Can parquet flooring be cleaned with ammonia?

Ammonia is a commonly used cleaning product in the home, and has become more popular over the years to clean the floors in our homes and give them shine. 

Nevertheless, using ammonia to clean parquet flooring is not the most advisable practice. On marble and similar surfaces it brings out the shine, but on wood it has the opposite effect.

Using ammonia to clean wooden floors or furniture is not recommended, since it causes wear to wood and dulls it. But it can be a very useful cleaning product when there are persistent or deep stains on wooden floors. However, it should always be diluted in water before it is used.

So... how should we clean parquet flooring? 

Since wooden floors require special care when cleaning, more neutral products such as soap should be used, and there are even specific products for cleaning parquet flooring. When using those products, we should take note of the following steps: 

• Sweep the floor using a fine, soft bristle brush to avoid scratching the wood. A vacuum cleaner or cleaning robot can also be used, as these appliances have become commonplace in today’s homes. 
• Run a very small amount of water in a mop bucket. 
• Pour in some of the chosen cleaning product. Use a 4:1 ratio water - product mixture. In other words, a maximum of 25 cl of cleaning product per litre of water. 
• Take a mop which combines microfibre and cotton, as this is the most recommended type for delicate surface, wet it and wring it out as much as possible. 
• Then mop all the floor applying light pressure to avoid marking the floor with the mop. 

As an additional step, you can then use a dry mop with a little floor cleaner spray to get rid of any marks that may have been left behind on the surface. This will lead to the best result and a nice shiny floor.