Solid Wood Flooring offers a unique combination of class, durability and character to its surroundings - making it one of the best flooring choices for a homeowner looking for a new floor. However, these dashing good looks and amazing characteristics of hardwood floors need protecting from daily wear and tear and other environmental circumstances and require a little attention. The general rule of thumb for any solid wood flooring is: pay your flooring care and attention and your floor will reward you with years of stunning style and service.
When maintaining solid wood flooring, keep your solid wood flooring clean using a vacuum and a brush to remove dirt and debris. Ensure your hardwood floor is dry as water presence can facilitate buckling and and warping of the boards. A slightly damp mop when mopping is recommended, but keep mopping to a minimum. Protecting your flooring from furniture is easier when using felt adhesive pads to create a cushion between your furniture and your floor. Considering pets, ensure nails are trimmed to prevent claw scratches. Finally, excessive sunlight can cause fading and discolouration, using curtains, blinds or UV coating on windows can protect your flooring from direct sunlight.
So, How do I care for my Hardwood Flooring?
Below we have a few different tips and practices to help you care for and protect your solid wood floor. No matter if it is finished with a lacquer or oil, these tips can help.
Keep your Solid Wood Flooring Clean
The most frequent threat to your flooring is general dirt and dust that can scratch and damage the surface. Thankfully, the solution to this problem is regular care with a vacuum and a brush. This gently removes the dirt to remove any debris.
Keep your Hardwood Floor Dry
Another regular threat to hardwood floors is water. If left to soak in, water can warp the boards and lead to buckling; therefore any spills require quick cleaning.
It is worth noting that you should only use a slightly damp mop when mopping the floor - but also to keep mopping to a minimum. As an alternate method of cleaning, a soft bristled broom will also help keep your hardwood floor free of dirt.
Luxury Whitewashed Oak, Solid Wood FlooringProtecting your Solid Wood Flooring from Furniture
Imperfections and scratches from furniture are a common threat to keeping your solid wood in great condition. Thankfully, a fairly quick and effortless solution is on hand: felt furniture tips. These tips attach to furniture with a built-in, safe adhesive and cushion the parts of the furniture that come in contact with the wood floor directly.
Another handy tip is to ensure that when moving furniture it is lifted, rather than dragging across the floor. This is because the dragging motion is likely to unstick the tips from the furniture. This will allow the furniture to leave unsightly scratches.
Protecting from Footwear, Felines and more
As a nation of pet lovers - there is a high likelihood that you may have a pet in your household. It is important to trim the nails/claws of pets to avoid scratches. However, we must take care of our footwear also - one of the most likely causes for scratches or flooring damage from footwear is actually a pair of high heels, particularly stilettos (the weight is concentrated in one small area which means that damage is more likely) - so to be safe, not wearing heels in the house is the best solution when looking to protect your floor.
Avoid Excess Sunlight
Excessive sunlight has the potential to cause major damage to solid wood floors if not approached correctly. Furthermore, leaving your floor in direct sunlight for a sustained period of time can cause discolouration and fading. You should take care to ensure that no area of the wood floor receives too much sunlight, therefore keeping it looking intact.
The most inexpensive way of solving this issue is through curtains or blinds, or alternatively you could consider UV coating the windows to help protect your floor from direct sunlight. If neither of these solutions are great, place a mat in the area of flooring that is most exposed to sunlight - which will then absorb the most of the sunlight and help avoid flooring discolouration.
These tips will help maintain solid wood flooring and keep it looking as fresh its first day.
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