of the floor. We have put all the furniture on it. We walk all over it, with shoes and sandals. We spill foods and drinks, the kitchen and bathroom create moisture, and the kitchen also adds grease and oily dirt due to the gas, fire, heat, and cooking. And we sweep it with buckets of water. So the wooden floor is bound to lose its luxurious new look in way less time. The only thing we could do is to follow the rules of maintaining a hardwood floor meticulously.
Precautionary Steps
If needed, we must invest in high-quality wood floor cleaning machines, mild but high-quality cleaning solutions, vacuum cleaners designed for cleaning hardwood. We can use lots of carpets and rugs to cover the floor, pads under the furniture, and must do every possible thing in our capacity. Time to time, we also need to refinish the hardwood floor. Just like we do to the furniture, and get its lost glory back. That will be pretty much hard and frustrating to do, but what needs to be done has to be done, albeit the right way.
Go By The Rules
Basically, there is no easy way to hold the hardwood floor to its glorious form. The thing that you can do is try delaying it. For that, many offer not to over mop your hardwood floor. And we agree with that theory. You only need to be obsessive about dry dusting. Do it every day, twice. Do not let the dirt layers collect and form a pile. Regular wet mopping is never for hardwood flooring, once or twice in a month. If you can, delay the session further.
Water-Based Cleaning Solutions
However, the thing is nothing could be properly cleaned or sanitized without using the water or moisture. So, instead of using harsh chemicals and water, you can try Castile soap and water. Perhaps it is a lesser of two evils situation. Water is anyway bad, but you have to use it to deep clean. However, the castile soap will compensate as a natural product and the water you can control by properly wringing the mop pad or terry cloth you are using to mop the wooden floor. We suggest you use a dry mop pad right after wet mopping to dry the moisture pronto. Never let the moisture or water seep into the hardwood floor. It will warp and bend in no time.
Save
So, as we are plugging in the castile soap here, let’s talk about it in detail and let you know the recipe of homemade wood floor cleaner with castile soap. Yes, we all know about vinegar, dishwashing soap. Some also use black tea, which is somehow too impractical and perhaps could be used just on the stains, and it works, but here we are highly interested in proposing you castile soap as a floor cleaner. We know many of you might be wondering whether we were living under a rock to introduce a castile soap cleaning solution that is nothing new. We aim to make people accept that castile soap is actually safe and effective.
Castile Soap
Castile soap is a ubiquitous beauty product known for its effective cleaning potentials by being mild and sensitive to your skin and pores. It comes both in bar and liquid form. It is biodegradable, natural, vegetable oil-based, non-toxic, not even a little harsh. Yet, with all these mild qualities, it clean stuck-on dirt and grease pretty well. The most popular castile soap used to clean the flooring has to be the Dr. Bronner one. It comes in a bottle and is liquid, similar to dishwashing soap.
How to Make and Use Castile Soap Cleaning Solution
You will need two tablespoons of Castile liquid soap and a gallon of water. Yes, it’s a huge quantity, so use it when your hardwood floor is too dirty. Because a gallon of water we use only to sweep the whole room.
To store the castor oil cleaning solution, you need only two cups of water and no more than a teaspoon of Castile soap. The spray bottles are mostly half-liter bottles. You do not even need to measure if you are buying a spray bottle.
Just fill the bottle up and add a teaspoon of Castile soap, and you have your homemade castile soap cleaning solution. Add a fragrance to your cleaning solution, with mixing a few drops of any essential oil. If you do not want the scent, skip it.
Sweep the floor with a gallon of water and stick mop or spray the castile soap cleaning solution on stuck-on dirt, grease, footprints and rub it with the microfiber or scrubby pad.
Keep in mind, castile soap is known for its lathering. So do not forget to remove the foam and residues it leaves. Use clean water and wring the mop after dampening it in clean water. It might be mild, but leaving the residue will ruin the hardwood floor. Careful use of anything always proves to be beneficial. Therefore, use your homemade cleaning solution carefully and reap the highest benefits from it for a longer period in the form of a fresh-looking shiny hardwood floor.
