Clean And Restore Shine To Hardwood Floors With A DIY Remedy From Your Kitchen

We all want our hardwood floors to shine – especially given how much they cost — and that means cleaning them is a must. Because as durable and beautiful as they are, hardwood floors will discolor and lose their luster pretty quickly if you clean them incorrectly. But what's the right product to use?

Well, it turns out you can skip the usual cleaning chemicals and instead opt for a highly recommended floor cleaning product straight from your pantry — black tea. Yep, the stuff you drink. It cleans floors (and other things as well). Black tea is only slightly acidic, with a PH level that ranges from around 4.9 to 5.5, classifying it as mildly so. It includes naturally occurring tannins, which are responsible for the dark color of brewed black tea. 

So, let's look into how black tea can restore a lovely shine to your hardwood floors. Before we get to brewing and mopping, though, do note that anytime you mop a hardwood floor you never want to drown it in water — too much water is bad for hardwood floors, as it will cause them to swell – and for safety's sake, only use your black tea on a small, hidden area of the floor before you bathe the floor in it, just to verify that it's compatible with the wood's finish and any other products that might have been applied to the flooring over the years. Got all that down? Okay, let's go. 

The process of cleaning your floors with black tea is much like drinking black tea: First, you brew it. Start a large pot of water to boil on your stove. Put about eight tea bags into the water and boil for 15 minutes to get all of the tannins out. Allow the water to cool down to a lukewarm temperature. One trick is boiling the tea in about half the water you will need and then adding cold water to cool the mixture more quickly. 

Now, as mentioned before, test the tea mixture on a tiny hidden spot of your flooring before you mop the whole area: What you're looking to see is if the tea discolors the flooring. If it does, this trick isn't a good fit for you.

Sweep the floor and follow with a vacuum. The best mops for hardwood floors are spin mops, because they are so absorbent. Find one with soft cotton or microfiber material. Get that mop damp and then clean the floor in a circular motion with firm pressure. Hardwood floors by their nature have seams, cracks and tiny divots where dirt can lodge, so a bit of pressure on the mop will help clear those surface flaws. Rinse the mop clean and repeat the process until you have the floor mopped. You may wish to go over high traffic areas more than once. Black tea is not a soap, and for that reason may need a second pass to remove all the dirt and grit. Allow the floor to dry before walking on it. If you see an area that needs a bit more attention, go ahead and make that happen.

Let's assume you love the new shine, and are wondering — why does this work? Well, by removing the dirt, the oils, and other contaminants, the slightly acidic nature of black tea works reveal the natural shine of the finish. And in addition to the tannins in the tea, a specific black tea made from a plant called Camelia sinensis has polyphenolic chemicals which are antimicrobial, essentially disinfecting your flooring for you. 

Another benefit is that the dark hue of the tea will add its color to any wood fibers that may have lost their finish and color due to wear and tear. But again, if your test mopping on a tiny space of the floor stains it in a way you don't like, stop right there.

So, all in all, this is a very successful DIY cleaning recipe, and it will work far better on hardwood floors than any homemade vinegar cleaning solutions, as vinegar — while a DIY cleaning staple — is actually very harmful to hardwood floor finishes and needs to be avoided. Black tea as a cleaning solution may sound "out there" at first glance, but upon closer examination, it might just be that it's exactly the drink your floor has been thirsty for.