Hardwood floors are popular, charming and mostly preferable by the householders. It’s really a long-lasting material, if maintained properly. And it can be maintained easily by cleaning regularly. It can be cleaned through dry wiping, using a broom or with a vacuum cleaner. But does any of these disinfect the floor? No, they don’t.
So if you are thinking about disinfecting your hardwood floor, then you are in the right place. Because, here we are going to show you how to disinfect hardwood floors.
Few Things To Keep In Mind During Disinfecting Hardwood Floors
Before starting anything, you should consider some major facts. Disinfecting a hardwood floor and a concrete floor is not the same thing. Water and wood should not see each other. That is why you can’t just disinfect a hardwood floor with bleach, anti-bacterial solution or similar material. Because these are toxically harsh for wood particles. Applying them will end up damaging up the main floor so you have to be very careful about that.
Most disinfectant producer companies suggest keeping the surface moist for at least three minutes to ensure the most effective cleaning, which is not possible for hardwoods in anyways. But there are some other ways to do so.
So without further any due, let’s see how to sanitize hardwood floors.
How To Disinfect Hardwood Floors?
1. Best Way To Disinfect Hardwood Floors Using White Vinegar Solution
Distilled white vinegar is a non-toxic, harmless germ terminating agent. With it, you can disinfect your hardwood floor quite easily and efficiently.
To do that,
- First clean up the dust and solid garbage from the floor or ground using a fiber cloth, duster or vacuum cleaner.
- Then take half a cup of distilled white vinegar and mix it with one gallon of water.
- Now, take a mop and dip it into the solution and wring out completely to avoid the risk of any liquid lying on the ground.
- Now wipe the whole area or floor with that mop.
- After mopping, you can use a towel to dry up that surface.
White vinegar is a deadly agent for the germs or most micro bacterial livings. It’s cheap and very much available. You can find it in any super shop nearby. And as it is non-toxic, it will not leave any harmful effect on your pets, kids or even yourself, unlike any other toxic floor cleaners.
Read: How to remove grime from hardwood floors?
2. Disinfecting Through Steam Cleaning
Using steam mops for disinfecting wooden floors is also a popular process. The high temperature of the steam kills germs and bacteria rapidly and naturally. And as it produces steam only using water, it’s all-natural and harms free. You can take a steam cleaner and clean the surface thoroughly and appropriately.
But in this case, you have to be a bit extra cautious. Such as, never add any chemical to the steam cleaner. Just use plain water. Also as steam is water generated particle, inappropriate usage of it will result in damaging your wooden floor violently.
So before you start using steam cleaners, make sure that your floor is completely sealed and have no exposed leakages. Also, set your cleaner to produce dry steam. Dry steam uses a very little amount of water. So it will not only reduce the risk of harming the wood but also will ensure quicker drying.
Read: Can You Put Disinfectant In A Steam Mop?
Safety Measures During Sanitizing Hardwood Floors
- Never leave your wooden floor wet.
- Before starting any disinfection process, clean up the dry dust thoroughly.
- Never apply distilled white vinegar directly on the floor. Make a solution of it with water following the mentioned ratio and apply accordingly.
- If you see any spilling on the floor while cleaning, wipe it immediately. Don’t let it rest.
- If you buy any floor cleaner from the market make sure it’s a hardwood floor cleaner. Be extra careful about generating steam density while using a steam cleaner.
Read: Best way To get rid of Mop And Glo From Hardwood Floors?
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Can you disinfect wood floors?
Yes, you can. But it is a bit different from regular floor cleaning and requires some specific processes as well. We have mentioned two very effective methods regarding how to sanitize wood floors.
2. How do you disinfect wood floors?
Again, it’s a bit different from the generic floor disinfecting process. First, clean up the surface with a dry cloth or duster, then mop the floor with the distilled white vinegar solution. You can also use a steam cleaner or any other approved hardwood disinfecting agents.
3. Is lysol safe for wood floors?
Absolutely not. The manufacturers of Lysol suggests keeping the surface wet with Lysol solution for at least three minutes to ensure maximum damage to the germs and bacteria. But you can not keep a wooden floor wet for such a long period. That is why, Lysol will not help in this case.
4. Can i use clorox wipes on wood floors?
Clorox regular bleach or wipes are specially designed for disinfecting floors of hard surfaces, like concrete, tiles, vinyl etc. It’s also applicable for exterior finished wood surfaces, not interior or hardwood floors, according to their website.
5. How do you kill germs on hardwood floors?
By mopping with white vinegar solution or by using steam cleaner properly.
6. How do you disinfect hardwood floor naturally?
White vinegar is a natural acid. So by using it properly, you can disinfect your wood floor naturally.
7. How do you disinfect a floor?
If It’s a concrete floor, then you can use any type of floor cleaner. But if it’s a hardwood floor, then you can follow any of the above mentioned processes.
The Bottom Line…
Going through the process of disinfecting materials, specially the floor of your house is really important for ensuring better health for your family. That is why we took the topic of disinfecting the floors, and particularly here we talked about how to disinfect hardwood floors.
As the process is a bit different than regular floor disinfecting, we decided to bring out some insights and effective methods of doing that. But the condition is to follow the steps properly, otherwise, you can end up damaging your household floor.
if you are not a germophobic person, then you might just want to try the simple hardwood floor cleaning process.
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