Need advice on hardwood flooring, how to clean, cannot sand & refinish?

[Bradley Allen]

Hi

I have an older rental home with hardwood flooring that has to be cleaned.  The finish is damaged from wear and cleaning.  Best idea is to sand it and refinish but that's not currently an option

 

One of the previous tennants had dogs, so in some areas the flooring is slightly bowed at the seams, not obvious until sweeping.  I hoped to rent an electric circular brush setup from Home Depot to really get into the surface dirt that just isnt fully coming out, cannot get it clean enough right now.

So for now the hope is to find a way that will use Murphy Oil soap? and maybe Denatured Alcohol to really clean and make it the best that can be hoped for with the current finish, but HD lists denatured alcohol [2] choices and neither is.  one is lacquer thinner and the other is Goo gone? Does anyone have advice on how to really deep clean and what to put on after it dries?  

Can get about half a day without the floor being disturbed.  It isnt as much about looks as it is being very clean and some kind of sealer.  May also likely put some piece of carpeting over the floors.

 

Thanks for any feedback, suggestions, ideas!

[Coop]

Not much help but HD in Texas does sell denatured alcohol but I’m not sure that’s your answer. I have had good luck cleaning trim and baseboards with Simple Green

[wtnhighlander]

Murphy's Oil Soap is an excellent cleaner for wood, but if the finish is worn through, only a good scraping or sanding will get the dirt out of the pores. I would start with Murphy's and a scrub brush, then suck up the water with a wet/dry shop vacuum.

TSP is another cleaning agent that works well, but has a greater chance of damaging the remaining finish than Murphy's.

[Mark J]

You could try Bona.  I wouldn't try a volatile solvent like DNA because of the fumes, and I don't know that is that effective at removing soil.  I would not apply a "sealer" as that will lock in residual soil and will just make the ultimate refinishing solution more difficult.  If the floors are no longer attractive, carpeting may be the way to go.

[Chestnut]

If the finish is gone there isn't any cleaning it. Wood is a porus surface and I don't really know of any cleaner that will "clean" it. If it were me I'd clean the floor with some denatured alcohol to get the detritus off the surface and use some flooring paste wax. The wax will help give the porus wood something to hold that isn't dirt and maybe make it look a bit nicer. In the future when the floor is sanded the paste wax won't really impact that.

 

[BillyJack]

He might not be familiar with a floor sander. First time isn't the best time to learn.

[Coop]

On 8/26/2022 at 3:50 PM, BillyJack said:

First time isn't the best time to learn.

But they are rememberable and often lead to better next times! 

[Wimayo]

I would be inclined to use some of the prepared wood floor cleaners that only require spraying and wiping. This would avoid over wetting the bare portions that would, at minimum, cause grain raising, or could cause some warping. I have a bottle of the Bruce brand that works this way. I'm sure there are others.

[Tom King]

If you use any of the "floor cleaners", be sure to check online to see if anything will ever stick to it again.  I know there were many complaints from some sort of floor cleaner by Bona that regardless of what was on the floor to start with, you can't ever put any kind of finish over it without first sanding the floor.  Some types of finish can be repaired, but not if one of these cleaners has ever been put on it.

[BillyJack]

I have a relative that bought an older house with oak floors. I told them it need to be completely sanded and refinished. They decided to scuff it up and finish it. With in two years the floor finish was coming up. Looked like everyone worry metal cleats in the house all the time. Looked bad. Luckily they got bought out and moved..