Are you looking for new ways to clean your dirty wood furniture? Getting stains out of wooden tables, dressers, desks, etc., can be challenging. It seems like the regular water and washcloth don’t work. Is that the only alternative to refinishing the entire piece of furniture?
There are simple, effective, and inexpensive ways to clean up and repair your wooden furniture. In many cases, you can find the tools you need to get out stains and repair scratches in your home! Many effective methods for cleaning utilize everyday cooking and cleaning materials that are either readily available or easily obtainable.
What wood damage can be repaired without sanding and staining?
Your wooden furniture is bound to get beat up; it has probably seen a lot of abuse in its time. Moves from one location to another, dings from other household furniture, and rough handling can take a toll on your little wood piece.
It may sound surprising, but there are many methods that you can use to cover and repair scratches and stains that don’t involve sanding and restaining. Shallow scratches, deep scratches, corner scuffs, water stains, and black spots can all be repaired or made unnoticeable.
Dusting and Cleaning
If you just need to make a routine sweep of your room and aren’t trying to repair anything other than the unsightly layer of dust on your furniture, you can do your cleaning with a simple duster and wood cleaning mixture.
Dusters are easy to find. Most are composed of a multitude of soft fibers meant to work their way into crevices to get hard-to-reach areas. If one of these is not readily available, a dry rag can do the same job; it may be more challenging to get corners, but this will get the job done adequately.
Wood cleaners are used for touch-up work. They are often used for light cleanings, helping to remove additional debris from the surface of the wood and finishing off with a polish.
These two methods are the easiest light cleaning solution for your home and office.
Cleaning Water Rings
Water stains are among the most common stains afflicting your wood furniture.
When water gets past the protective finish on your wood furniture, it can stain the layers below, discoloring it as an ugly stain. This type of damage doesn’t wash out.
Water stains are caused by either hot or cold items being placed on a wood surface. The extreme temperature change allows water to get past the protective layer, thus staining your furniture.
Removing the water from the stained area is actually relatively simple. First, it requires a 100% cotton cloth and an iron. Make sure your iron’s steam function is turned off. The idea behind using the iron and cotton cloth is that the iron heats up the wood, finish, and water trapped in the stain; the cotton cloth absorbs the water and protects the wood from direct contact with the iron.
Some sources would suggest using a type of baking soda and water mixture (like a homemade paste or toothpaste) to remove water stains, but this isn’t the most effective method. You may find that your water stain returns after the paste has dried.
Cleaning Ink Stains on Wood
When you get some sort of ink on your wood piece, you may think it is there to stay. While ink stains are stubborn, they are far from permanent with the proper techniques. You can remove ink stains with a couple of different methods.
Alcohol Mixtures
The first method involves using an 80-90% alcohol content mixture. After applying a small amount of this mixture to your cloth, gently rub it around the stain. Alcohol will dissolve the stain, allowing you to wipe it off. Cleaning with alcohol will probably take off some of the finish, making your wood look a little duller. Reapplying a little wood finish can help bring back a shine to that area.
Baking Soda
One of the most versatile cleaning chemicals you can get is baking soda. This alkaline chemical is very useful around the house for baking, personal care, and cleaning. Its alkaline nature makes it great for cleaning up ink stains. Just mix this powder with a little bit of water and apply it to the ink-stained area, and your ink stains will slowly rub off.
Like with using alcohol, baking soda is likely to rub off some of the finish from whatever furniture you are trying to clean. If you find this to be too irritating, you can reapply small amounts of finish.
Repairing Scratched Surfaces
Your furniture can be naturally worn out through use and movement. This may make a few scuffs and scratches. These can be covered up in a couple of different ways.
Cooking Oil and Vinegar
If you have a piece of furniture that has a worn surface full of scratches, you can blend the finish from the surrounding area into the damaged portion for a more unified look.
Using three parts cooking oil and one part vinegar, you can create a mixture that will gently dissolve the finish and treat the wood underneath. The oil you use will give the wood a glistening look by moistening it, and the finish liquidated by the vinegar will dry with a more uniform finish.
Coloring Repair Sticks
Many home repair stores have finishing sticks that can color in worn edges and deep gouges in your furniture. These are essentially wood-toned crayons that will color the worn areas of your furniture.
A Fresh Feel With Town & Country Office Cleaning
The small things in life add up. Whether it be dust collecting on the shelves or garbages filling to the brim, there are many ways the workplace can become disheveled. So, if you need to clean dirty wood furniture or need someone who can routinely sweep dust from the blinds, Town & Country Office Cleaning has your back.
You can make your job easier by offloading the responsibility of cleaning the workplace to us. We are happy to help! Contact us today to find out what services are best for you!