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Though they have a reputation for being delicate, hardwood floors are actually surprisingly easy to clean. All they need is regular vacuuming with a good vacuum cleaner to remove gritty dirt that can scratch the finish and an occasional wet cleaning with a reliable hardwood floor mop to remove stuck-on grime.
Hardwood floor mops can be manual, battery-operated or electric but the one thing they all have in common is that they help you get the job done fast. Over the years, the Good Housekeeping Institute's Cleaning Lab has tested hundreds of floor-cleaning soaps, sprays, vacuums, steamers and mops recommended for any type of bare flooring (tile, vinyl, laminate and wood).
Here we've rounded up those that we consider to be safe and effective on hardwood floors, including wet mops that won't deposit too much water on moisture-sensitive hardwoods and dry mops that won't scratch delicate finishes. After browsing the best hardwood floor mops, read on for more details about how we test mops along with tips about how to find the best mops, whether it's safe to wet mop or steam mop hardwood floors and why you can trust Good Housekeeping's recommendations.
A very budget-friendly cleaning tool, this mop is safe for all hardwood and hard-surface flooring and can be used wet or dry, making it an exceptionally versatile option. It comes with two washable microfiber pads: a flat one for wet cleaning and a fuzzy one for dusting that uses electrostatic technology to lift dry dirt off the floor. Just note: It doesn't come with cleaning solution, so you'll need to stock up on your own.
In our Lab test, we found the oversized swivel head cleaned in all directions and helped get the job done more quickly than a smaller mop, however, it makes it a bit trickier to store. Its telescoping handle makes it comfortable for users of all heights and makes it easy to clean under and around all types of furniture. Rubber corners on the head allow you to clean up against woodwork and furniture without scratching them.
Our Cleaning Lab pros say this hardwood floor mop is a "game-changer," so it's easy to see why it earned our Good Housekeeping Seal. Swiffer changed how Americans approached cleaning when it was introduced over 20 years ago, and it's still the gold standard when it comes to quick, easy and effective floor cleaning.
The two-in-one design of this mop allows you to use the product as either a dry mop or a wet mop. The soft dry cloths pick up the finest dust particles — even ones that vacuums miss — while the pre-moistened wet ones are great for quickly lifting sticky messes without spreading them around. It's incredibly lightweight and easy to use, too. The head pivots, so we like it for cleaning under low furniture, around chair legs, along baseboards and more. You can even use the dry cloth to dust walls, paneling, ceiling fans and more. For very large areas, you may need to use more than one wet cloth — and these cloths must be purchased separately.
If a little extra cleaning muscle is what you're after, Bissell's SpinWave is a good choice. The electric mop has a built-in sprayer — fill it with water or a cleaning solution of your choice — and washable reusable mop pads that spin to scrub away messes and restore luster. It comes with four soft-touch pads and two scrubby pads for tougher spills. It can even be used dry for buffing away scuffs and imparting a shine to the wood.
It's easy to control the spray amount, so it's safe to use on all sealed hard floors, including hardwood, tile, linoleum and more. And even though it can be tough to get into super tight areas like corners and under furniture, the lightweight design and swivel steering do improve overall maneuverability. Plus, the corded design allows for non-stop cleaning, even in large homes.
Safe for use on all polyurethane-finished wood floors, this microfiber spray mop comes pre-loaded with a full-size 34-ounce Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner (our Cleaning Lab's top overall wood floor cleaner). We especially like that you don't have to buy a new cartridge when the old one is empty — simply refill it with more Bona cleaner, press the trigger on the handle to spray and clean away. The pad can be used up to a truly impressive 500 times.
Beyond that, the functionality of the mop head is much like the brand's regular microfiber mop above. It has a comfortable grip handle, a swivel head that's easily maneuverable, soft bumper corners and an extra-large washable cleaning pad to cover more square footage in less time. The only real downside: Our experts say the trigger occasionally falters, which can slow you down.
In tests, the Dyad Pro excelled at picking up both wet and dry messes — just as advertised. It picked up dry oatmeal and other dry spills without leaving stray crumbs behind and did an equally good job on wet spills, like coffee. It did, however, need multiple passes to completely rid floors of chocolate syrup, though it's worth noting that this is something other models also struggled with. In homes with pets, this vacuum mop is a winning combination, since you can vacuum up dry pet hair and wash floors of paw prints and stains afterward.
Our experts were also impressed by this model's 43-minute run time, noting that it makes it an exceptionally good pick for larger homes. It has one of the largest clean water tanks we tested, too, holding 900 milliliters of water. It's also packed with convenience features like voice notifications that can be set to three different languages, three brush rolls, an easy-to-read LED display and an effective self-cleaning cycle. Unfortunately, it can't stand on its own without being propped up or placed in the dock.
Another GH Seal star, the Swiffer WetJet Mop works much like the brand's original sweeper, but makes things even easier. It holds a bottle of pre-mixed cleaning solution right on the handle and dispenses a fine mist onto the floor with the press of a button. Then, just wipe the floor clean with the textured pad attached to the mop head. It even has built-in headlights to help ensure you don't miss any spots.
In Cleaning Lab tests, the Swiffer WetJet did a good job of dissolving and removing sticky soil with very few passes. While it struggled a bit on scuff marks, a few extra swipes eventually did the trick. Overall, our experts say there's not much to complain about — except for maybe the fact that you have to buy brand-specific refill pads and cleaning solution. The cleaner is very easy to dispense, the system is very easy to use and the cleaning power is impressive.
We've tested older versions of the Deebot before, and this new model, the Deebot X1 Omni, like its predecessor, did not disappoint. It cleaned under couches and beds and around dining room table legs without getting stuck. There were a few instances where it went around small pieces of debris instead of picking them up, but these were infrequent mishaps and could be remedied on a second pass. Tested in a home with hardwood floors throughout the living room, dining room and bedrooms, it cleaned well without overly wetting the wood or leaving any streaks behind which is why it's our best robot mop pick for hardwood floors. Tiled kitchen floors were a little trickier with some stuck-on spots remaining even after a second deep cleaning pass.
Its charging base doubles as a home for extra tools and dust bags, a clean water reservoir and an extra-large dust bin, plus it automatically washes the mopping pads when the robot finishes cleaning. It claims to use hot air to dry the pads, but we didn't notice that feature to be effective. Unlike other robot mops, you don’t need to own an Amazon or Google Assistant device for voice commands. Just saying “OK Yiko” wakes up the X1 Omni, though sometimes it responded when we weren’t talking to it. It talks to you as it’s cleaning too, letting you know when the mopping pads need to be cleaned before it can continue its cleaning session and alerting you when it is finished. Through the app, you can control the suction power and the amount of water that is dispensed — another reason we like it for hardwood floors.
In the Good Housekeeping Institute Cleaning Lab, we've spent hundreds of hours testing all kinds of floor-cleaning tools and appliances to be able to narrow the field down to select the best mops for cleaning hardwood floors.
To test the cleaning performance of mops, including steam mops, regular mops and mops for hardwood floors, we apply a pre-measured amount of staining materials like chocolate syrup, wine, cola, coffee and jelly to wood, laminate, tile and vinyl test flooring installed in the Lab. We let it dry on, then we pass the mops across the floors to determine and score how much soil they pick up in one forward and one backward pass and how many strokes they need to completely clean up the messes.
We also evaluate how easily they remove scuff marks and how well dry mops pick up and hold onto dust and pet hair. Plus, we note additional attributes like ease of assembly, attaching and removing the pads, storage and drying time. Washable pads are also laundered multiple times to see how well they hold up.
✔️ Type: When you think of a mop, you might think of the traditional dunk and wring, but today there are so many more convenient options that use less water — important for the health of your wood floors. When browsing hardwood floor cleaning tools, you'll find all kinds of options, including mops for dry dusting, microfiber mops for wet cleaning, mops that do both, spray mops, two-in-one mop/vacuum combinations and even robot mops. In general, our Cleaning Lab experts say spray mops are the easiest to use because they have an onboard cleaner that can be sprayed directly on hardwood floors, they don't require any diluting and they allow you to control how much cleaning fluid you put down. Think about what tasks you want the mop to do, what kind of features you want to pay for and if you want reusable or disposable convenience.
✔️ Maneuverability: While a two-in-one mop/vacuum may offer the convenience of storing fewer cleaning tools, they tend to be bulkier and have heads that can be hard to sneak into crevices and corners. For this reason, swivel-head mops, like the Swiffer, earn top marks in Cleaning Lab tests in both performance and ease of use.
✔️ Cleaning Solution: Some mops have built-in spray canisters so you don't have to mix a separate solution or spray the floor prior to mopping. You simply spray as you go for maximum convenience. On the downside, some of these devices can only be used with the brand's own solution, so you may end up having to buy very specific replacements. (The same goes for any cleaning pads you may need for wet and dry mops.)
Yes, it's safe to mop hardwood floors — as long as you use a minimal amount of water or a safe cleaning solution designed for hardwood.
It's never a good idea to use a really wet mop to clean hardwood floors. In fact, if you have hardwood floors, one of the worst things you can do is let water puddle on them. "Many people have the idea that using a regular mop with a bucket full of water is a good approach, but applying high volumes of water in any form (liquid or vapor) to a wood floor can also cause permanent damage to the wood and the finish," says Brett Miller, vice president of technical standards, training, and certification for the National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA).
When you do wet mop a hardwood floor, use a spray cleaner made for wood floors and follow these steps for safety:
Though you may see steam cleaners marketed as safe for use on hardwood floors, flooring experts as well as our Cleaning Lab experts caution against using these devices in this manner. "Never use a steam mop on any real wood floor," says Miller. "Steam is the vapor form of water, which means it can travel deeper and faster into and between the cracks and cells of the wood itself." This can permanently damage the wood and the floor’s finish.
Not every hardwood floor needs the same level of care, which includes cleaning frequency. Think about how much foot traffic your floors get, then establish a cleaning schedule to match. In general, hardwood floors should be vacuumed at least weekly, spot cleaned as needed and wet cleaned every one to two months.
For very busy areas or families with kids and pets, you'll like have to clean your floors more frequently than this. Conversely, a single individual who works outside of the house or a family with a no-shoes policy may be able to get away with less frequent deep cleans.
Carolyn Forté has over 40 years of experience testing and writing about all kinds of vacuums, mops and other floor-cleaning products. She meets regularly with floor care industry experts to develop testing standards for appliances like steam mops, robot mops and more. As Executive Director of the Home Care and Cleaning Lab, she personally tests dozens of home appliances and cleaning products each year and oversees all of the testing done by our team of product review analysts.
Brigitt Earley is a writer, editor and content creator with over 15 years of experience in the home, cleaning, health spaces and more. She worked under Carolyn's guidance to research and write about the hardwood floor mops in this story.
Brigitt is a writer, editor and craft stylist with nearly 15 years of experience. She specializes in lifestyle topics, including home, health, parenting, beauty, style, food, entertaining, travel and weddings. She has written for Glamour, People, Good Housekeeping, Women's Health, Real Simple, Martha Stewart, Apartment Therapy, The Spruce, and more.
Carolyn Forté brings more than 40 years of experience as a consumer products expert to her role as executive director of the Good Housekeeping Institute's Home Care and Cleaning Lab. Using deep analytical testing and writing expertise in appliances, cleaning, textiles and organizational products, she produces cleaning and home care advice for GH, has authored numerous books and bookazines for the brand and partners with the American Cleaning Institute to co-produce the Discover Cleaning Summits. She holds a bachelor's degree in family and consumer sciences from Queens College, City University of New York.
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