What gloss level do you have? Photos of the floors/house? We don't need the footprints to show...we know what that looks like.

Look how bad- The day before I cleaned them no I do not use an oil cleaner.

What do you use to clean them?

First bona but we changed to a better ph formula per our wood co. This was the issur w bona too

OK...as I thought. You have a matte finish, on dark wood WITH back lighting. The extra issue is the 'hand scraped' finish. All of this put together = cleaning nightmare.

First things first: If you want to TRY to deal with this, you are welcome to use Windex Original formula. It has 5% ammonia which is EXACTLY the right amount for wood floors as a 'degreaser'.

Yes...you need a degreaser. Foot prints (and paw prints) are oily. In fact they are SOOOO oily they are SHINIER than your finish. That's why they are SOOOO visible. The other issue is the depth of colour of your floor. Dark floors show every speck of dust (which is 90% human skin cells + 10% dust mite droppings). And if you ADD them together, you have dust (the gray stuff) sticking to the oily stuff (foot prints). Which means you have THREE things that are HIGHLY visible on your floor: skin oils + dander + dusty foot prints.

So, you SWEEP to keep the sand off the floor (big particles), you 'water only ' damp mop to keep the DUST away and you 'Windex' to degrease the foot prints.

Go ahead and use the Windex Original formula IN LEIU OF your hardwood floor cleaner. You will lightly mist the floor (4ft x 4ft) and then move the MICROFIBRE mop head across the floor (you can dampen the mop head with windex as well). Allow to dry.

Of course if you insist on ripping out these floors (???can they be refinished???) then you will want to do FOUR things:

1. Lighter colour floor. Even 2 steps lighter and you will be MUCH better off...remember 'dark' = dusty looking. The 'dark' is the biggest issue with these floors.

2. Work with a satin or semi-gloss finish. So long as the gloss level is SHINIER than skin oils you will eliminate ONE of the three issues.

3. Get rid of the 'hand scraped' look. It is very difficult to clean. The chatter marks and the rough edges mean the mop/broom has a hard time reaching the surface in these areas.

4. If you can, install the LONG edge of the plank in the DIRECTION of sunlight. You won't get the serious amount of back lighting that you have right now.....but please know this may not be possible to do. That's why it is #4.

Personally I think a bottle of windex is a cheap way to go. Just in case you can make the floors more 'livable' for now.

How often to you USE the 'cleaner' solution? Is it MORE THAN 1 PER MONTH???

No solution, but I have total empathy because I have this exact same issue. We have a white lab that sheds insane amounts of hair. Our floors always look horrendous. What I wouldn’t give to tear it all out and put down white oak instead.

Thank you! These are semi, they look now because of all the foot prints. The crazy thing is this for her so I had to clean just 24 hours before this picture! I have tried Windex and that does not help at all. Thank you for the tips-good to know re hand scraped flooring adding to this! Oh and yes I use the cleaner daily/ but note I’ve had this issue with the floors since install even when not cleaning so much! Even had a professional clean them!

I would say these are VERY LOW gloss satin...if anything. I don't think they are semigloss. Or did you mean semi-matte???? There isn't enough gloss on them (even 1 day of dust does not do this to semi-gloss) to call them semi-gloss, nor satin.

OK...STOP using the cleaner!!!! You are OVER CLEANING the floors. Even a cleaner that says "Does not leave a residue." leaves a residue every day. Here is what you need to do:

1. Sweep/vacuum every day or every 2nd day.

2. ONCE PER WEEK you will 'damp clean' with water-only

3. Once per MONTH (maybe twice) you will use the 'cleaner' as your damp clean. That means you should use the cleaner 12-18 times PER YEAR. You are using the cleaner 365 times per year. That is WAY too much. These are not tile floors. They are not vinyl. They are wood. They should not have this much moisture on them every day of the year.

I HIGHLY recommend you strip these floors of all the product on them. I know you say they have been like this since install. The colour certainly has that issue (dark is dark is dark is dark...only the person who chose them can be blamed for that).

What you are doing is causing a film build up. The Bona cleaner is KNOWN to deposit a tacky film if used more than one/week. You are using a cleaner over top of Bona. This is a problem. You probably have 8000 TIMES too much product on these floors (that is not an exaggeration).

Windex is a mild degreaser. It will not remove years of build up in one go. If you let it soak for a bit it will CUT through the muck. I recommend you get on hands and knees and deep clean a 2ft x 2ft spot using Windex...you will follow these steps:

1. Heavily mist/soak a 2ft x 2ft spot with the Windex Origional formula.

2. Let it sit for 30 - 60 seconds (no more and certainly not less)

3. With a CLEAN WHITE cotton cloth wipe up the Windex

4. Check the cloth for discolouration (will look yellowy/orange/brown). This is an indication your floors have a residue on them.

5. Mist the floors again and wipe up immediately and check the cloth again.

6. Continue misting/wiping up until the cloth comes back 'damp' but clean (maybe a hint of blue because of the Windex)

7. Assess HOW MUCH residue you removed. If it took more than 3 mistings of the spot you have some SERIOUS build up.

Go ahead and do the "stripping" work and then take a picture. See if it is visibly different. I would be VERY SURPRISED if the cloths come up clean after the 60 second soak.

I'm going to guess the windex will reveal the semi-gloss finish underneath.

I had very dark laminate floor in my last house with 2 big golden retreiver cross dogs , they shed like crazy and I swiffered once a day when I got home and those floors still look awesome for the people who own the house now. A simple microfiber cloth and hot water was all I ever used to clean them BTW Windex is IMO the worst window cleaner ever and I sure would not use it n wood floors.

Nope they have been like this from day one. Yes we have had them strip cleaned ( no build up) and they went right back to this. No Windex did not reveal anything else (no build up) . The cleaner we use now you mix together on your own we have one bottle that does not have a lot of cleaning solution in it that I use on them mostly and then the one with the heavier concentrate once in a while.We literally have tried everything. We are getting rid of these for her so I guess the best thing is a four that is not hand scraped

Thank you! Both of our neighbors have dark floors and they do not have this issue we are going to stick with a darker tone but I will take your recommendations on everything else thanks so much

IMO get them stripped and start over I think it is the actual finish that is creating the issues not the color.

Yes I think so too! However they are engineered, and we cannot strip and refinish-already consulted on that, bummer