We all love to have a clean house where you can even feel the freshness and pleasant odor in the air. But it is not an easy task to keep the whole house, especially a house with hardwood floors, stay clean and smell good every time. How to make my hardwood floors smell good, then?
The cause behind your bad-smelling wood floors generally results from your pet urine, dirty carpet, and bad cleaning products. If you want to get rid of these and make your floor surface smell nice, scroll down for a detailed explanation of each cause and method!
Table of Contents
What Causes Hardwood Floor to Smell Bad?
There are many reasons why your wood floor still smells bad after washing carefully. Here are some of them:
Polluted Water
Water might appear to be clean when it isn’t. Specifically, dirt contamination can cause an odor in improperly stored water.
Water can also include minerals like sulfur and others, which react with debris and give out a rotten egg odor.
Mold
Have you ever smelled something musty in your house? If yes, that’s a sign of mold under hardwood flooring. To be more specific, your ignorance of long-term humidity under the floor will encourage the growth of mold that eventually left a bad smell in the air or even destroyed your hardwood floor.
Unclean Carpet
A carpet that hasn’t been washed in a long time may be a household nightmare. It can trap all of the dust, dirt, food waste, and pet messes, which can make your house smell bad and old.
Pet Messes
Many “well-behaved” pets may also make a mess inside the house. Poop, urine, vomit, and stink are just a few of the pet owners’ issues. More terribly, the smell of pet pee on the floor might remain for several weeks! Hence, try as soon as possible to clean up all the mess they leave on your floor to avoid the bad odor.
How To Make Hardwood Floors Smell Good
When there is a bad odor in the house, many people may use air fresheners as the fastest solution. Yet, this practice is harmful to your health over time!
In fact, you should try to figure out where the strong odor starts and then eliminate it using the most productive cleaning approach.
Remove The Smell
1. Baking Soda
Baking soda is one of the most effective cleaning substances that you can easily get at the supermarket. In particular, we choose baking soda to get rid of the foul odor caused by moisture. Here are all the steps:
- Use paper towels to wipe up all the dirty areas on the floor.
- Dry these areas with dry towels
- Apply a sufficient amount of baking soda powder to those places
- Leave the power there to absorb for six to eight hours. It will absorb the moisture and also remove odors.
- Finally, vacuum them carefully.
2. A Mixture Of Water And Vinegar
The next method is a mix of water and a basic kitchen item – vinegar. This is a simple way to remove stains and smells of hardwood floors. Here is what to do:
- Put white vinegar, baking soda, and drops of dish soap together in a cup.
- Fill the liquid in a spray bottle, then soak the afflicted area.
- Allow for 15 minutes of resting time.
- Use a clean paper towel to dry the areas.
- For old stains or strong smells, spread baking soda powder and leave it there for hours or overnight.
- Vacuum all the powder the next morning.
- If the odor persists, repeat the process.
Do not worry if the strong odor of vinegar remains, as the smell generally fades the next day.
3. Pet Odors Remover Product
This method is critical before bringing your puppy back home. Additionally, make sure that the item you pick is suitable for use on your hardwood floors. Here is how we apply it:
- Use paper towels to soak up and clean wet dirt causing a smell.
- Thoroughly dry this area with a towel.
- Spray the afflicted area with the pet odors remover product
- Leave it to sit for some hours.
- Use a clean wet cloth to wipe the area clean
- Wash the area with fresh water
- Dry this area thoroughly again
4. Hydrogen Peroxide
We recommended this substance at last because it is more suitable for stain than smell. Even if you’ve removed the smell but still leave some stains, this is an excellent choice to consider. This will remove almost all dye stains caused by blood, grape juice, or coffee and tea spills.
- Fill up your spray bottle with three percent hydrogen peroxide, then apply it to the stains.
- Leave it for a couple of minutes, then wipe it with a cotton towel.
- For stubborn stains, you will need to put in some extra soapy water.
- Wash the area carefully.
- Dry it thoroughly.
Clo bleach is an alternative for this, but it won’t be as effective as Hydrogen peroxide. We suggest you apply the chemical substance on a small spot first to see whether it will discolor your hardwood floors or not. Please find another solution once you spot a sign of discoloration on the floor.
Deep Cleaning The Hardwood Floor
Dirt and stain can build up over time, causing your hardwood floor to stink. Sadly, cleaning your floor with only a dust mop isn’t enough.
A professional or DIY wood floor cleaner is always the savior of our hardwood floors in this type of situation! Here are how we refresh them:
- Use a vacuum or dust mop to remove dust, dirt, and debris like pet hair or food.
- After reading the instructions carefully, pick your best cleanser and test it on a small area.
- Dip a sponge or cloth into your solution and wring it out until it is completely dry. Note that wetness does not go well with wooden floors.
- Wipe the whole floor without leaving any extra liquid on it.
- Wash the mob in clean water, wring out any extra water, then wipe the floor once more to eliminate any cleaner.
- To prevent damaging the wood, make sure you dry out all damp spots with a dry towel.
At this stage, you can now enjoy the spotless hardwood floors and the freshness in the air!
Some Last Words
That is everything we can provide you on “how to make wood floors smell good”. But prevention is much easier than fixing the issue.
Hence, be mindful of getting rid of the dampness, smelly and dirty stuff from your hardwood floor. A few methods above might be ineffective in some cases; make sure that you check first before applying the whole area!
Thank you for reading!
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