Murphy's oil soap is not for wood floors. Get Bonkemi floor cleaner and then Bonkemi Restore. And it all comes with a applicator. Worth every penny and your floors will look brand new. Bonkemi is online and you can order online.

If you just want a quick shine, you could try Trewax One Step or a similar product (I got something at a janitorial supply called On and On.) It's a wipe-on acrylic finish that makes the floors shine like glass and lasts a good long time, months in places where there's no traffic, weeks in traffic zones. My friend calls it "mother-in-law wax" because you mop it on before your mother-in-law comes to visit.

Don't use acrylic wax on a wood floor!....as a matter don't use it ever on any floor....unless you are planning on selling and doing it just for show.
It builds up....and you have to use nasty stuff th get it off.
There are many cleaners made for hard wood floors....best not to get one that is water based unless you know what the finish on your floors is.
Linda C

If you get down real close to the floor, you may be able to see that the surface has a zillion tiny scratches on it. This happens with wear. Can't be helped. There are wax or wax type products that can be put on that will keep you from having to refinish soon. They usually will eventually cause a build up and then you strip it off and redo it. It's a pain in the whatzit, but cheaper than refinishing.

Ahhh Bonkemi to the rescue. This is a swedish floor care company that has products that I discovered on the flooring site. Best ever. Just washed and "restored" my wide plank pine soft wood floor. It looks like it was just poly'd and when I wash it no scuzzy stuff on top of the wood. Just shiny and clean! You can find them on line and also most flooring stores carry their products. Get the applicators for each process!!

Here is a link to the Bonakemi site. They list retail dealers by zip on one of their pages.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bonakemi

I love the Bonakemi products for our (very well worn) wood floor! We purchased the cleaner and refreshener from Restoration Hardware (see link below) and have been extremely happy with them. We purchased a bank repo home with very worn wood floors. We don't have the $$$ at this time to refinish them, so I tried a few products and the Bona products were by far the best. The cleaner lifted a lot of grime off the floors and the refreshener left a nice shine. I highly recommend it!

Here is a link that might be useful: Bona products at Restoration Hardware

Do any retailers carry bonalemi, such as Lowes, HD, or other hardware / home improvement stores?

Thanks!

Some of the DO IT stores carry it. I've never seen it at Lowes or Home Depot.

I used Quick Shine on our wood floors in the kid's rooms...I was very happy with the result. I'm refinishing the first floor floors now....I'll look for the Bonalemi products.

Linens and Things carries the Bonakemi.

Thanks to y'all, I picked up some Bona hardwood cleaner and a microfiber pad today at Linens n things. I removed the bottle from my swiffer wetjet and stuck the microfiber pad onto the head. Voila! The floors look so clean and, well, un-messed with. Natural, like new.
Thanks.

Try Holloway House Quick Shine - was recently highly touted in our newspaper. Kroger Grocery supposedly carries it.

Our hardwood floors are 50+ yrs. old & have never been refinished so they were getting pretty dull in high traffic areas. My DH is badly crippled; not wanting to risk him falling, many waxes were out. I found RESTORE at Home Depot (about $15. a bottle.) Tried it on a small area to check for slippery-ness first & it passed the test.

Applied with a cloth wrapped on Swiffer, it's easy to apply & our floors look like they've just been refinished! Love this stuff.

Suzi

I am new to cleaning hard wood floors. House is new. I was told the floors have been mopped with pine cleaner.
They look dull but they do not seem to be "damaged". What should I use to clean and is it possible to bring back the shine easily.