Hardwood Floor Care & Maintenance Frequently Asked Questions

As part of your refinishing service, you receive:

• A premium spray mop
• One microfiber refill
• Ready-to-use citrus floor cleaner for quick spills
• Concentrated citrus floor cleaner

These products were selected to clean your floors safely without leaving wax, polish, or unwanted residue.

We professionally deep-clean your floors using a high-speed buffer, inspect the finish for wear and problem areas, and touch up qualifying minor scratches and imperfections.

The goal is to remove embedded dirt, identify developing problems, and help protect your hardwood-floor finish for the long term.

Even when floors are cleaned regularly, ordinary mopping can leave embedded dirt and contaminants behind. Professional maintenance helps preserve the finish and allows us to identify wear before it becomes a more expensive problem.

Regular professional maintenance may also extend the time before your floors require a maintenance coat or complete sanding and refinishing.

The recommended frequency depends on your household and the amount of traffic your floors receive:

• Every three months: Homes with heavy traffic, children, or pets
• Every six months: Homes with medium traffic or an active lifestyle
• Every 12 months: Homes with light traffic

Dentons Hardwood Flooring can help you choose the schedule that best fits your home and lifestyle.

No major furniture moving is required for a routine maintenance visit. We clean around the furniture, making the service quick and convenient.

Most routine maintenance visits take less than an hour. The exact time may vary depending on the size of the area, the floor’s condition, and the amount of buildup present.

We can touch up many minor surface scratches and imperfections during a maintenance visit.

Deep scratches, pet stains, damaged boards, or finish that has worn through to bare wood may require a separate repair, maintenance coat, or complete refinishing. We will inspect the damage and explain the best solution.

The NWFA recommends using a cleaner made specifically for the finish on your floor and avoiding products that claim to restore luster or add shine.

Based on NWFA guidance, finish-manufacturer instructions, and our professional experience, Dentons Hardwood Flooring recommends avoiding products labeled as a polish, restorer, rejuvenator, refresher, shine enhancer, scratch filler, or protective coating.

Common problem products include:

• Rejuvenate
• Quick Shine
• Mop & Glo
• Orange Glo 4-in-1
• Weiman Hardwood Floor Polish & Restorer
• Bona Hardwood Floor Polish
• Murphy Oil Soap and other oil soaps
• Paste wax and liquid floor wax
• Furniture polish and furniture oil
• Products containing silicone
• Essential-oil cleaners
• Vinegar and water
• Ammonia or bleach
• Pine-Sol
• Fabuloso
• Mr. Clean and other general-purpose cleaners
• Dish soap
• Steam mops
• Abrasive cleaners and scrubbing pads
• Wet string mops or excessive water

These products may leave residue, damage the finish, or interfere with a future professional maintenance coat.

Many shine products leave an additional coating containing wax, acrylic, urethane, oil, silicone, soap, or polymers on top of the original floor finish.

The floor may look better at first, but repeated applications can collect dirt and eventually become cloudy, streaky, sticky, dull, or uneven. This buildup can also prevent a professional maintenance coat from bonding properly.

Professional wax, polish, acrylic-coating, or contaminant removal may be required before the floor can be cleaned or recoated correctly.

Murphy Oil Soap is not a floor wax, but Dentons Hardwood Flooring recommends avoiding it unless it is specifically approved by the manufacturer of your floor’s finish.

Improper dilution or repeated use may leave soap residue that dulls the floor or creates adhesion problems when applying a future maintenance coat.

No. Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner and Bona Hardwood Floor Polish are two completely different products.

Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner may be appropriate for routine cleaning on many sealed polyurethane floors. Bona Hardwood Floor Polish leaves an additional coating that can build up, become cloudy or uneven, and interfere with a future professional maintenance coat.

Although Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner may be compatible with some finishes, Dentons Hardwood Flooring prefers and recommends our own residue-free citrus floor-cleaning products. Our cleaners have been selected for the finishes we use and help eliminate confusion between an ordinary cleaner and a coating-producing polish.

For the best results, use the Dentons-approved cleaner and microfiber mop provided in your Starter Floor Care Kit.

Use a residue-free, pH-balanced cleaner approved for your floor’s specific finish. Apply it sparingly with a microfiber cleaning pad, and never allow excess moisture to remain on the floor.

Customers who receive a Dentons Starter Floor Care Kit should use the provided citrus floor cleaners and premium spray mop according to our instructions.

Provide your housekeeper with your Dentons-approved cleaner and microfiber mop.

Do not allow anyone to apply wax, polish, oil, restorer, shine enhancer, scratch filler, or an unfamiliar cleaning product without your permission.

Stop using the product. Do not attempt to remove it with harsh chemicals, ammonia, steam, abrasive cleaners, or excessive water.

Contact Dentons Hardwood Flooring so we can evaluate the floor and determine whether it needs professional deep cleaning, wax or polish removal, contaminant removal, a maintenance coat, or complete refinishing.

Follow these basic care guidelines:

• Wipe up spills immediately. Hardwood-floor finishes are water-resistant, not waterproof.
• Sweep or dust-mop high-traffic areas regularly.
• Vacuum weekly using the bare-floor setting or with the beater bar turned off.
• Place breathable entry mats near exterior doors.
• Use protective pads beneath furniture legs.
• Lift furniture instead of sliding it.
• Avoid walking on hardwood floors in sports cleats or high heels.
• Keep pets’ nails trimmed and rounded.
• Use only cleaning products approved for your floor’s finish.

The NWFA recommends keeping your home between 60–80°F and 30–50% relative humidity throughout the year unless your flooring manufacturer provides different requirements.

Excessive humidity can cause hardwood to swell or cup. Conditions that are too dry can cause shrinking, gaps, or splits. A small digital hygrometer can help you monitor the temperature and humidity inside your home.

Repeated exposure to direct sunlight can cause hardwood floors to fade or change color over time.

Close blinds or curtains during peak sunlight, consider UV-filtering window film, and periodically rearrange rugs and furniture after the finish has fully cured. These steps can help the floor age and change color more evenly.

Cure times vary depending on the finish, manufacturer, application conditions, and environment inside the home. Always follow the written instructions Dentons Hardwood Flooring provides for the specific finish used on your project.

For oil-based polyurethane projects completed by Dentons Hardwood Flooring, our guideline is:

• Wait at least seven days before replacing furniture.
• Wait at least 30 days before placing area rugs.

Traditional oil-based polyurethane is a very high-VOC finish compared with the low-VOC and LED-cured options offered by Dentons Hardwood Flooring.

UV- and LED-cured finishes may be ready for immediate use. Always follow Dentons’ written instructions for the particular finish used on your floor.

Call Dentons Hardwood Flooring at 865-363-3424 to choose a maintenance schedule that fits your household and floor-care needs.

Regular professional maintenance helps protect your investment and keep your hardwood floors looking beautiful for years to come.