26-06-2025
Wooden floors will gleam and stay dust-free with help from your morning cuppa
Keeping these popular floors shiny is a task but there'a natural way to do it.
Wooden floors have become increasingly popular instead of carpet in recent years thanks to the style and convenience they add to your home. It's easier to clean up spills and stains on hardwood flooring making them perfect for households with children and pets.
But keeping them dust-free and shining is another story. Wooden floors are magnets for dust and keeping them clean will extend their lifespan. Dusty floors can be particularly bad in the summer months when you can also see the build-up more thanks to light streaming in through the windows.
While hardwood floors will change colour over time it's important to clean them properly to ensure they don't discolour through poor maintenance or using the wrong products.
And one Facebook user has shared an 'amazing' way to repel dust by using black tea, reports The Express.
Posting on the Our Old House page on Facebook, group member Janne Marlar said the hack keeps her floor 'shiny' and 'smelling amazing'.
She claimed that the solution is to use black tea from around 16 to 20 used teabags.
Janne wrote: 'Bless that person from the Our Old House Facebook group who suggested cleaning your hardwood floors with black tea! They look and smell amazing.
'16 to 20 teabags steeped in your big soup pot until you can't see through the water. Let it cool. Pour into your mop bucket, add a little more water if you want.
'I mop with a microfiber string mop, squeezing out the majority of the water. It's the tannins in the tea that really clean and shine the wooden floors and keep them dust-free longer.'
The post received over 400 comments and over 6,500 likes with many others saying they had found success with the same cleaning method.
CindyandGarry Montgomery said: "I read that same post and have started using black tea on mine as well. Mine are dark walnut original to our 1919 home, and they shine up, and it is the best thing I have tried.'
Kim Chambers noted: 'I use that with orange oil, which makes my old hardwood floors shine, without having all the wax, and it smells amazing.'
Julie Powers exclaimed, 'I swear by black tea. Been using it on hardwood floors for 30 years.'
Jess Ica added: "My mom used to do this with the hardwood flooring in my childhood home. It always looked so beautiful afterwards.'
Amy Morello pointed out that the hack was something that had been around for a very long time.
She said: 'The maids in big homes of the Victorian era also sprinkled used tea leaves onto the carpets, before sweeping them! It was believed to pick up more dust, as well as nullify any lingering odours.'
Black tea has two benefits for your wooden floors. It absorbs moisture and also static electricity to prevent any sticky dust from clinging to wooden surfaces.
And it also acts as a natural polisher to keep your floors looking shiny and spotless all summer.
