The issue was the Comet. Those are "bleach" stains. Comet is abrasive so you've bleached and scratched the finish. They won't come out with Pine sol or any other cleaner. The only way to really remove them is to have the floors refinished.

Yep, the Comet bleached out the finish. Refinish the entire floor time unfortunately.

So, that would be about $2000 in repairs? I have a relatively small room, with less than 50% of the tiles having stains on them, and maybe 20% being discolored. Would my residence make me pay for this? I learned a big lesson from this mistake.

Edit: Does the entire floor need to be refinished? There are parts that still look nice and shiny (maybe 35-40% of the room).

100 - 250 sq. ft.$600. So maybe $735 CAD? That's not that bad. Hopefully my residence doesn't charge me for this.

"Does the entire floor need to be refinished?"

Yep, sanded to remove the entire existing finish, restained and top coated.

The place I just moved into is kinda old, and they didn't say anything about refinishing the floor when they saw it. Hopefully they don't charge me for the refinish, if they decide to go through with it. They don't seem to care about it.

I would go over it with a barely damp sponge.....stopping often to rinse the sponge. If there was any finish on the floor when you used the Comet, it didn't bleach the wood or the stain. I suspect you have a lot of the comet residue on the floor.

Comet is for sinks and toilets, not for hardwood floors!

Like I said, I learned a costly lesson. I'm never doing any cleaning (or anything for that matter) without doing internet research first. The workers at my building didn't seem to care too much when they saw it. One of them told me that this place was built in the 70s (not sure about the age of the floor). They told me that most of the other rooms in the building look similar.

It will probably be about $750 CAD to refinish my room (if and when they do it). The room isn't as bad as you may think, but probably close.

You can wipe the floor with a damp cloth (water only) and then towel dry it as you go. The coming leaves white powder residue on anything...wood is no exception.

Remember Grade 10 Science class? Water evaporates but dirt/comet does NOT. That's why you must towel dry the floor each time you wipe it down with water.

Go ahead and start in a corner wiping a 2ft x 2ft square. Wipe this area and towel dry until it is free of any white powder. Move to the next area.

Yes. This is hands and knees type of work.

Can you post pictures? It is likely just a haze as SJ McCarthy mentions, unlikely you rubbed hard enough to damage the surface with a mop. If the floor was already highly abraded you MAY have bleached those areas...

I'll take some pictures when I can. I'm on disability because of mental illness and don't have a phone/camera at the moment.

They said they would easily be able to afford refinishing the floor, so that's good news for my wallet.

Here are some photos:

Those areas were already worn so the comet lightly bleached them and left a haze. You didn’t remove any existing finish just changed the way the already damaged areas looked. Maybe ask the landlord what they use to clean the floors? Bona hardwood floor cleaner is ph neutral but won’t really change the way they look. One of the dreaded reviver products might be the ticket here

I have some Pine GLO that came with my room in this place. Would that work? I'll ask the day staff what they use tomorrow when they get in.

I'm going to mop the floor tonight with Pine GLO. How much should I put in 1 gallon of water?

https://pinegloproducts.com/products/

Designed for non porous floors- meaning not what you have. Go to any big box or chain store and get bona hardwood floor cleaner. Or if you can’t do that plain water with a drop of dawn dishwashing soap. You need to lift the comet residue. No wet mopping per se, wipe an area with a wet rag then follow with a damp rag with no detergent.

I use a spin mop that has a spinning strainer thing (very technical) in its bucket when I wash my wood floors. I fill it with HOT water and just 1 teaspoon of powdered Tide laundry detergent. I learned about it on Instagram and it has worked beautifully for years. For quick messes I do have a spray mop that has Bruce hardwood floor cleaner it. The powdered Tide gives the cleanest results with zero residue.

"I'm going to mop the floor tonight with Pine GLO."

Big NOPE to Pine Glo or anything like that. If you must use a drop of Dawn dish soap as mentioned above.

NO PINE glo.... a little bit of ammonia in the water will cut any grease.