Best Hardwood Floor Cleaner Solution

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The wood floor is a pretty durable floor that can withstand pets and kids abuse, spills, and dust and dirt for decades. Hardwood floor is fragile, require the use of the right products and tools. But, what is the best hardwood floor cleaner solution?

While hardwood is easy to care, it’s extremely important to use the right cleaning products that can protect it from daily wear and tear. Get the cleaner solution that will protect and clean your finish, Remove scuff marks, get rid of sticky dull stains, dissolve dirt, grime without dulling the shine or coating or even that has antibacterial properties.

Top 8 Hardwood Floor Cleaner Solution

Some wood cleaners are meant to be used in almost all wood floors while others are meant for specific purposes like those with antibacterial. Other hardwood Cleaners are produced for specific floor finished, unfinished or polyurethane-treated floors.

Here are the best multi-surface, budget-friendly, antibacterial wood cleaner solution.

Product Name + Brand Features My Rating Reviews
Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner Refill, 128 Fl Oz-Best hardwood floor cleaner Best Overall: Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner
  • Formaldehyde Free.
  • Residue-free cleaner.
  • Ready to use cleaner
  • Water based, dries fast.
Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Multi-Surface Everyday Cleaner, Lemon Verbena Best Budget: Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Multi-Surface Everyday Cleaner
  • Multi-surface use- wood, tiles etc
  • Fragrance & floral scent.
  • Residue & cruelty-free cleaner.
Method squirt mop hardwood floor cleaner refill almond 68 ounce Best Runners-up: Method Squirt + Mop Hardwood Floor Cleaner  
  • Almond fragrance.
  • Squirt + mop cleaner.
  •  Biodegradable formulated cleaner.
  • No-rinse cleaner solution
Black Diamond wood and lainate cleaner-laminate real, naturalengineered wood Best For Large Area: Black Diamond Wood & Laminate Floor Cleaner:
  • Non-rinse cleaner.
  • Hypoallergenic cleaner solution
  • Good for high traffic and large area.
  • Restores and renews wood floor beauty
Pledge wood floor cleaner Best For Small Area:
Pledge Wood Floor Cleaner Liquid
  • Safe and gentle.
  • Lemon scent.
Hospital Grade Disinfecting and Sanitizing Rinse SR-22 CONCENTRATE-Best hardwood floor cleaner Best Antibacterial: Hospital Grade SR-22 Disinfecting and Sanitizing Concentrate  
  • Powerful QUAT cleaner.
  • Disinfectant.
  • Sanitizes wood surface.
  • Concentrated cleaner up to 150 gallons.
Nature's miracle hard floor cleaner-Best hardwood, laminate bamboo, vinyl floor cleaner Best Stain Remover: Nature’s Miracle Hard Floor Cleaner
  • Stain and odor remover.
  • Multi-surface cleaner; wood, vinyl etc.
  • Protects and maintains floor shine.
  • Pet and kids friendly
Rejuvenate High Performance All-Floors and Hardwood No Bucket Needed Floor Cleaner Powerful PH Balanced Shine with Shine Booster Technology Gold Best Multi-surface: Rejuvenate High Performance Cleaner Streak-Free Formula Cleaner
  • PH Balanced formula with shine booster.
  • Residue free.
  • Neutralizes contaminates.
  • Removes old wax buildup.
  • Strips away residue

For the months spent reviewing hardwood floor products, here are some of the features of the best wood floor cleaners solution. Wet mopping or soaking your floor with any of these solutions can still cause warping, buckling, and bubbling of laminate and wood flooring.

1. Best Overall: Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner

  • Ready to use cleaner.
  • Residue-free cleaner solution which makes it safe for people, pets, and eco-friendly.
  • Waterbased cleaning formula that dries fast.
  • Low VOC emissions and Formaldehyde free certified.

Bona hardwood cleaner refill is ready to use floor-cleaner that comes in a different package (small 32 oz to 128 oz). It’s a water-based cleaner that dries very fast, residue-free, and safe for pets, kids, and for mother earth. The cleaner is formaldehyde-free as well as low VOC emission certified.

The cleaner refill is compartible with Bona Hardwood Floor Premium Spray Mop. You may want to get a Bona Multi-Surface Floor Care Kit that comes with a mop, refill, and microfiber pads. Bona floor cleaner provides a variety of hardwood floor and laminate cleaning solutions for your flooring surface. Bona hardwood floor cleaner ingredients make it safe to use on the wood floor.

Bona with hydrogen peroxide as ingredients has antimicrobial properties capable to kill 99% of germs on your hard surfaces. It’s powered by hydrogen peroxide- oxygen formula allows it to penetrate the tough stains, leaving your floor steak free.

2. Best Budget: Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Multi-Surface Everyday Cleaner.

Best hardwod cleaner solution -Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Multi-Surface Everyday Cleaner
  • Multisurface use; wood, laminates, tiles, countertops, walls, bathrooms granite, etc.
  • Removes stuck dirt and soil
  • Fragrance clean floral, garden lavender and refreshing citrus scent
  • Leaves no residue, cruelty-free cleaner
  • Best for removing odors

Meyers multipurpose cleaner is a plant-derived solution. It’s a streak-free cleaner that leaves the wood floor with an amazing scent. It has lemon verbena, mild citrus scents. Others to choose from include basil, lavender, and honeysuckle scent that help to overcome any odor coming from pets and kid’s urine on your flooring.

Meyer’s everyday cleaner is great for all non-porous surfaces which include, wood tiles, finished wood floor, porcelain, and other surfaces. Its made form essential oils and plant-derived cleaning ingredients that is capable of leaving your laminate and bamboo finished with natural luster and shine. The cleaner solution is packed in a sprayer bottle to allow easy hardwood floor cleaning.

3. Best Runners-up: Method Squirt + Mop Hardwood Floor Cleaner

best bamboo -laminate cleanersolution
  • Almond fragrance.
  • Squirt + mop cleaner.
  • Biodegradable formulated cleaner.
  • No-rinse cleaner solution.

The method squirt cleaner is a plant-based biodegradable solution for your hardwood floor. The wood cleaner is specially produced for sealed hardwood and laminate flooring with no need to rinse after use. It’s an easy bamboo cleaner that leaves behind delightful almond fragrance.

The cleaner solution has no wax or oil and leaves the wood floor with its natural beautiful luster and shine. The cleaner is made with water, ethanol, and sodium bicarbonate safe for your wood floor, kids, and pet lovers. It comes as a ready to use cleaner solution, just squirt, mop with no need to rinse your floor.

4. Best For Large Area: Black Diamond Wood & Laminate Floor Cleaner

Best hardwood flor cleaner solution-Wood & Laminate Floor Cleaner: For Hardwood, Real, Natural & Engineered Flooring, Biodegradable Safe for Cleaning All Floors. By Black Diamond..
  • No rinse-hypoallergenic cleaner.
  • Restores and removes dirt, duct, and spill stains.
  • Spray and wipe cleaner.
  • Biodegradable and safe for pets and kids.
  • Multi-surface cleaner for high traffic and large area.

Black diamond wood and laminate cleaners is a streak-free cleaning solution for wood, laminate, and engineered floors. It’s an easy to use cleaner, just spray and wipe dry with a microfiber cloth. Its formulated to remove spill, dirt, and dust stains on your floor leaving it with restored luster and shine.

The ingredients used makes it safe to use around pets and children. The ingredients are biodegradable leaving your floor hypoallergenic. The cleaners rank among the best for allergy suffers. The cleaner has different packaging to fit your cleaning need for different flooring sizes.

5. Best For Small Area: Pledge Wood Floor Cleaner Liquid.

Pledge Wood Floor Cleaner Liquid, Shines Hardwood, Removes Dirt, Safe and Gentle, Lemon
  • Removes dirt and grime. 
  • Safe and gentle on your wood floor, kids, and pet friendly. 
  • Lemon scent.
  • Shines Hardwood.

Pledge gentle wood cleaner is ready to use a wood floor cleaner. It gently removes dirt and grime build-up or stains over time without leaving any streak or sticky residue on your floor. Pledge wood cleaner comes in lemon scent, and leave your floor with a natural shine.

In-case you been wondering how to shine your laminate or wood floor, Pledge cleaner is your answer to the dull looking floor. The cleaner is safe to use on finished and seal wood floor surfaces. Just squirt and mop your laminate, bamboo, or any hardwood floor leaving it with natural luster and wood beauty on your floor.

6. Best Antibacterial: Hospital Grade SR-22 Disinfecting and Sanitizing Concentrate

best hardwood floor cleaner, laminate, bamboo floor
  • Powerful QUAT cleaner
  • Disinfectant for the home, hospital, and restaurant Cleaning.
  • Concentrated cleaner, one gallon can make up to 160 gallons of cleaner (4 oz of this for every 5 gallons of water).

This is a powerful Quat (common name for quaternary ammonium chloride compounds) that has about 300 varieties with varying anti-microbial efficacies. The cleaner forms one of the best powerful disinfectant that works as surfactants with cationic (positive) charges.

The surfactant make-up of quats contributes to its cleaning power with low toxicity and corrosivity making them user-friendly and simple to use on your hardwood floor. This cleaning solution may be sprayed on bedding, sanitize furniture, or used to disinfectant loads of wash and cloth. 

Once the solution is diluted and left in a sealed container it can be used up to 12 months. It’s much more powerful than Lysol or Bleach and lasts longer on your surface. you can use it on a wood floor, walls and counters. The SR-22cleaners solution is food grade safe formula, You do not have to rinse or wipe off since it continues to kills germs for longer.

Tip: It’s not advisable to add any scent to the solution. It’s also good and recommended to use (a protective gear) mask and gloves. 

7. Best Stain Remover: Nature’s Miracle Hard Floor Cleaner

Best hardwood floor cleaner
  • Stain and odor remover, urine ,fecal, oils etc
  • Multi-surface cleaner; wood, vinyl, linoleum, ceramic, and concrete.
  • protects and maintains natural floor shine.
  • Pet and kids friendly

Nature miracle hardwood cleaner is one of the best stains and odor cleaner. In case you dealing with urine, fecal and oil stains on your floor, Nature miracle gives an incredible result leaving your floor clean and shiny.

Nature cleaner is a no-Scrub stain remover that gives instant results for multi-surface like wood, linoleum, and ceramic floors. It’s one of the best stain removers followed by its counterpart Eco-Clean Solutions which is also a good mold, mildew, and algae Remover.

8. Best for Multisurface: Rejuvenate High-Performance Stone Tile and Laminate Floor Cleaner.

Rejuvenate High Performance All-Floors and Hardwood, bamboo, laminate, wood floors No Bucket Needed Floor Cleaner Powerful PH Balanced Shine with Shine Booster Technology Gold Certified
  • Low VOC emission cleaner.
  • Neutral- pH balanced powerful Streak-free cleaner.
  • Residue-free cleaner solution.
  • Tough on dirt and grime stains.
  • No- dulling cleaner compatible with click and clean spray mop system.

Rejuvenate High Performance is an excellent cleaner for many floors. It’s safe to use cleaning solutions for all types of floors, more so the old flooring. It is a water -polymer base cleaner that helps rejuvenate and restore the shine luster of seller floor surfaces. It is a perfect restorer of dull-looking hardwood and laminate floors.

Rejuvenate all floor cleaners is a low VOC certified (Green-guard gold) and considered among the best in class products-low emission. The cleaner is pH balanced , with shine booster and able to neutralize contaminates on your flooring surface. In addition it removes surface residue and old wax build up on your old dull wood floor.

All floor rejuvenate cleaner is compatible with click and clean spray mops systems and safe to use for daily cleaning needs without bucket needed.

How to Choose Wood Cleaners Solution [+Buyers Guide]

1. Ingredients

The wood floor contains tannin which may react with some cleaners, therefore the best wood cleaning solution should be noncorrosive. Noncorrosive ingredients may include.

  • Water or aqua based.
  • Weak acids: hydrogen peroxide, citric acid, etc
  • Weak bases: Sodium bicarbonates

TIP: Avoid all strong acids( nitric acid) and basis ( sodium hydroxide). The two can strip off the finish on your sealed natural and engineered floors. Keep your floor from oil cleaners they will leave your floor dull and sticky after mopping. Avoid wax cleaners they will leave your floor slippery and dully looking with streaks.

2. Concentration

As mentioned above both strong acid and basis, you wouldn’t want to test on your wood floor leaving it discolored or totally damaged. Most of the floor laminate and hardwood cleaners are sold in concentrated form, always dilute it for efficiency,  and read the instructions given carefully for efficiency.

3. Packaging

Hardwood and engineered wood cleaners should be sold in convenient packaging for easy use. Mostly the package comes in these three packagings.

  • Spray bottles: Many hardwood cleaners will come in a spray bottle for easy use, remember its advisable to spray an area at a time and cleaning it before going to the next area. You may end up removing Cloudy haze hardwood floor if soak your floor with your cleaner
  • Refill bottles: For large areas, the cleaners solution comes in large quantity bottles. Pour the cleaner solution in a sprayer bottle and fluid cartridge if using sprayer mop like Bona sprayers. Always avoid pouring the cleaners solution directly on your wood floor. In addition, wipe any cleaner spill on your wood floor immediately. Spills may cause black water stains on your floors
  • Squirt bootles: If looking for multipurpose use cleaners, squirt bootle fits your profile. Ther are versatile enough for both small and large scale use for your hardwood cleaning methods.

4. Cleaning Needs

You need to consider your cleaning needs at your house. In case you have bamboo, laminate oak, or any other floor like concrete, tile linoleum, you may want to buy a product safe for this multi-surface floors.

In addition, consider the available cleaning tools you got in your house. If you have Click n Clean spray mop system, you may consider those cleaners packaged in a compatible way with the system for quick and effective use. The floor cleaning needs also play an important role, for the deep cleaning look for deep cleaning products and vice versa for mild cleaning of your floor.

Tips for Keeping Hardwood Floor Luster and Shine.

  • Trim your pet’s nails to avoid scratches and scuff marks.
  • Regularly vacuum clean your floor with the dust mops for hardwood floors.
  • Avoid using concentrated Vinegar on your floor, it will acidic and will dull your flooring. Keep away any other abrasive chemical from your floor.
  • Clean accidental liquid spills immediately.
  • Avoid wet mopping your wood floor.
  • Avoid steam-cleaning your floor
  • Don’t use vacuum cleaners with rollers, instead use those with suction pipe
  • Always remember water is wood’s worst enemy either sealed or not, so just damp mop rather than soaking it wet. Wet mopping may even void a warranty on new floors.

TIP: For quick fix your hardwood, clean in the direction of the wood planks. In case you want to undertake deep cleaning consider going with or across the planks to nab dirt trapped in the crevices and joints between planks boards.

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AUTHOR

Joe McGuinty
I’ve been working with floors for over 12 years. I started as a flooring contractor, primarily in materials selection. Then, I switched careers into accounting, so my wife and I began buying, renovating, and re-selling homes on the side. You’d be surprised how much value you can add to a home simply by adding new floors.

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