A dull wood floor scares people into pricing out a refinish. Usually the finish underneath is fine. What you're looking at is grit, dried-on spills, and a film of old floor product, years of spray mops, oil soaps, and "shine restorers" layered on top of each other until the whole floor looks cloudy.
That film can come off. Refinishing means sanding, fumes, and days out of the room, so try a real cleaning first.
The process
We start with an inspection. Your technician figures out what kind of floor and finish you have, and that decides everything else. Solid hardwood, engineered wood, prefinished planks, and bamboo all clean up with this method. Laminate does too, and it needs even more care at the seams than wood does. Waxed or oil-finished floors take different products, so mention it if you know yours is one of those.
The inspection also turns up the things we can't fix: deep scratches, gray water stains that went into the wood, spots worn through to bare boards. You'll hear about them right then.
Next comes dry soil. Loose dirt, sand, and pet hair get removed first, because dragging grit across a finish is how floors get scratched in the first place.
Then the clean. The cleaner is pH-neutral and goes down sparingly. Our soft-bristle machine scrubs it along the grain and down into the seams. That breaks up the grime, grease, and product buildup without soaking the wood. Wood and standing water don't get along, and in a humid South Carolina summer the boards are already taking on plenty from the air.
Finally, the residue comes up with the dirt, and we walk the floor with you. It's usually dry and walkable within an hour or two.
What this service doesn't include
We don't sand, refinish, buff out scratches, wax, or put down a new coat of anything. Our job is cleaning: getting the dirt and old product off a finish that's still in good shape and letting it look the way it's supposed to. If your floor is past that point, we'll tell you plainly and you can call a refinishing company with a clearer idea of what you need.
Not sure which camp your floor is in? This explainer on telling a worn finish from a dirty one is a good ten-minute read.
Keeping it looking right
A few habits make a real difference between professional cleanings:
- Felt pads on every chair and table leg
- A doormat outside and inside each entry to catch sand
- Dry dust mop or vacuum (no beater bar) a few times a week
- A barely damp mop with a pH-neutral cleaner
- Nothing labeled oil soap, wax, or "shine" on a polyurethane finish
That last habit matters most. Most of the cloudy floors we see were made cloudy by the very bottles promising shine.
How often
Every six to twelve months suits most households. A kitchen, or a hallway the dogs run down, may want it at the shorter end.
Stairs deserve a mention. Wood treads take more wear per square foot than anything else in the house, and the front edge of each step gets scuffed by every foot that comes down. We clean them by hand when the machine can't fit. Small offices and shops with wood floors are something we can look at too; call and describe the space first.
$50 off hardwood
The coupon is posted with the others under coupons. Your price comes after the inspection, and if the floor doesn't look right to you when we're done, you owe nothing. Call 803-310-3848, or send square footage and a word about the finish through the contact page.