Wood is a very popular material which is often used for numerous types of floor covering such as natural wood floors, engineered wooden floors and some laminate floors. These types of flooring are very often used in commercial areas such as retail outlets, offices and hotels. Wooden floors need careful cleaning and maintenance to keep them in tip top condition.

How to clean wooden flooring

When cleaning wooden floors, whether they are a natural wood, engineered wood or laminate, it is always best to use as little water as possible as this will avoid potential staining, water marks or damage to the surface being cleaned.

Before beginning cleaning or polishing a wooden floor of any type, it is very important to remove the dust or dirt on the floor as it can act as an abrasive. You can use a high performance vacuum such as a Kärcher Vacuum Cleaner for smaller areas or for larger areas a Karcher Sweeper can be used.

When cleaning wooden floors of any type, it is always best to clean them in a single operation using a Kärcher Scrubber Drier, applying a minimal amount of detergent and water, whilst using the Kärcher Scrubber Drier to vacuum up the residue as it cleans as this will minimise the contact time and drastically reduce the possibility of damaging the floor.

Depending on the durability of the wood, the Kärcher Scrubber Drier can be fitted with either pads or brushes in varying degrees of coarseness ranging from White (Soft), Red (Medium) or Green (Hard), but don't worry we can advise you on the most appropriate set-up. It is also always best to work in the direction of any wood grain or wood-grain effect.

Kärcher Center JHS Hire also recommends that strong alkaline floor cleaners are avoided when cleaning floors as these can potentially leach or dry out natural oils especially in natural wooden floors. Kärcher Center JHS Hire recommend the use of Kärcher RM756 FloorPro Multi-cleaner as it has a very slight alkaline make-up and is only pH8.5.

If required, the cleaning can be repeated until the desired level of cleanliness is achieved using the Kärcher Scrubber Drier. Once the cleaning has been completed, a final "clean" using just water that is free of detergent, once again vacuuming with the Kärcher Scrubber Drier as you are performing this rinsing action. By performing this last detergent-free "clean", you will ensure that any detergent residue left during the previous cleaning stages is rinsed and removed from the floors surface. This helps to ensure that if you need to apply coatings such as polishes, the detergent that was previously applied does not react with them and produce undesirable results.

After the cleaning and rinsing process has been completed, coating such as oils or polishes can be re-applied as recommended by the flooring manufacturer or installer. Once these coatings have dried they can be polished to a matt to satin finish with a Kärcher Scrubber Drier fitted with a set of very soft horsehair brushes or a white or tan set of polishing pads until the desired finish is achieved.

Alternatively if a high gloss finish is required, a Kärcher Ultra High Speed Polisher can be used to burnish a very fine finish.

If you want to hire any of these types of machines, please take a look at the range of machines below or get in touch with us to speak to one of our Hire Colleagues for further information or advice.

Get started by choosing from our fantastic range of commercial cleaning machines illustrated below. If you require further assistance or advice, simply contact us today and speak to one of our highly experienced colleagues who will be more than happy to talk you through the best options for your cleaning task.