This is the complete guide on the popular query “is pine sol good for hardwood flooring” where we have discussed everything you need to know.
Pine-Sol is one of the most popular and widely used cleaning products belonging to the Clorox family. The cleaner products belonging to this particular Clorox family are pretty popular in the US.
The chemical formula used by Clorox is known for restoring the shiny and glossy appeal of your kitchen walls, bathroom floors, and the sidewalls of your pantry kitchenette.
In this detailed guide, we will focus more on your doubt “is pine sol good for hardwood flooring” and other related queries like overview, using it in engineered wood, steps to use it properly, advantages, and more.
What Exactly Pine-Sol Is?
Pine-sol is the registered name of cleaners manufactured by the Clorox family. It has earned the trustworthiness of maximum Americans since the 1950s when it comes to the cleanliness of their household materials.
The company was established back in 1929, and since then, the company has been operating throughout the US. The primary purpose of the global popularity of this product is because it’s safe for cleaning your hardwood floors.
Unlike other cleaning products, the cleaning solutions sold by Pine-Sol may contain a strong scent, but they have not been considered hazardous for raising toxic threats among humans.
Keep Reading: Staining Darker Hardwood Flooring Without Sanding Guide
Why Should You Be Careful Before Choosing Hardwood Floor Cleaners?
Before choosing a cleaner for cleaning your hardwood floors, you need to know why you should be cautious about choosing the right cleaner for cleaning your floors first.
Multiple cleaners go well on hardwood floors. Wax and oil-based cleaners are an excellent option to turn your polyurethane wood floor dull.
Some flooring renovation service providers believe that cleaners with ammonia-based are also responsible for destroying the longevity of your hardwood floors.
This has been chemically proven that the combination of oil and seal is not at all a good one. It’s one of the major reasons you should be careful while choosing a hardwood cleaner.
Oil usually reacts with seals, and when it comes in close contact with wood, there’s a significant chance for wood to react negatively. It will be a challenge again to repair or restore those wooden faults in your floor if that happens.
Should You Be Using A Solvent That Suits With Your Hardwood Floors?
Of course! You should prefer a solvent that suits your hardwood floor. Try to avoid choosing those cleaners that adversely affect your hardwood floor.
Some of the top flooring renovation specialists believe that removing wax from hardwood floors might be a challenging deal for everyone.
You should have a well-defined DIY hardwood floor cleaning work plan during those situations. It will help you quickly clean and remove the dirt and dust from your hardwood floors.
Is Pine-Sol Good For Hardwood Flooring?
Pine-Sol is a perfect solution for using on your hardwood floor. It’s a good option on your sealed or finished floors. Pine-sol is known for assuring a zero-adverse effect on hardwood flooring.
So, if you are looking ahead to cleaning up your clumsy/hazy floor or dust-affected floor surface, you can rely on Pine-Sol cleaning products for cleaning your hardwood floor.
They are available online, and if you are planning to buy them offline, it’s important to know which offline stores sell different Pine-Sol products belonging to the Clorox family. Then only you should prefer buying the products from the respective store.
Do You Think Pine-Sol Is Good For Engineered Hardwood Flooring Types?
Engineered hardwood floors are slightly different from that solid wood. The engineered hardwood floor can resist heat and pressure and is considered much more durable than solid hardwood.
It’s another reason for which scratch marks scuff marks cannot easily affect this type of floor. It is one of the main reasons why maximum Americans prefer engineered hardwood floors.
Pine-sol, being a water-based cleaner, is always considered safer than other cleaning products. The main advantage of this particular cleaner is they are perfect for wax-based, oil-based, and ammonia-based hardwood floors.
Top Few Advantages Of Using Pine-Sol On Hardwood Floors
There are plenty of advantages to using hardwood floors. Some of those advantages have been shared below.
Pine-sol is a good solution for glowing your hardwood floor. Unlike other solutions, they never affect the wax-based coating on your hardwood engineered floors.
Pine-sol never impacts the sealed hardwood by creating an adverse chemical effect on your flooring. It’s the only reason this one is an excellent use for sealed hardwood.
Pine-sol barely impacts the residue that impacts your hardwood floor surface. They are perfect for sealed hardwood.
While oil-based cleaning products may leave some impact on your hardwood engineered floors, this one is free from such ingredients that affect the quality of your hardwood floors.
Keep Reading: Outstanding Solution For Sticky Floors After Mopping
Should You Take Precautions While Using Pine-Sol On Hardwood Floors?
Yes, you should take precautions while using Pine-sol for cleaning your hardwood engineered floors. We will take a quick look over the precautions and a few measures you should take while using Pine-sol to clean your hardwood engineered floors.
Precaution 1: Do Not Lose Your Concentration
While removing the tough stains with Pine-Sol, do not indulge in any other activity in between. Before applying a wet cloth or mop dipped in the pine-sol solution, get assured that the solvent is mixed with a diluted form of Pine-Sol.
Never make the mistake of using the raw Pine-sol solution on your hardwood floor. That might damage the floor, as the concentrated form of Pine-sol may leave a mark upon your meticulously built hardwood floor. Be careful with that!
Precaution 2: Prefer A Soft Cloth Or Fabric For Applying Pine-Sol On The Floor
It’s important to prefer a soft cloth or fabric while applying Pine-sol on the floor. A soft cloth or fabric is used for applying Pine-sol on your floor.
If you are using a hard cloth or steel brush on your wooden floor, that can carve a scratch mark on your dedicatedly installed hardwood engineered flooring.
That’s why, according to some of the leading hardwood flooring renovation service providers, always use a soft fiber cloth on your hardwood engineered flooring.
This will eventually help you undergo a gentle cleaning DIY remedy for wiping off the dust and dirt accumulated on your hardwood engineered floor.
Precaution 3: Randomly Mop The Area After Pouring Pine-Sol Diluted Solvent On The Wooden Floor
Water spilled on your hardwood engineered floor may impact the fine shiny wax coat of your hardwood floors. By allowing water spilled to spread upon it for a long time, later the watermark or stains will be permanent on your hardwood engineered floors.
To avoid such problems, you should mop it randomly after spreading the solvent for cleaning your hardwood engineered floor.
What’s Murphy’s Oil Soap? Pine-Sol vs. Murphy’s Oil Soap
Murphy’s Oil Soap is a solution specifically meant for cleaning wood-specific flooring. But it might not be suitable for cleaning multiple wood surfaces.
Whereas, Pine-Sol can be used on multi-surfaced floors. If you are using Murphy’s oil, you might use it for cleaning only a few specific varieties of your hardwood engineered floors.
Whereas, Pine-Sol is a good option for cleaning multiple varieties of hardwood engineered flooring. That’s another reason behind the popularity of Pine-Sol cleaning products amongst US customers, willing to implement DIY hardwood floor cleaning remedies for maintaining a different variety of hardwood floors.
How To Clean Your Hardwood Engineered Floors With Pine-Sol?
Before using Pine-Sol on your existing hardwood engineered floors, you need to know the following DIY work plan for cleaning hardwood engineered floors. Some of those DIY work plans have been shared below,
Step 1:
Sweep the floor first. If needed, use a good-quality mop to wipe off the debris and dust from the floor. Get assured that the debris and dust are removed from the floor first. This will help you to prepare the base of your engineered hardwood floor for using Pine-sol.
Step 2:
Mix 1/4th cup of pine sol in the bucket that’s filled with one gallon of water. Mix it up and stir it well. Wait for some time till the Pine-sol mixes with the water and the liquid take a diluted form.
It’s important to dilute Pine-sol solvent with water. Using Pine-sol directly on your engineered hardwood floor may harm the quality of your hardwood engineered floor.
Step 3:
Soak the mop in Pine-sol solvent diluted in water. Rinse it well before applying it to your hardwood engineered flooring. Make sure that the water is rinsed entirely from the mop.
By using the wet mop on your hardwood engineered floor, there’s a sufficient risk of water stains remaining on your floor surface.
Step 4:
Mop the entire hardwood floor and change it. Use a different clean new mop for sweeping the floor again. By using the first mop again, the dust gathered in the mop might cling to the surface of your floor. It’s wise to use the fresh second mop. This will eventually help you to clear the floor. It will later help you to clean the floor quickly.
Step 5:
If it’s a tough stain that you want to get rid of, make sure that you are using a sponge at first to use the raw Pine-sol in it first. Then you are using it on the floor directly.
However, it’s important to be careful while applying direct Pine-Sol on your hardwood floor. The amount you are using on the Pine-Sol should be of limited quantity. Overuse of Pine-Sol solvent on your floor might affect the quality of the hardwood engineered floor.
Step 6:
Use a dry fiber cloth on your hardwood engineered floor, at last, to wipe off those water stain marks, which (in case) might not go even after mopping the floor with a dry mop. If you are looking for some other alternative to clean your floors then you can try the bleaching hardwood floor DIY method.
Few Other Cleaners That Replace Pine-Sol
Though Pine-Sols are available in the market, they are available online as well as offline too. If you find they are out of stock for any reason, both online or offline, you might use some of these solvents too, which are more or less similar to Pine-Sol. They are:
- Better Life
- Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner
These two excellent hardwood floors are a good option which is equivalent to Pine-Sol. If you are willing to use any alternative of Pine-Sol, you may prefer using any of these instead of Pine-Sol for cleaning your hardwood engineered floors.
The best part is you can use these two solutions in the same way just as you are using Pine-Sol. If you know how to use Pine-Sol for DIY cleaning your hardwood engineered floors, using these solvents won’t be a big deal at all.
Keep Reading: Best Ways To Make Laminate Flooring Shine
Why Is It Compulsory To Rinse Pine-Sol Off From The Floor After Using It Already?
You need to rinse the Pine-Sol off from your hardwood engineered floor after applying it. That’s because, after using the entire water mixed pine-sol, it’s important to replace the water with lukewarm water in the same bucket.
You can either use a dry mop to clean the entire floor with the lukewarm water or use a soft fabric cloth to wet it in the warm water and then rinse it well.
After relieving maximum water from it, use it to dry wipe the entire floor. A mop will be a good option as it might turn the job easy-go for you.
Should You Use Pine-Sol Only On Sealed Hardwood Floors?
Yes! Indeed. It’s always wise to use Pine-Sol on the sealed hardwood floors. Cleaners that are water-based, such as Pine-Sol, are used on sealed hardwood floors.
They usually cause damage to the unsealed hardwood surfaces. Before using Pine-Sol, you should take adequate precautions for testing the quality of the hardwood surface.
You should move ahead only when you see that the hardwood floors are sealed. Unsealed hardwood engineered floors might not be able to endure the chemical composition of Pine-Sol.
Always add this remedy to your DIY work plan while using Pine-Sol to clean hardwood engineered floors.
Final Verdict
We hope we have answered your query on “is pine sol good for hardwood flooring” with the help of the above guide. Pine-Sol is a very wise choice for cleaning your hardwood engineered floors. You can also take a flooring expert’s assistance for cleaning your hardwood engineered floors if you are using Pine-Sol. But, a DIY would be a far more cost-effective option for you!
However, while applying Pine-Sol on your floors, get assured that children or pets are not around, as they may feel the smell of it awful.
You should also follow the guidelines shared in the manual published by the manufacturers strictly while applying Pine-Sol on your hardwood engineered floor to get the best results.
