Hardwood Floor Cleaning

Feb 10, 2006 8 Replies

I'm hoping one of you may have an answer for me. I have hardwood floors in my great room and kitchen. In the past, I've always just used white vinegar and water and have been immensely pleased. I just had the floors refinished with a product that they called "traffic". It is suppose to be very 'hard' because I have an in-the-house dog.



When they finished the floors, which turned out beautiful - couldn't be happier - they gave me a wood cleaning product and said to get the refills from them (at $40 a bottle for concentrate). I explained that I'd only ever used vinegar and they informed me that vinegar is harmful to this finish (Traffic).



Can anyone verify this? I paid enough for the floor refinish that I'm hesitant to just try vinegar.



Any insight would be appreciated.



TIA LeAnn


I am not familiar with the product "Traffic" nor its composition so I can not offer any specific advice other than to follow the manufacturer's cleaning recommendations. Perhaps you can provide more details about "Traffic" and the wood cleaning product provided? Since I am a woodworker, I'd be interested in learning more about this floor-finishing product.

It's made by BonaTech. It's a waterborne polyurethane. It stands up to vinegar as well as other surfaces. In time, vinegar could cause the buildup of a residue that would make any finish dull.

In that case I would use Bona floor cleaner. I use it on my polyurethane finished floors. It's the best hardwood floor cleaner I've ever used. I also use their Refresher every 6 months because my dogs scratch up the floors. You can get a quart spray bottle of the floor cleaner at Bed Bath & Beyond but I bought it on the Bona site because I got the gallon. (I have hardwood in my whole house. Definitely use a microfiber mop/pad. Forget buying something from the refinishing guy for $40. Also, this cleaner is what the Traffic literature says to use.

Bonnie

Thanks so very much for all the information shared. I do appreciate everyone getting back to me!

Bonnie, is that a concentrate or use straight from the bottle?

-- Piper

Sprayed straight out of the bottle.

bonnie

I also have hardwood floors - but don't know how they were finished (I moved here about a year ago and the previous owners hadn't refinished them and didn't know what type of finish was on them) would I be safe using this product or do you need to know what type of finish you have? Currently I just dust alot and use a damp mop.

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