Ask Mrs. Clean: House Cleaning, Stain Removal and Organizing Tips

[Melb]

We put in an easy snap together fake wood floor and cleaned it once with Murphy's wood oil soap. Ever since then the flooring has a haze to it, how can we remove that haze to get the shine back? Thanks for your expert assistance. --Melb

[mrscleannw]

Hello Melb,

Murphy oil is seldom used, but it is appropriate to clean (not shine) real wood surfaces where the grain of the wood is exposed to the cleaner. For example, 50 year old original wood floors and some types of unfinished wood furniture.

Despite the confusing name, Murphy oil soap is soap (cleaner) not a furniture polish (shiner). 99.9% of wood floors constructed in the last 30 years are Swedish finish floors. Swedish finish is wood completely covered in an epoxy resin. The resin makes the wood totally impervious to liquids. Murphy oil on top of the epoxy resin streaks and leaves a residue.

My sister tried the same thing as you and her floors were a dingy, dirty, streaky mess. I had her try vinegar and she was amazed how it cleaned and shined her floors.

Read the tip below, give it a try and see what you think.

Vinegar:
We use vinegar and water to clean floors. It is better than any cleaner you can purchase and usually found in the home. Use vinegar to clean wood, vinyl, and ceramic or linoleum floors.

Do NOT use vinegar to clean any stone such as marble, granite, travertine, and slate or limestone floors. Vinegar is a mild acid and it will etch the surface of these soft stones and permanently destroy the shine.

Vinegar is a deodorizer, degreaser, and disinfectant. It leaves no residue and the smell dissipates as it dries.

To clean a hard surface floor that is not stone use:

• 1 TBL vinegar to 1 gallon of warm water.
• When the water turns grey or dirty looking, dump it in the toilet and refill with a fresh mixture.
• There is no need to rinse the floor after cleaning.

Hope to hear if this works for you too!
Mrs. Clean