Tips for Maintaining Hardwood Floors

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If you have hardwood floors, you need to learn how to maintain them to avoid damage. If well taken care of, hardwood floors can last very long. Here are some tips for maintaining hardwood floors:

Clean Properly

Because hardwood floors are waxed, you should avoid using wet mops on them. In fact, if you have to use a mop, you should find the best mop styles for hardwood floors. Moreover, you should wipe spills as soon as they happen to avoid ruining the floor.

Choose the Right Products

Although maintaining hardwood floors might seem like a difficult task, you can do it with minimal effort. You just have to choose the right products for keeping them clean.

Make sure that you buy products that are specially formulated to keep hardwood floors clean. If you are not sure what the right products are, you should read the manufacturer’s instructions before choosing to buy anything.

Don’t Drag Furniture

Furniture is one of those things that can damage your hardwood floors very easily if you do not take care. When you drag furniture, it will cause scrapes and scratches on your floors thus damaging the beautiful, shiny finish. To protect your floors, you should place some felt contacts under your furniture legs. Doing so will not only keep your floors shiny, but it will also save you time whenever you need to move furniture.

Vacuum Every Week

Perhaps you already do this but vacuuming your floors weekly is a good practice. The reason you should do this is that the fine grit in dust works like sandpaper, which means that it will wear away your hardwood floor finish. Vacuuming once per week will keep up the appearance of your floors and maintain the finish.

Make sure that you use a brush attachment and avoid attachments with rotating brushes as they can scratch the glossy finish. If you do not feel like using a vacuum cleaner, you should use a dust mop.

Use Doormats

Ideally, you should ask people to take off their shoes when they come into the house. Doing so is the best way to keep salt, ice, and water away from your hardwood floors. However, if people do not always remove their shoes before getting into the house, you should place doormats inside and outside.

Although spot cleaning and vacuuming will remove the grit, keeping the dirt away in the first place is the best strategy. Buy a long 4-6 foot mat and place it at your front door. With the mat in place, people will wipe off the moisture and dirt from their shoes instead of trekking it into the house.

Use Area Rugs

When you walk over a surface multiple times a day, you will wear away the finish. Make sure that you invest in area rugs for high-traffic areas. Using throw rugs is the best way to protect the finish of your hardwood floors. You should avoid rugs with a rubber or vinyl backing because they will damage the wood and ruin your floor’s finish.

Know the Finish Rules

You can always restore your wax floors using wax. However, you should avoid using wax on polyurethane and varnish finishes. Doing so will not only interfere with the consequent finishes but it will also make the floor extra slippery. If your floors have a polyurethane finish, you should use a similar polish.

Conclusion

The above tips will come in handy if you want your hardwood floors to last long. Scratched hardwood floors look unsightly and you might have to replace them. To avoid this, you need to take proper care of your floors.