Hardwood Floors

Quality Maintenance: How To Keep Hardwood Floors Looking New

Hardwood floors are durable. It can last a century once homeowners understand its intrinsic nature – that is, the floor material’s strongest qualities as well as its weakest points. Learning about timber’s greatest qualities is typical to any homeowner who wants to install wood flooring.

However, when it comes to knowing what could possibly ruin the strength and beauty of wood flooring, only a few people bother to give it a time. So for homeowners not to cause irreparable damages to their wood floors, they need to know some effective ways to preserve both the aesthetic appeal and functional prowess of hardwood floors.

Maintenance Care For Hardwood Floors

Observe daily care. Always vacuum the floor to remove its number one enemy: loose dirt, which includes sand and grit. Vacuuming wood floors helps prevent the floor surface from incurring scratches.

When cleaning hardwood flooring, attach a bristle with soft heads on the vacuum to wheedle dirt from between boards. Then clean the floor with a damp (not wet) cotton towel or mop on a monthly basis.

Conduct a quarterly floor maintenance care. This step is particularly advisable for busy homeowners. To remove loose dirt and grease stains that have accumulated on the surface of the floor, use a cleaning product that is in accordance with the manufacturer’s instruction. This may include a neutral Ph cleaning product intended for hardwood flooring.

Using ammonia-based cleaning products may significantly affect the wood floor polish. When this happens, discoloration of the wood floor is feasible. Mixing liquid soap with water-based cleaning products is also not a good idea. Soap contains chemicals that may weaken the finish and thus promote premature deterioration.

Buffing is applicable only to wood floors with wax finishes. This cleaning method is intended for removing scuff marks. However, for those who have installed wood floors with a polyurethane finish, buffing is not necessary at all.

Hardwood floors are also very susceptible to sharp and pointed objects. Using felt pads for furniture legs is one preventive measure to avoid scratches and dents. Also, keep wood floors from extra exposure to sunlight.

It is possible to maintain the lasting beauty of wood flooring by obtaining the right information about its maintenance care.