Clean hardwood flooring properly

Unlike conventional floor coverings, with parquet the correct cleaning and care is extremely important.

With the right care measures and cleaning adapted to the requirements of the parquet, the floor will remain fresh, clean and always well maintained.

Cleaning and maintenance of parquet is not difficult if some rules are followed. Wood reacts sensitively to moisture, so when cleaning parquet, care must be taken to ensure that the floor does not get completely wet.

The cleaning utensils also play a role, so that the parquet can be maintained without causing damage. With good equipment, cleaning is relatively effortless.

Recommended product for cleaning sealed parquet:

Basically, when cleaning parquet, a distinction is first made between sealed or oiled parquet.

The second consideration: Do the wooden floorboards need to be cleaned thoroughly or is it sufficient to remove dust and crumbs? Now and then, more extensive measures are necessary if the parquet is to be maintained and treated well.

Parquet and vacuum cleaner: Is the vacuum cleaner allowed to clean the parquet?

Parquet floors may be vacuumed if the vacuum cleaner has a special hard floor nozzle.

This ensures that the parquet floor is not damaged.

You should be careful when handling the vacuum cleaner – especially if it is a floor vacuum cleaner. With handheld vacuum cleaners, only the nozzle comes into contact with the floor.

It is also advisable to use a small cordless vacuum cleaner, recommended for example in households with children, if crumbs fall to the floor frequently.

Otherwise, a soft mop is sufficient for removing dust and crumbs, with which crumbs and dust lint can be quickly removed. The use of a steam cleaner is only recommended in rare cases.

Cleaning sealed parquet: This is how the sealed wooden floor becomes fresh and clean again

In addition to dry cleaning, wet cleaning is a further component of parquet cleaning.

Sealed parquet is more sensitive to water than oiled parquet. The professional advice is that a sealed parquet floor must not be exposed to too much water.

Water can creep under the parquet sealing. The wood can swell in the worst case.

Grey veils can form at the joints of the parquet, other unsightly discolourations are also possible.

If you want to clean hardwood flooring damp, you should pay attention to the note “damp fogging“.

This means that the mop or cloth must be wrung out thoroughly and only slightly damp.

Under no circumstances should puddles form on the parquet floor. The mop contains the right amount of moisture if the floor dries again immediately.

Water without additives is suitable, but you can also use a suitable parquet cleaner for cleaning the parquet.

Important: The best choice is a parquet cleaner recommended by the parquet manufacturer. Please do not experiment yourself!

Certain cleaning agents are even extremely harmful. Vinegar cleaner may be used e.g. never, it can lead to discoloration which cannot be removed.

If there is particularly heavy soiling, use an intensive cleaner to clean the parquet.

Here too, the manufacturer’s instructions must be observed. The room should be well ventilated during and after cleaning.

Sometimes liquids can be spilled. Be it from carelessness while watering flowers or through a fallen glass. In this case, water and other liquids should be absorbed as soon as possible. This way nothing can penetrate the parquet.

Clean hardwood flooring properly
Clean the parquet properly with a mop

Clean oiled parquet: Tips for careful cleaning

Even oiled parquet should not get really wet, but in principle a little more water is allowed when cleaning parquet.

The ideal cleaning agent is a special wood floor soap.

Follow the instructions on the packaging. The wooden floor soap may foam when cleaning the floor, damage or grey haze does not occur when using the soap.

The components of the wood floor soap have positive effects for oiled parquet.

The soap contains not only cleansing substances, but also caring oils and waxes. In this way, the floorboard floor receives the right care with every cleaning process.

If there are only a few traces to be removed, a slightly damp mop without detergent is sufficient, but cleaning should not be carried out over a long period of time exclusively with water.

Good ventilation is also important for oiled parquet. After damp cleaning, the parquet floor must dry before it is walked on again so that no footprints remain.

Caring for sealed parquet: How to preserve the beauty of the parquet

Sealed parquet remains permanently beautiful with the right care measures.

It is advisable to lay the parquet immediately after the floor if a special initial maintenance is used.

This measure should also be applied after the laying flooring.

The parquet manufacturer recommends products that are suitable for parquet maintenance. Special products are also useful for ongoing cleaning and care.

There are two possibilities here:

  1. You can use a combined wipe care, in which case the care product is already integrated.
  2. Alternatively, if only a cleaning agent is used, a parquet care product should be applied approximately every four to six months.

In rooms with heavy use, for example in commercially used rooms, special care is required more often.

Maintain oiled parquet: The requirements of an oiled parquet floor

If you want to maintain oiled parquet, you can opt for a wood floor soap right away.

The oils and waxes it contains are sufficient for normal care. In addition, the floor may be treated with a special maintenance oil. It makes sense to apply a maintenance oil about once or twice a year when caring for your parquet floor.

If the ongoing maintenance cleaning should only be carried out with a conventional parquet cleaner, the maintenance measure with maintenance oil is necessary more often.

A cotton mop is very well suited for applying the care oil.

Cleaning heavily soiled parquet

If the parquet floor is extremely dirty, a specialist company is the right place to go. You can rent polishing machines or hire the expert who will clean the wooden floor with the appropriate equipment and intensive cleaning agents and bring it back to life.

When does one have to re-oil parquet?

The purpose of re-oiling is to maintain the resistance of the parquet. The “untreated” character is shown to its best advantage, but the parquet needs the right care with re-oiling.

Re-oiling is recommended about once a year. For a very lightly used floor, treatment every two years is sufficient.

Floors that are subject to heavy use should be oiled more often. In public buildings, this can even happen once a week.

Before re-oiling, the floor must be thoroughly cleaned (remove all removable objects such as carpets or floor protection mats etc.). The floor can be wiped with a damp cloth. For heavy soiling, but also simply as care, you can use a special wood soap.

After cleaning, the floor must dry well for at least five hours. Only then is the care oil applied. For re-oiling, the oil is also available in spray form.

The applied oil must be well absorbed, then the floor is polished. No remains of the oil should remain on the ground. A good wood care oil ensures that the wood is antistatic and resistant to dirt. The floor is given a matt, silky shimmer.

* Last updated on  2024-03-18 / We are using affiliate links / All images are served from the Amazon Product Advertising API.

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