Cleaning oiled parquet or varnished parquet is not the same thing. Each wooden floor requires specific products and methods.

Contrary to some common beliefs, properly cleaning a wooden floor is not a complicated task, as long as you follow some simple specific precautions.

Before proceeding with any intervention, you should check the identification sheet of your product, which you will always find accompanying our collections. The product sheet will be useful because it gathers the essential characteristics of your parquet, for example, you can find out if it has been treated with oil, wax, or varnish, and consequently act differently, and with different products, on the cleaning to be done.

It is important to know that oil treatment is not at all comparable to that provided by varnish. The latter, in fact, creates a transparent and protective film on the wood surface, while the oil protects the board by penetrating deeply, that is, engaging in the wood fiber.

Cleaning wooden floors

In general, a wooden floor only needs a broom, lukewarm water, and a specific cleaner.

For the parquet to maintain its best appearance over time, daily or at least frequent cleaning should be done with a soft-bristled broom or a dedicated vacuum cleaner; or with a typical anti-static dust cloth. This is to remove the most visible dirt and traces of soil, small stones, and impurities left by foot traffic or dirt left by pets.
Once a week, you should also wash the parquet with a damp cloth, lukewarm water, and a specific cleaner, such as those from our Woodco Care line. Remember that when wiping, it is important to follow the direction of the wood grain and that it is never advisable to improvise or delay cleaning interventions, which could cause irreparable damage over time, unless with the help of a professional.

What ruins parquet

In general, remember that you should never use foaming, abrasive, acidic, or corrosive cleaners on parquet, such as alcohol and bleach, but also vinegar and lemon. Even though oil and varnish treatments make parquet water-repellent, it is true that these treatments have low vapor permeability values, so it is absolutely not recommended to use steam cleaning machines on parquet.

Learn more in the dedicated article: Parquet and Its Enemies: What Ruins Wooden Floors?

How to clean oiled parquet

Wooden floors treated with protective oil finish recall the naturalness and beauty of parquet from the past; and require a little more attention than varnished wooden floors. How to maintain this charming aesthetic over time?

In addition to daily or weekly practices with a soft-bristled vacuum cleaner, fringe broom, or with a soft cloth, you can wash oiled parquet with a well-wrung and slightly damp microfiber cloth along with specific cleaners for oiled parquet. At Woodco, in the Woodco Care line, you can find products for cleaning oiled parquet Soft Cleaner Aloe Transparent and Soft Cleaner Aloe White, both enriched with a portion of treatment oil, useful for providing nourishment and hydration during the washing phase.

Every 30/60 days we recommend performing an intensive cleaning with Intensive Cleaner, a Woodco Care cleaner based on plant extracts for wooden floors treated with natural oil. After its use, you can clean the floor with Soft Cleaner, thus, in addition to removing more intense dirt, you can restore a water-repellent layer to the parquet.

Cleaning varnished parquet

We have seen that a wooden floor treated with varnishes, although it has a protective layer on the surface, is not completely impermeable because it still has a low water vapor permeability.

If varnished parquet is quicker in routine cleaning compared to oiled ones, it is not in extraordinary cleaning because the washing must be done on the entire surface and not just on a single portion.

Moreover, on varnished parquet, dust settles more on its surface due to the protective film, and for this reason, it must be removed more frequently always with a soft dust-attracting cloth, with a fringe broom, or with a vacuum cleaner with special nozzles.

You can proceed with cleaning varnished parquet using slightly damp cloths with products that protect the surface of wooden floors, such as Neutral Cleaner from the Woodco Care line specific for varnished parquet. The mentioned product effectively creates a protective film that could be damaged and become dull if you use foaming cleaners, solvents, or the classic multipurpose ones found in supermarkets.

In addition to the already mentioned foaming, abrasive, and acidic products, classic beeswax should never be applied on varnished parquet; it damages the protective film by preventing the absorption of any substance, makes the floor slippery, dull, and can only be removed mechanically.

You can use, however, the revitalizing wax Refresh Care from Woodco Care which has a formulation designed to increase protection and polish the surface of varnished parquet.

Discover parquet treatments in our dedicated article: Varnished, Oiled, or Waxed Parquet? Pros, Cons, and Treatments

How to clean parquet in 5 simple steps

Let’s recap the fundamental precautions to take in cleaning parquet to keep this floor healthier over time.

1. During routine cleaning of parquet, it is essential, first of all, to carefully use a vacuum cleaner with delicate and specific bristles to remove dust or small elements that could mark the floor.
2. Absolutely avoid cleaning with just water because it is unsuitable for degreasing oiled surfaces. We also advise against using steam mops or floor-washing robots that generally operate at very high temperatures, with the risk of damaging the parquet.
3. An excellent method for cleaning your wooden floor is to use a damp cloth with the addition of products specifically created for parquet cleaning. When choosing cleaners, prefer those that do not contain aggressive components like ammonia, bleach, or descaler, and always dilute them in water at 35-40 degrees, to avoid damaging the surfaces.
4. Also pay attention to the choice of mop, which must be strictly rectangular, and the cloth, which must be in sponge, cotton, or cotton microfiber. Prefer long-pile cloths in the case of a rough or irregular wood covering, choose short-pile ones if your wooden floor is smooth.
5. Throughout the year, perform at least one extraordinary cleaning that, in addition to removing the most stubborn stains, restores the protective layer in varnished parquet, or hydration in oiled parquet.