Don’t you hate it when you’re wearing a fuzzy pair of socks and have to walk with caution across a slippery hardwood floor? Walking on your wood floor shouldn’t feel like treading on ice. Find out how to get rid of slippery wood floors and prevent accidents and falls.
Hardwood flooring provides the space with a warm touch. Something about the natural colors and wood grain of hardwood makes a home feel cozy. Nevertheless, slippery wood floors are troublesome, and a misstep leaves you flat on your back.
While hardwood floors have a rich and luxurious appearance, they often have a slick surface that’s easy to slip on. Unless you’re a child who loves to run and slide across slippery hardwood floors, you may want to reduce its slippy floor finish. Luckily, it’s possible to clean hardwood floors to reduce a slick sheen without losing its luster.
Ways to Get Rid of Slippery Wood Floors
A slippery floor is a hazard, especially if you have little ones taking their first steps. Discover what to use to make wood floors shine and reduce the slipperiness by cleaning them with vinegar and applying an anti-slip coating.
What Causes Wood Floors to Get Slippery?
You clean the floor as always, yet it’s suddenly slipperier than usual. You take careful steps as you walk from one side of the room to the other. What causes a wood floor to get slippery, and are there ways to prevent the slick sheen?
Slippery Wood Floor Causes
Avoid cleaning slippery hardwood floors with cleaners that contain oil since they may leave residue on the wood. If you use furniture polish to clean furniture, try not to get it on a wood or vinyl floor. Use a vinegar cleaning solution to clean the floor if you experience overspray while furniture cleaning.
Some Swiffer sprays contain silicon, and this product leaves a slick coating on the wood. Another cause of slippery floors is cooking oil. Sometimes oil splatters on the wood flooring while you cook, and it’s necessary to clean it promptly.
How to Clean Slippery Hardwood Floors
Removing dirt from a wooden floor before using a cleaning product to ensure you don’t cause scratches and wood etching. Learn how to clean slippery hardwood floors to remove everyday dirt, dust, and debris.
General Wood Floor Cleaning
Remove loose bits of dirt before getting rid of slippery wood floors. Begin at one end of the room and use a soft-bristled broom to sweep dust and debris out of the corners and away from the wall.
Continue sweeping the floor as you make your way to the opposite side of the room, and sweep the dirt pile into a dustpan. Once the floor is clean, you can use a natural anti slip floor cleaner to remove slipperiness from wood surfaces.
Getting Rid of Slippery Wood Floors
A wood surface suffers from oily build-up over time if you use Murphy Oil soap for cleaning hardwood floors. Find out how to make your own hardwood floor cleaner with a white vinegar solution.
To clean floors with white vinegar, fill a bucket with two parts of warm water and one part vinegar. For extra dirty floors, add a squirt of dish soap. Apply the cleaner to the wood floor with a microfiber mop. Clean the entire floor or use a sponge to remove slipper spots on a wood floor.
Once the floor is clean, dump out the bucket, fill it with clean water, and mop the floor again to remove the cleaning solution. Dry the wood with a soft towel to prevent water spots and wood damage.
How to Get Rid of Slippery Wood Floors
Anti-slip products are excellent for getting rid of slippery wood floors, and various types are available. They are so effective they are used to treat a gym floor. Find them online or at your local home improvement store, and create an anti-slipping finish on the floor.
Anti-Slip Wood Flooring
Choose an anti-slip product that blends with your wood color, and follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Some brands are the roll-on variety, others come in spray form, and then there are those you apply with a mop.
Remove all furniture items from the room and apply the anti-slip product as directed. Wait at least ten hours before applying a second coat. Let it dry completely before returning the furniture and rugs.
Tips to Stop Slipping on Wood Floors
There are other measures to eliminate wood floor slippage if a floor cleaner doesn’t do the job. Discover ways to make your wood or laminate flooring safer to walk on and avoid slipping.
Sweep the floor daily, and mop it once or twice a week. Always clean your wood floors with the proper cleaner to keep them from getting oily, and clean up spills as soon as you discover them. Avoid cleaning the floor with a steam cleaner which causes wood warping.
Position a doormat at each entrance to your house, and leave your shoes at the door to stop street oil and dirt from tracking on the floor. Set area rugs in high-traffic places and put a non-slip pad beneath them to keep them from sliding.
Put floor protectors beneath furniture legs to stop scratches from ruining the wood. These are soft pads you stick to the bottom of each leg, and they protect all types of hard flooring.
Wood is naturally beautiful, and we often polish it to bring out its rich color and shine. Yet, polishing wood floors with oil soap leaves a slick residue that makes the floor surface slippery. Fortunately, white vinegar removes oily residue from the wood, and anti-slip coating keeps you from sliding carelessly across the floor.
We hope that learning how to get rid of slippery wood floors prevents slips and falls, and we’d love it if you’d share our tips for cleaning slippery hardwood floors with your family and friend circle on Pinterest and Facebook.