Hardwood Floors 101 Part One

Soap and water, polish, wax or what? Take the guesswork out of hardwood floor care and go from dull and grimy to gleaming and gorgeous in a few easy steps.

First Things First—Determine the Finish
Before you grab a bucket of water and a mop, it's best to find out how your wood floor is sealed—if at all. Why? The finish, not the wood type, determines how you clean and care for the floor.

Surface-sealed floors: Most new wood floors are sealed with urethane, polyurethane or polyacrylic. Surface-sealed floors are stain and water-damage resistant and easiest to care for and clean: Sweep, mop and you're done!

Penetrating-seal-treated and oil-treated floors: Also common, a penetrating seal or oil finish soaks into the wood grain and hardens. This type of floor must be pampered and protected with liquid or paste wax.

Lacquered, varnished, shellacked and untreated floors: Although technically surface finishes, lacquers, varnishes and shellacs are not as resistant to moisture, spills and wear as the other sealants mentioned. Treat floors with these finishes and floors with no finish as you would penetrating-seal-treated and oil-treated floors.

Not sure what kind of finish you have? To tell the difference in a pinch, just rub your finger across the floor. If no smudge appears, the floor is surface sealed. If you do create a smudge, the floor has been treated with a penetrating seal, oil finish, shellac, varnish or lacquer, and then waxed.

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