Hardwood Flooring Care and Maintenance
Well the project is complete and your floors have been cleaned off. The flooring installers final footprints have disappeared into thin air and now it's just you and your flooring. There is nothing there for you to do now but to enjoy your completed flooring project. Lucky for you that your floors are much easier to take care off than your Arizona pool in the middle of the hot summer. We will cover carpet cleaning to hardwood flooring care to luxury vinyl maintenance and tile cleaning. Remember that there may be multiple ways to care for your floors so we are going to go over some of the most common ways to care for your floors.
How To Protect My Hardwood Flooring
Hardwood flooring is very simple and easy to clean and maintain. Your wood flooring is going to have decades of use and an even longer future if they are maintained. Let's start off with the basics of protecting your new Arizona hardwood floors (or not Arizona).
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Felt pads are a great and inexpensive way to prevent damage and scratches to your wood flooring. We highly recommended every customer to check the bottoms of their chairs, tables, couches, barstools, benches, or anything that may touch your flooring. These pads are the Cinderella shoes to your furniture and flooring. When you look at the bottom of your furniture you might find a nail or plastic pad and you will want to replace them with felt pads.
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Carpets and Rugs are not only beautiful but they can be ran across your hardwood flooring not just because you want to look like an interior designer but because they will help protect the areas where there is a lot of traffic such as your entryway. You should consider runner carpets for your kitchen where there may be more water than you would like.
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Curtains are a great way to protect any floor and not just wood flooring. Long term exposure to sun will fade your hardwood but that is not an exemption to any flooring. As even carpet will change color in direct sun exposure for years to come. Minimizing direct sunlight will help protect fading in color.
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Pets and kids are a part of owning a floor. Make sure you maintain your pets nails so they don't damage your hardwood flooring. With proper maintenance you will minimize any damage. You will also want to put padding under food bowls and water bowls so they reduce moisture on your hardwood.
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Temperature in your home is important to maintaining your wood floors. A change in moisture and humidity causes contraction and expansion which is normal but abnormal amounts of changes can happen if you leave temperature at extremes.
How To Clean My Wood Flooring
Wood floors are easy to clean with the proper cleaning tools. You will want to make sure you purchase a good quality vacuum and a floor cleaner that is specifically for hardwood flooring. You do not want to use a steam mop or any kind of wet mop on your hardwood flooring. Even engineered hardwood flooring which is known for its durability can be damaged with long term use of water.
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Routine cleaning of your hardwood flooring. Daily to weekly sweeping or dust mopping depending on your flooring traffic. You don't need to vacuum every time you sweep so you can do that weekly to monthly which also depends on whether you have a home for yourself or if you are a family filled home and have a lot more dirt. Remember to vacuum your hardwood floors with the bare setting to not damage your hardwood.
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On a monthly basis you can clean your hardwood floors with the recommended wood floor cleaner. This will help protect your hardwood flooring. Never allow spilled liquids such as water to sit on your wood floor for a long time.
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Some manufactures such as Kahrs hardwood have special oil based or lacquer care products to apply every few years to your wood floors. You flooring contractor can do this for you.
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Sanding and refinishing your hardwood floors can be done at any time. However, most people wait decades until the sand and refinish their wood floors. Solid hardwood can be done multiple times depending on the thickness of the hardwood. That is why you see hardwood flooring that has last a few hundred years and has been covered by carpet and can still be refinished. High quality engineered hardwood floors can be sanded and refinished as well. Engineered wood will vary on the veneer as to how many times you will be able to sand and refinish but are usually more durable in the prefinished stages.
Wood Flooring Dents, Scratches, and Board Repairs
Hardwood flooring isn't going to be out of the box new forever. Like many things your flooring will show it's age eventually but it doesn't have to take away from it's beauty. There will be different techniques for repairing your hardwood flooring depending on it's finishes and whether they are prefinished hardwoods or not. Before trying to take out any stains you will wan to read your hardwood flooring manufacture guidelines. Please be aware the pressure and amount of material used can damage your wood floors so be careful.
For most factory finished flooring you will be able to clean the following stains by alcohol, petroleum ether, or something similar:
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Asphalt, rubber, oil, shoe polish, soot and dried residues of chocolate or grease
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if they are recoated or finished onsite you want to try mineral spirits
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Crayons, lipstick, felt tip pens
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if they are recoated or finished onsite you want to try mineral spirits
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Candle wax, chewing gum.
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same if your hardwood is recoated or finished onsite
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For your wood flooring scratches and dents you will want to see if your manufacture has a specific oil based product if you have oily hardwood flooring finish. A lot of small dents and scratches can be fixed by wood fillers or markers. Those are a great option in trying to repair small areas and are a lot more affordable repair options for your hardwood floors.
If you need to replace a engineered wood flooring board it will require an extra level of expertise. The glue down method of engineered hardwood is extremely difficult and can damage multiple boards when trying to take a single board out. It's important that you have extra flooring available if you are attempting to repair your boards yourself.
Wood Flooring Dents, Scratches, and Board Repairs
Hardwood flooring isn't going to be out of the box new forever. Like many things your flooring will show it's age eventually but it doesn't have to take away from it's beauty. There will be different techniques for repairing your hardwood flooring depending on it's finishes and whether they are prefinished hardwoods or not. Before trying to take out any stains you will wan to read your hardwood flooring manufacture guidelines. Please be aware the pressure and amount of material used can damage your wood floors so be careful.
For most factory finished flooring you will be able to clean the following stains by alcohol, petroleum ether, or something similar:
-
Asphalt, rubber, oil, shoe polish, soot and dried residues of chocolate or grease
-
if they are recoated or finished onsite you want to try mineral spirits
-
-
Crayons, lipstick, felt tip pens
-
if they are recoated or finished onsite you want to try mineral spirits
-
-
Candle wax, chewing gum.
-
same if your hardwood is recoated or finished onsite
-
For your wood flooring scratches and dents you will want to see if your manufacture has a specific oil based product if you have oily hardwood flooring finish. A lot of small dents and scratches can be fixed by wood fillers or markers. Those are a great option in trying to repair small areas and are a lot more affordable repair options for your hardwood floors.
If you need to replace a engineered wood flooring board it will require an extra level of expertise. The glue down method of engineered hardwood is extremely difficult and can damage multiple boards when trying to take a single board out. It's important that you have extra flooring available if you are attempting to repair your boards yourself.
Wood Flooring Repairs In Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Cave Creek, AZ
Phoenix Flooring Company LLC has been repairing hardwood flooring for over twenty years in the Phoenix area. We have dealt with full in-home restorations from floods to small board replacements. If you need an estimate of your wood floor repair please give us a call at (480) 818-0552 or reach out to us online on our contact form.
