Hardwood flooring may be one of the most integral parts of your home, making it look beautiful and gorgeous as ever. Often, homeowners choose this type of flooring when someone in their house has allergies. In addition to this, hardwood flooring adds exquisiteness and sophistication to your house.
Whether you have elected to get a hardwood floor because its looks beautiful or to protect yourself from allergies, you must know how to maintain and protect it. Even though it increases the worth of your home, maintaining hardwood flooring will cost you a lot of money, especially if you maintain it regularly. Additionally, hardwood floors are delicate and even a single mark on the floor can damage it if it is not removed promptly.
To protect this beautiful investment from damage, dirt, moisture and debris, here are some do’s and don’ts for hardwood floor maintenance which you should keep in mind;
Do’s for Hardwood Flooring Maintenance
Do Vacuuming Daily
To protect your wooden flooring, you may do vacuuming on a daily basis. The debris under your shoes will surely and gradually wear the wooden floor’s finish. Therefore, vacuuming should be done to sweep your hardwood floor. It pulls out all the dirt and grime under it and between the boards.
In addition to this, you should vacuum it with a bare foot attachment or any other attachment that smoothly brushes and runs on the surface of the floor. Avoid using rotating brushes or beater bars as they can scratch and damage the finish of the flooring.
Do Deep Cleaning Weekly
Grime, oil, dirt and debris is built over time and does not come out completely with a mop. Deep cleaning requires you to only use a wood cleaning product diluted as per the instructions. To start with deep cleaning, you should soak a rag mop or a sponge in the water and then, twist it entirely to take out the water saturated in it.
After twisting it, it will almost dry, feeling slightly damp to the touch. Mop it on your hardwood flooring gently, preventing water from spill on the floor. After cleaning it properly, you should rinse the flooring again with the clean mop damped by the water (only if it is required). If you see any standing water on the wooden flooring, you should wipe it quickly or else, the wooden surface can be damaged. To speed up drying, you can either turn on your air conditioner or ceiling fan.
Do Keep Out the Rain
Water can literally deteriorate your expensive and sophisticated wooden floors. Water not only ruins the finish, but it entirely penetrates deep into the wood and leaves marks and stains over it. You should always close your house windows whenever you are expecting rain in your area. It is suggested to use a damp cloth to wipe spills but never pour water directly on the floor to clean the stains or else, you will have to bear the cost of permanent damage. To make the floor last long, you should immediately wipe up any water you see on your floor with a slightly damp cloth.
Don’ts for Hardwood Floor Maintenance
Do Not Over Wax
Generally, wax is used to protect and seal the beauty of hardwood flooring. You can definitely revitalize the finishing of a waxed wooden flooring with more wax but you should not over wax or else, it will leave residue. Additionally, you should not use wax on surfaces like polyurethane, varnish and shellac as it will make the surface quite slippery, interfering with subsequent finishes. Therefore, you should always choose a polish that is of a similar nature; such as, if a finish is polyurethane, you should use a polish made for polyurethane.
Do Not Let Walk-off Areas Rug Free
The maximum amount of debris comes with us as we walk into our house. Also, shoes we wear affect the finish of the flooring. Therefore, you should always put a long mat or a rug in high traffic area as well as walk off areas because the maximum amount of damage happens there. Mats and rugs keep all the dirt outside as the dirt and moisture within the shoes rubs off as they walk over the mat, even if they do not stop to actually wipe it off. This can keep your flooring clean and undamaged. Opt for nice looking rugs to reduce the wear and tear of your wooden flooring.
Do Not Let Your Pets Scratch
Pet lovers really need to understand that pets can also be one of the sources of damaging the finish of their wooden flooring. If you really want to work on the upkeep of your flooring, you should keep a check on your pets and do not let them scratch the flooring. This can be easily done by trimming their nails. When they will not have nails, they will not be able to scratch and hence, securing your floor from worsening.
Do Not Slide Furniture
Homeowners may need to slide and move the furniture for cleaning, change the setting or for any other reason. When moving furniture, you need to make sure that you do not slide it over the wooden flooring. For this reason, it is always best to pick up the furniture by asking for help from someone at home and moving it from one place to another. This will not damage the flooring and will prevent scratches from surfacing and be easily visible.
Call Us Today!
NYC Steam Cleaning is a credible cleaning service provider offering a variety of services for both home and business. Along with several cleaning services, we ensure to provide you incomparable hardwood cleaning services to make your flooring shiny and neat. Having a unique way of extracting the dirt, we guarantee to deep clean your wooden flooring to every single grain of wood. If you think your wooden flooring requires professional services, call us today at 1-888-245-1199 or visit our main website.
