An Insider's Guide to Hardwood Floor Care
Posted by Aaron Schaalma
- Cleaning
- House Hold Sprays
- Furniture
- Rugs
- Spills
- Humidity
- How to Tell When to Re-Coat Your Floors
Cleaning
Keeping your hardwood floor clean helps it last longer because you'll be removing any grit and dirt that can scratch and wear down your finish. Here’s how I recommend cleaning your floor:
1. Use a hardwood dusting head, like a Swiffer, or the soft bristle hard surface attachment of your vacuum to remove any dust and dirt from the floor.
2. Use a micro fiber mop and hardwood natural cleaner to clean the floor.
3. Mist the floor with the cleaner.
4. Take a mop and go back and forth with the grain of the wood. If at all possible, let the floor dry before walking on it so you don’t leave any footprints.
I recommend using the Pallmann hardwood floor cleaning kit.Household Cleaning Sprays
Many of us have Pledge, stainless steel cleaners, and Windex that we use to clean our houses. The thing you need to make sure of is to watch for where the over spray is going. What happens when you spray the cleaning products on a rag and there's air movement? The majority of your spray will go where you want but the over spray can be spread for many feet past the area where you where spraying. A lot of these sprays have silicone or other chemicals that can prohibit finish to stick when it comes time to re-coat your floor.Furniture
When moving furniture on to your hardwood floors make sure that you place felt pads on the bottom of all pieces of furniture that will be sitting on the floor. Don't use any hard plastic feet, or you risk scratching the floor when the plastic moves back and forth on the finish.
When moving your furniture, pick it up and place it where you want. Even when you have felt on the bottom, don't slide the furniture around because all it takes is one piece of sand or grit under the felt button to scratch your floor when the heavy furniture is pushed around on top of it.Rugs
Rugs are a great way to save your finish from scratches and moisture. When choosing a rug and where to place it, here are a couple of things to consider: 1. The rug should be free from rubber backing, because rubber doesn't allow the floor and finish to breath, and in some cases the rubber backing can leave permanent marks in the wood from the where it didn't allow the floor to breath or be exposed to sunlight. 2. Generally a couple of great places to have rugs are entrances, which will help collect moisture and any debris from tracking in the house, also another area to place a rug is in the kitchen in front of the sink and dishwasher where there tends to be moisture. 3. Always make sure if the rugs ever get soaked with water to pick it up and replace it with one that's dry, otherwise if you let a wet rug sit too long it can cause the floor to cup in the area where the rug was.Spills
Spills happen all the time whether its water or a dark colored drink. When you spill some liquid on the floor make sure you wipe it up as soon
as you see it, otherwise what can happen is the moisture from the spill soaks in between the boards and the boards draw in the moisture causing the floor to cup.
If the liquid spilled is colored make sure to wipe it up as soon as possible otherwise it can stain the finish. The main thing to remember when you spill any liquid on your hardwood floor wipe it up right away, you never want standing water on hardwood!Humidity
Humidity affects your floors in many different ways from cupping and crowning, to loosening of fasteners and inconstant wear patterns. To learn more about the effects of humidity on your hardwood floor refer to this article : How Humidity (or lack of) Affects Your Wood FloorHow to Tell When to Re-Coat Your Floors
So its been a while since your floors have been refinished and you're not sure when you should have your floors re-coated? Here are a couple of things to look for when you're deciding to call a professional hardwood flooring company to re-coat your hardwood floors.- Scratches
- Sheen
- Wear Spots
Scratches
Scratches, whether from animals or just from daily wear can be a good sign it may be time to think about re-coating your floor. The one thing you have to remember about scratches is that as long as they are in the finish and not in the wood they'll be removed with another coat of finish.Sheen
When your floor starts to lose its sheen is another sign that you should re-coat.Wear Spots
Light wear spots are a sign that your finish is wearing down. Generally in high traffic areas of wear is where you'll find the finish eroding. You want to make sure you don't let the wear spots break through the finish because once it breaks through the finish it will be different color once the floor is re-coated.
Following these few tips will help you and your floor out a lot. If you ever have any questions about hardwood flooring remember to call a professional hardwood flooring company and most will be more than willing to answer any questions you may have. 
