I need help cleaning my wood floors. I hope I haven't ruined them!

Have you tried applying floor wax?

I've always used Murphy's Oil Soap for wood floors and paneling. It is mild but makes the wood look great. In fact, in one house I rented the landlord said that using only plain water or water with Murphy's on the oak floors was a condition of the lease! I assume it is available everywhere in the U.S. I used to get it at the grocery store.

Hey jbb316, I wish I knew the answer, I found this page w/ tips for cleaning wood floors hope it helps http://www.mrscleannw.com/tips/clean-wood-floors.html +'s 2 U :D

Tr using murphey's oil soap in your mop water next tiem this should restore the shine and get rid of the dullness that hte dish soap left behind.

It is recommended never wet-mop a wood floor. Standing water can dull the finish, damage the wood and leave a discoloring residue. Perhaps this is what happen. Not sure if you wax your floor. If it is waxed, maybe give it a buff and perhaps it might restore the shine. You might want to invest in a buffer. However, it is not recommended to over-wax a wax floor.

Use something that is especially made for wood floors, as other soaps and detergents can strip the wood, causing it to lose it's shine. Our bedroom has a hardwood floor. When we first moved in to our house, it had carpeting on the wood floor. My husband pulled up the carpeting, mopped the floor with a special wood floor cleaner, then coated the floor with what I think is called polyeurathane. It leaves a really nice shine, and it stayed shiny for months! You could probably also try Future. That's an Acrylic floor finish that's supposed to make your floors look shiny, but I don't know if it's good for wood floors. Good Luck!

interiordec.about.com/od/cleaning/ht/ht_cleanhardwd.htm www.woodfloorsonline.com/techtalk/dodont.html Here are two sites to check out. I hope that they are of help for you to salvage your beautiful wooden floors. Good luck to you.

The older lady down the street uses vinigar and water to clean her hardwood floors from time to time to remove soup and wax build up. You may want to try that. It's a 1/2 cup vingar to a bucket of water. Good luck