How to Refurbish Worn and Discolored Hardwood Flooring

Given enough time and use, a hardwood floor can begin to appear unevenly worn and discolored. Sometimes, the only way to fix this is to either sand and refinish the floor or have it completely torn out and replaced. These are both expensive and time consuming solutions, however, that often require the assistance of trained professionals. Before you resort to those extremes, consider putting this cleaning system to work. It makes for a full day of tough labor, but it can reveal a beautiful shine on some of the most abused hardwood floors.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Bucket
• Hot water
• Ammonia
• Stiff bristled brush
• Heavy rubber gloves
• Broom
• Dustpan

1. Clear the area you wish to treat of furniture, rugs and anything else that touches the floor. Sweep the area thoroughly with a broom and dustpan to remove easily cleaned dust and dirt.

2. Fill a bucket with about one gallon of very hot water. If your water heater can't produce water that is almost scalding, adjust your heater so that it can or heat your batches of water in a large stock pot on the stove. Pour about an ounce of household ammonia into the hot water; there's no real need to measure.

3. Put on your heavy rubber gloves and take the hot water solution and your stiff bristled brush to the hardwood floor. Pour out some of the water onto the floor and immediately start scrubbing it with the stiff bristled brush, applying considerable pressure with both hands. Brush in small sections, moving on to the next section as soon as the one before looks like it's as clean as it's going to get.

4. Continue refilling the bucket and mixing the cleaning solution as needed until you've cleaned the entire floor.

5. Allow the floor to air dry for several hours. When it's dry, reassess the condition of the floor. If it looks as good as new or at least pretty good, you've probably bought yourself a few more years of use and appreciation. If the treatment didn't change much or didn't help enough, you might want to get a quote from a floor refinisher.

Tips & Warnings

• Knee pads are a great investment for this task. This is also a great job for two or more people, because doing even a small room all by yourself can amount to back-breaking labor.
• The water needs to be very hot when you pour it on the floor in order for it to be effective. If you find that you can't use up the entire gallon before it cools, start mixing smaller batches.
• Use extraordinary caution when carrying large buckets of scalding water through the house.