Got sticky floors even after mopping? Sticky floors are super annoying and can make your home feel and look dirty. This stickiness can cling onto bare feet making it uncomfortable and nasty to walk in your own home.
Thankfully, with the right tools, it’s easy to get rid of sticky floors without scrubbing or damaging the wood. In this post, I’ve gathered the best cleaning products and tips on how to clean sticky wood floors.
Before starting, here’s a few quick reasons why you might have sticky residue on your floors even after cleaning:
- Using the wrong type of cleaner
- Stubborn residue leftover from spills, adhesives or sticky tapes, or rug pad glue
- Using too much cleaner
- Moping floors with dirty water
Now that you understand the source of the problem, here’s how to remove sticky residue from hardwood floors!
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Best Products To Remove Sticky Residue From Hardwood Floors
How To Clean Sticky Wood Floors
- Use a hardwood floor cleaner.
- To clean sticky wood floors naturally, use an enzyme based floor cleaner.
- Select the right mop. Reusable microfiber floor mops are more sanitary than traditional mops and won’t spread sticky messes around.
- Use Goo Gone for tough, sticky residue.
- Steam clean sticky wood floors with a steam mop (note: DON’T use on unsealed hardwood floors).
1. Hardwood Floor Cleaner
Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner Spray | Amazon
Looking for tips on how to clean sticky wood floors? If your wooden floors are sticky after moping and cleaning, chances are, you aren’t using the right cleaner.
When cleaning hardwood floors, it’s important to use a product designed specifically for wood surfaces. This ensures that the cleaner won’t leave behind a residue or damage the finish on your floors.
Always use a hardwood floor cleaner to clean wooden floors. For sticky sealed wood floors, I recommend using this Hardwood Floor Cleaner Spray from Bona. This amazing cleaner is great for heavy duty floor cleaning and is a must have for real wood floors.
This gentle spray cleans sticky messes well, doesn’t leave a residue, and leaves behind super shiny floors. Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner Spray is one of the best cleaning products for wood! Use this floor cleaner with a microfiber cloth or mop!
2. Enzyme Based Floor Cleaner
Naturally It’s Clean Floor Enzyme Floor Cleaner | Amazon
Here’s how to remove sticky residue from hardwood floors naturally: use an enzyme based floor cleaner. Enzyme based cleaners contain natural enzymes that break down dirt and grime without leaving behind any residue or chemical scent. This type of cleaner is safe and natural, and great for homes with pets and/or children.
To deep clean sticky wooden floors, I recommend using this Enzyme Floor Cleaner from Naturally It’s Clean. This amazing floor cleaner concentrate is made of natural plant-based enzymes to easily remove dirt and grime from all your hardwood floors.
This is a great cost effective product to remove hard to remove adhesive or sticky tape residue. A single concrete bottle can make 24 gallons of floor cleaner! Just mix one ounce of the concentrated enzyme floor cleaner liquid for every gallon of water.
This product smells mildly citrusy and is great for people sensitive to fragrances. Use this cleaner to clean all types of surfaces around your home, not just wooden or laminate floors! I love how there’s no rinsing required, just spray, wait for a few minutes, and wipe away with a microfiber cloth or mop!
3. Reusable Microfiber Floor Mop
Need some advice on how to clean sticky wood floors more effectively? If your wooden floors are sticky after cleaning or mopping, chances are, you might be mopping your floors with dirty water. Don’t worry though—it’s not your fault!
The traditional mopping method of using a mop and bucket is less sanitary than you think. The mop head is typically thrown in the same bucket after each use, making it easy to spread dirty water around instead of actually cleaning. To prevent sticky hardwood floors, I recommend swapping your traditional mop with a reusable microfiber floor mop like this one from Mexerris.
This clever reusable floor mop comes with four soft, washable microfiber mod pads that are gentle on hardwood floors. I love the 360 degrees full rotation mop head and adjustable handle length! This product makes it super easy to clean hard to reach, small places without the effort. For best results, use this mop alongside a hardwood floor cleaner!
4. Goo Gone
Here’s a helpful tip on how to remove sticky residue from hardwood floors: use Goo Gone. Goo Gone products are excellent at removing dirt, grease, grime, and goo without damaging surfaces. They’re amazing at removing difficult to remove adhesive (like sticky tape residue or rug pad glue).
For sticky wooden floors, I recommend using Goo Gone’s All-Purpose Cleaner Spray. This cleaner is safe to use on finished wood surfaces (and laminate wood flooring) and is a great product to deep clean your entire home. To use, spray it directly on the hardwood floor, wait for a few minutes, and wipe off any sticky residue instantly.
This cleaner spray is a great multipurpose cleaner to keep handy at home. It works great for both light and heavy duty cleaning and makes it super easy to get rid of tough messes!
5. Steam Mop
Not sure how to clean sticky wood floors? Steam them with a steam mop! Although more expensive than a standard mop, steam mops are better than traditional mops in every way. Steam mops effectively deep clean wooden floors and pick up dirt and grime that traditional mops leave behind.
I highly recommend checking out this Steam Pocket Mop Hard Floor Cleaner from Shark. This product only uses water—there’s no need for wooden floor cleaners. It’s well worth the cost and effectively sanitizes and deep cleans surfaces like sealed hardwood, laminate, marble, tile, and stone floors.
This steam mop comes with two washable, reusable mop pads. It’s a great product to save money at home because you don’t need to repurchase new mop pads or buy floor cleaners. Best of all, steam dries faster than liquid water, so there’s no wet floors!
This Shark steam mop is also super easy to use and heats up the water quickly. It’s a great product to clean your floors naturally with just water. As a bonus, this mop has a long cord!
Summarized: How To Clean Sticky Wood Floors
This post recommends several products and tips on how to remove sticky residue from hardwood floors. Here are all the recommended cleaning tools and cleaners in one convenient list:
- Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner Spray
- Naturally It’s Clean Enzyme Floor Cleaner
- Mexerris Reusable Microfiber Floor Mop
- Goo Gone All-Purpose Cleaner
- Shark Steam Pocket Mop Hard Floor Cleaner
Conclusion
It can be a huge headache to have sticky wooden floors after cleaning or mopping. If your entire floor is sticky, you might be using the wrong floor cleaner, are cleaning with dirty water, or are using too much product. If only a small section is sticky, this can be caused by spills, glue, rug pad adhesive, or sticky tape residue.
In this post, I’ve gathered the best tips and tricks on how to clean sticky wood floors at home. I’ve recommended several eco friendly, chemical free products to help you clean your wood floors naturally. Although this post focuses on cleaning sealed hardwood floors, all the products above should also work well on laminate wood flooring or other sealed hard floored surfaces.
I hope this post gave you some helpful tips on how to remove sticky residue from hardwood floors. Good luck!
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