If you read this blog, chances are you also love bamboo flooring just like me. This special floor can add a fresh and unique look to our personal space and make us feel closer to nature at some point. The problem with living in a house with this flooring is that you will need to maintain the original look.
I will show you how to make bamboo floors shine with my tips and methods during this blog. As someone who loves to maintain the original look of bamboo flooring, I am confident that you will learn something from my tips!
Table of Contents
How To Make Bamboo Floors Shine? – Preventing Steps
I know some of you guys would want to jump into the cleaning and polishing part right away to shine up your floor. Yet, in my experience, the most important thing here is to prevent the floor from getting scratches, footprints, and damage. So, here are some of my tips for you:
Reduce Foot Traffic
I know some of you will find this step a little bit funny because the flooring was made for us to walk on. However, with bamboo flooring and many wooden floorings, you should try your best to reduce foot traffic as much as possible if you want to maintain its best look.
Do not worry; I will not ask you not to walk on the floor to make it shine. But instead, you need to remember to always take your shoes off when walking on the floor. Never wear shoes, especially hard shoes or high heels, in your house because the foot traffic of shoes will affect the look of the floor.
Take Care When You Work with Furniture
Moving furniture around carelessly will definitely affect the surface of your bamboo floors and any other floors. So, when you need to move it from one place to another, you should try to do it as gently as possible.
You should always pick the whole thing to move it instead of dragging it from place to place for smaller and lighter-weight furniture like chairs and small tables.
If you need to deal with bigger furniture, ask for a helping hand. When you have no one to ask for a favor, you can try to lift one side of the furniture, put some soft mat under all the legs of it, and drag it. However, this method might still leave some marks on your floors, so only do it when you have no other choice.
Use Doormats And Rugs To Protect The Floor
Another trick you can use is to put a doormat on the areas you need to wear shoes. Put one doormat in every door you have in your house, including your bathroom, to avoid scratches and pills.
Wipe Up Any Spills On The Floor As Soon As Possible
Water does not leave scratches on your floors, but yes, it does leave water marks and make your floor duller through time. So, ensure you always wipe all the water spills on the floor right away instead of leaving them there for a longer time.
For water spills with colors like coffee and tea, you also need to clean all the spilling with some cleaning solution to get rid of the color right away. In wet areas like the kitchen or bathroom, just simply put a doormat so it can absorb the water spills for you.
Use Curtains Or Window Shades To Keep The Floor From Fading
You might not think about this factor, but strong natural sunlight can also make your flooring less polished and wear off the coat of your floors. For this reason, always consider using a curtain or window shades to cover the strong sunlight to hit your flooring directly.
How To Make Bamboo Floors Shine? – Cleaning And Polishing Tips
Before moving to this section, you should take as many preventative steps as possible to avoid the floor from getting dulled and unpolished in the first place. Why? It is always easier to prevent than treat the problem. In my experience, bamboo flooring that is seriously damaged by the factors listed in the prevention section early on might not be completely solved.
Now, you will need to prepare a few things that you will use later:
- A dry mop
- A wet mop (not steam mop)
- Mild cleaner
- Water
- Hardwood floor cleaner
Step 1: Polish Your Bamboo Flooring
You can keep your flooring as polished as possible by cleaning it often. Always keep some bamboo floor-friendly cleaning ingredients and products in your house so you can always use them when you need to. I suggest you regularly clean and polish your floor and do not wait until it is too dirty.
Step 2: Sweep The Floor Regularly
If your house is too dirty with sand and trash on the floor all the time, chances are you will step on them and scratch the surface. Therefore, you should sweep your floor regularly.
You can use a vacuum to get rid of the dirt, but make sure the edges of the vacuum are not too sharp for your floors. One of the most important things in this step is to avoid beater bar attachment.
Step 3: Mop Your Floor
In this step, you can use vinegar to mop the floor. Vinegar can do a really good job cleaning different surfaces, including bamboo floors. However, the steam mopping method should be restricted as it will damage your bamboo floors.
When mopping the floor, mix vinegar and water with the ratio of 1:4 to create a solution. Soak your cloth-head mop in the solution and start cleaning the floor thoroughly.
Step 4: Finish With A Hardwood Cleaner
This step is not always required, as you can simply finish the process with step 3. Nevertheless, I want to guide you on making your floors even shinier, so you should consider this step.
You can keep some hardwood floor cleaner around because this product will clean the floor effectively without ruining its surface. Also, never forget to remove all the trash, dirt, and sand before using this product.
What Are The Tips To Remember When Making Bamboo Floors Shine?
While doing all the preventions and steps, keep in mind the tips below:
- To stay away from scratches, you should also avoid using sharp and hard cleaning tools like sponges, mops that have stiff brussels, or brooms.
- Keep a habit of reading the content of your cleaner to avoid chemicals that can affect the look and the polishness of your floor. Some of the names you should stay away from are Pine-Sol, bleach, and ammonia. Moreover, bathroom cleaners should not be used on bamboo floors, either.
- It is crucial always to trim the pet’s nails to prevent them from scratching the floor for pet owners. For bigger pets like dogs, this action is even more important as the scratches left by big dogs are always more obvious to our eyes.
- Bamboo floors are not a fan of steam mopping as this clean method can damage this type of floor on the surfaces and the deeper levels.
- Do not use heavy vacuum cleaners.
Final Thoughts
After learning many tips and tricks in my blog, I hope you already know how to make bamboo floors shine and clean.
Sometimes you might feel like it is quite difficult to prevent the floors from getting dirt and scratches because I also felt that way before, but it will become a habit of yours with time.
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