Help! Hardwood floors suddenly super slippery?!?!

[BillK]

So we've had hardwood flooring throughout our first floor for about 5 years now. I'm fairly good about keeping them cleaned with Bona hardwood floor cleaner and all has been fine up until about a week ago.

Very suddenly both boys are constantly slipping and sliding - even my wife and I have had some slips when not wearing slippers.

I'm totally stumped about it other than 1 possible explanation. Shortly before this all started - my wife bought Ben new socks at Target with anti-skid rubbery stuff on the bottom. Beyond that 1 thing - I can't think of anything in our household that's changed that would suddenly create a hardwood ice skating rink in our house.

Any other ideas? We've been wracking our brains here and that's all we can come up with and I have my doubts that's what it is.

[veronica]

I think you've been cleaning them too much;).

[trales]

Is the floor cleaner bottle new, and did they reformulate. Certain cleaning agents make our like an ice rink also. I am back to using vinegar and gentle dish soap.

Maybe your floors are too clean :wink2: and this is a good excuse to just let them get dirty.

[twowhat?]

Pollen? Dust?

If you clean them again with your regular floor cleaner, is it still slippery?

[artvandalay]

Have you dusted your furniture with any Endust or similar aerosol furniture polish? If I spray Endust on my endtables, the residue always gets on the floor and makes the floor really, really slippery. My kids have fallen down it's so slick.

I've learned I need to spray my cloth and then use the cloth on the wood instead of spraying directly onto the wood.

[zoestargrove]

when I was a kid, my sister and I used to pledge our wood floors so that we could play a rousing game of indoor hockey. I wonder if the cleaner you are using has some similar type of wax.

[KrisM]

Do your kids have Moon Dough? The residue from that makes our floors super slippery :).

[barkley1]

Have you dusted your furniture with any Endust or similar aerosol furniture polish? If I spray Endust on my endtables, the residue always gets on the floor and makes the floor really, really slippery. My kids have fallen down it's so slick.

I've learned I need to spray my cloth and then use the cloth on the wood instead of spraying directly onto the wood.

:yeahthat:

[artvandalay]

when I was a kid, my sister and I used to pledge our wood floors so that we could play a rousing game of indoor hockey. I wonder if the cleaner you are using has some similar type of wax.

We use the same cleaner as the OP uses (Bona) and it doesn't leave a slick/slippery residue.

But your story about using pledge on the floors to play indoor hockey is really funny!

[mamamir]

Did anyone walk on the floors with sneakers that had been in a newly waxed gym floor? My hardwood floors became slippery after my brother came by to help move some furniture. Before that, he was at the gym playing basketball. There must have been some wax residue on his shoes that he nicely deposited on our floors.

[ha98ed14]

Have you dusted your furniture with any Endust or similar aerosol furniture polish? If I spray Endust on my endtables, the residue always gets on the floor and makes the floor really, really slippery. My kids have fallen down it's so slick.

I've learned I need to spray my cloth and then use the cloth on the wood instead of spraying directly onto the wood.

:yeahthat: This has happened to me with the spray on conditioner I use for DD's hair after her bath.

[mama2g03]

This just happened when DH cleaned the stainless steel for me using a spray. Luckily I hadn't cleaned the floors yet. I do use Bona and they were fine after I cleaned with it. Hope you figure it out Bill.

[BillK]

All these are very good suggestions - thanks - but none of them are our situation at all - we're totally stumped. Still thinking.....

[AmyZ]

Bill,

This happens to us as well... usually after my cleaning lady has come, and I have no idea why. She uses a shark steam mop on the floors with no chemicals. It happens in very random places, and the floor is absurdly slippery. It just comes and goes.... no rhyme or reason.

[DrSally]

I don't use Bona, so IDK, but were you at the bottom of the bottle? Sometimes cleaners really get concentrated at the bottom, and maybe that left a residue?

[hellokitty]

Has there been any airborne cooking oil? I know it sounds crazy, but there have been a few instances when we cooked something that splattered a lot, and no matter how well we tried to clean it, it would make that area very slippery until it wore off. The rubber bottoms on your son's socks could be causing issues too. I know that the non-skid rug liners ALWAYS make a huge slippery spot if we remove them.