Hardwood floors are the easiest to keep clean. Unlike carpets, they require minimum maintenance and last for many years. Clean hardwood floors make your house look both beautiful and spacious. Maintenance methods do not differ depending on the particular type of hardwood floor, but some finishes may require extra care when removing stains.

The fastest and most effective way of cleaning a hardwood floor is to use a damp mop. Just make sure that dust has been removed prior to mopping, because dust particles have abrasive properties. You can use a soft broom or lightweight vacuum cleaner and then simply mop, rinse and repeat several times. It is important to remove grit and dirt from hardwood floors, because they are the major reason behind floors getting scratched, scuffed and scoured.

There is a wide variety of hardwood floor cleaners available, but a pH neutral cleanser (i.e., with neither low, nor high pH value) and water will do best and is just as effective. Please, make sure the hardwood floor sealing coat is intact, because otherwise the water-based solution will seep through worn patches, penetrate the floor and cause warping.

Most hardwood floors are now finished by using polyurethane-based agents that make surfaces look shiny and glossy. Polyurethane gives a mirror-like look to wood and is extremely hard wearing. The other major groups of finishing agents, called penetrating seals, are wax or oil based coating products that penetrate deeply into wood and protect floors from within.

You may wish to go that extra mile and finish off by waxing or polishing your floor. If you think your clean hardwood floors still look dull, then waxed based buffing may help. It will probably take extra elbow grease to clean hardwood floors this way, but the result is well worth it. Some people use floor polish to add shine to the floors. Please, keep in mind that regular waxing or polishing decreases adhesion during hardwood floor re-coating.

All floors are susceptible to stains, no matter if they are hardwood or carpeted. A very fine steel wool can be used to remove most stains. A small amount of alcohol can be used to help remove stains from clean hardwood floors followed by polishing and buffing to finish up. If stains persist, then the only way of getting them removed is to have your floor sanded.

Depending on the amount of floor traffic in your house, you may have to clean hardwood floors once a week or so. Take extra precaution by making sure people remove their footwear on entering. This will help you reduce the number of heel marks imprinted onto the floors and cut down on future maintenance costs.