Removing Candle Wax from Wood

Wood flooring is beautiful, although it does take some special care. One potential danger is candle wax, and some potential ways of removing it could result in damaging your wood floor; however, candles are often an important part of celebrations, whether for birthday parties or Christmas decorations. You can keep using candles because there are a few different methods you can try to get rid of the wax.

One way to remove the candle wax is to re-melt the wax and then wipe it up. You can use a blow-dryer to melt the wax. Be patient, it might take a while to get the wax hot enough to melt. A variation of this is to cover the wax spot with a paper towel, and then blow-dry it. If you notice the heat doing anything to your floor (like changing the color), stop blow-drying and try a different method. Once the wax is hot, it should be somewhat melted and you should be able to wipe it up with a cloth or paper towel. If the wax spot is large or deep, you might need to repeat this process multiple times to get off all of the layers of wax.

Another way to get rid of wax on a wooden floor is to get a cloth wet with warm water and then letting it sit on top of the wax spot. The warm water will help break up the wax. You might need to get the cloth wet and repeat the process more than once before all of the wax is gone.

Do not use normal cleaning chemicals on your wood floor that you would use to clean other parts of your house (like countertops or mirrors). They could discolor your flooring or take off the finish. If you use any kind of cleaning product, make sure that it is used specifically for wood flooring. Also, apply some of the cleaner (using the manufacturer's instructions) on a hidden area of your floor, so you can check to see that it will not harm your floor instead of helping it.

One way to remove wax from wood is to use cold instead of hot—place an ice cube on the wax to harden it. This should help the wax to come off more completely when you gently scratch it off with a credit card or a dull butter knife.

Once you have removed a large portion of the wax, you can usually use a damp, soft cloth to wipe away the rest of the wax. By using one or multiple of these techniques, you should be able to keep the wax off of your wood flooring.