Six top tips for cleaning wooden flooring

From solid timber to laminates and from mopping to vacuuming, here's your one-stop spring clean guide to hard floor maintenance

Most chemical cleaners leave a residue, and over time residue dulls the floor, adding a stubborn tack that attracts and holds even more dirt. Avoid broadcast sprays.

1. The vacuum and a dry dust with a mop should be your go-to. Spot clean with a well wrung-out soapy cloth, wipe with clean water and dry dust. Bona's mild, specially-formulated cleaner for oiled Floors (€17.50 for a litre bottle) can be deployed in a damp-mop technique but just occasionally, as needed.

2. Laminate wood flooring is not wood. It’s a synthetic composite of materials (basically high density fibre-board covered with melamine) with a digital print of wood plank grain and pattern on the top side. If you like wet mopping weekly and want a wood-look floor — go with laminate.

3. No wood flooring or any wood styles with seams should be swamped with pooling/standing water especially near edges, joins between planks and plank sections. Where you have an extensive spill on any real wood surfacing, get down with a clean towel and get it up ASAP.

4. Keep hard flooring clean, means keeping it largely free of extra adherents. Most chemical cleaners leave a residue, and over time residue dulls the floor, adding a stubborn tack that attracts and holds even more dirt. Avoid broadcast sprays.

5. Never, ever used oil-based products intended for raw wood on laminate. It’s sealed and the oils and waxes will sit up on the plank and could slip you straight into A&E. Washable, microfibre floor pads with integrated spray bottles can be used with pure water or green products diluted as directed.

6. With solid timber and engineered flooring, The Good Housekeeping Institute suggests vacuuming once a week, and mopping the floor (with only a dampened head) only every one to two months depending on foot traffic. Use rugs at entryways to catch the muck and grit that can damage and dirty the floor.