My new home has hardwood floors throughout entire house. They are unfinished. I have tried everything to clean them, ie: Vonage, Murphy's oil soap, plain water, Bruce hardwood cleaner... I've been on my hands and knees wiping floor w/cleaning solutions & then drying w/a soft clean cloth. Nothing is working! HELP!!
We are going to refinish the floors, but are currently in a busy season & unable to do them.

 

Unfinished generally means not finished or no finish. Are you saying all the floors in your house are bare wood with no stain or sealer?

 

Ugh, I hope you really don't have unfinished wood, it can absorb stains pretty deeply and be next to impossible to get clean.

 

I don't see any way to clean unfinished raw wood other than sanding and even then there might be stains that have gone too deep into the wood that you might not be able to get rid of.

 

At one time, 3/4 of the floors were stained & sealed. In certain areas, it is still sealed. Other areas, you can barely see the stain. The floors pretty much suck up everything that's dropped on them. Unfortunately, the previous owners did not take good care of the floors. I just can't seem to get them clean. When we get a break in farming, we're going to completely refinish them. But until then...i just can't stand it!!

 

I suppose you could sand lightly and apply a coat or two of poly. That will prevent anything that gets spilt from soaking in ..... just not sure how the appearance will be without a complete sanding to bare wood.

 

Since you're going to refinish them anyway, just use some throw rugs or carpeting to cover and protect the current condition. It will also hide the stains.

 

Sorry I'm a little late to this!

This is quite a unique situation. There a chance that the floors had previously been finished with some sort of special coating or "matte" finish that is itself creating the haze. Could be tough to get rid of this without sanding and refinishing.

Since it seems like that is your plan anyways, looks like you're on the right track.

There a whole bunch of cleaner options you could try too though. Vinegar and water is simple and natural solution. Add some orange essential oil for a nice smell!

Here's a great post I found on various cleaning solutions that you can make at home from natural ingredients. Check out the comments section as lots of people posted other ideas too...some if which may work in your case: ***************

Lastly, there are a few options in this other article I turned up on hardwood floor cleaner options. Plus lots of great ideas for cleaners you can use to keep your newly finished floors looking fresh and clean too...once you do get around to it.
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Hope that helps!