Maintaining wood floors

[Nomad]

Need advice on cleaning wood floors...

We moved a few years ago to a home that has all dark wood floors. I think it would be called Engineered wood.
the previous owner left Bellawood cleaner for wood floors in the cabinet and we used it snd liked it.
I use it without any trouble.
Once a month the housekeeper comes and knows to use the Bellawood liquid. For some reason...two rooms this time ended up sticky when you walked on it. Other rooms have streaks. I haven’t addressed the streaks.
So, I mopped the sticky rooms with plain water. Then twice with Bellawood. Then they looked DULL. A wood floor store employee told me it might be a soap residue. I used windex as recommended. It worked. All better now.
Multiple questions for those who have wood floors:
1. What cleaning product do you use and like?
2. Do these floors ever need polishing? If so, how often?
3. How often do you mop?
4. Ever heard of a soap residue? Huh? Would you guess the cleaner used something strange snd also soapy product on at least the two rooms? No other rooms were sticky.
We looove the floors snd are trying hard to take good care of them.
Thanks

pS Sorry such a goofy question... I spent hours trying to fix this. As I’m typing this..’y husband just now decided to attack the streaky rooms. I feel like we’ve spent days correcting this strange mess.

 

[Copabanana]

Dear Nomad

Engineered wood is different than "Wood" I believe. I have a rental house with engineered wood floors. I was told I could safely use Swiffer wet mop pads on the floors. I read I was to not use water. I was stumped because if you use Swiffer wet mop pads they are full of liquid. Dripping with it. (I use them in my own house where I have a white concrete floor.) However, M uses a very dry mop--not wet, just barely damp on the engineered wood floor. And that is what he has advised the tenants to use, and it works well.

I am grateful I have not mopped this floor because I would be anxious with the Swiffer, even though it is recommended.

On the floor i have the shine is supposed to be permanent. In the interests of durability (and against recommendations we did in the back house put a polyurethane topcoat. We were told not to do so. Unfortunately, if anything with alcohol gets on those floors, it becomes dull and cloudy. So I am interested that Windex helped. Did you use it straight or diluted?

Yes. I have heard of a soap residue.

 

[susiestar]

I wish I could offer advice on this. Every time we lived in a house with wood floors, I ended up having to refinish them. I hate that job. And every time we ended up moving shortly after I refinished the floors (within a couple of months). I don't remember ever using anything special to clean them. Maybe diluted Murphy's Oil Soap every week.