Hardwood Floor Care - Tips To Maintain It All Year Round

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Your dream hardwood floor is put into place. It finally feels like home. But what next? How to take care of your beautiful and lovely hardwood floors? Its ok. Do not panic. Just keep reading. Hardwood floor care is the easiest task when we are here to help you.

Welcome Home Mat

Floor mats are an amazing thing when the topic of discussion is Hardwood floor care. Tiny particles such as dirt, can act like a sandpaper and scratch your shiny and smooth hardwood. Placing beautiful colorful mats at each entryway and encouraging friends and family to use them is a great way to prevent majority of dirt from entering into your house at the first place. Water is not a friend as you must be aware. Putting floor mats and rugs near the kitchen sink would hinder any possible water damage and it spices up the look of your kitchen too.

Only go for specific mats so that it does not damage your floors. Rubber packed or non-ventilated floor mats can damage your floor so a big NO to them please.

Regular Maintenance

With every beautiful thing, comes the responsibility of keeping it beautiful forever. The better care you take, the longer your dear hardwood would maintain its pristine glory. I have seen many people, who thinks that hardwood floors does not require daily care and one time hard work would pay all year long. Well I would like to disagree. Every day a bit of care would be much more effective. So here are some essentials.

Sweep your floor regularly of dust, dirt and other particles with a high quality broom.

Vacuum cleaner can make or break your floor. Make sure the vacuum cleaner you have is suitable for hardwood floors. For saving the wood from the wheels you can wrap the wheels with plastic sheets.

A terrycloth mop with a rotating head would make it simple to clean corners, along baseboards and under cabinets.

Professional hardwood floor cleaners recommended by your flooring retailer help in removing spills and tough stains without compromising on the shine of the floor.

Some quick Do’s and Don’ts

Do use cleaners that do not leave a residue or film

Don’t use wax on hardwood floors with urethane finish.

Do use a professional hardwood floor cleaner. It removes heel marks and occasional scuffs extremely well. All you need to do is spray some of it on a cloth and rub the area that is stained gently.

Don’t use oil soaps or ammonia cleaners on your floors. They not only dull the finish of your floors but also affect the ability to recoat later.

Do use a towel or sponge to clean sticky spots. Minimize water exposure and clean any spill immediately.

Don’t use wet mops or excessive water to clean your hardwood. Always remember that water is the enemy. Wood expands when wet and can make your floor to crack or splinter.

Refinishing Your Hardwood

Screen and Recoat - The day your hardwood floors start to look like old, dull and irritating to the eyes, it is time to screen and recoat the floor. In this, floor polyurethane finish is abraded and fresh coats urethane are applied.

Sand and Refinish - If it is too late for screening and recoating then you have to for this process. In this process, floor is left to bare wood and then refinished.

Protect them

All hardwood floors are prone to change in color in presence of sunlight. Use window treatments to shade your floors from harsh UV rays.

To avoid scratches or impressions it is a good idea to cover the legs of your furniture with flannel protectors.

If you have pets, keep their nails trimmed always, Special care when serving them water and food, nothing directly on the floor. Pet urine needs to be wiped away immediately without any delay with a clean damp cloth.