5 Tips for Maintaining Wooden Floors

Do you have wooden floors in your house or office?

Well, you are not alone.

Compared to other types of floorings, wooden and hardwood floors continue to top the demand charts. According to Wood Flooring Network, hardwood floors accounted for 3.49 billion dollars’ worth of revenue in the US in 2017.

The industry has been able to sustain its revenues over the years as well.

While many tend to prefer wooden floors to other types of flooring, few manage to maintain the shine and beauty of their floorings over the years.

Whether you have been able to do so will depend on your ability to answer this simple question. When was the last time you took time out to clean and maintain your wooden floors? If you can’t remember, then this is an alarming situation!

This is because your hardwood floors require regular and extreme care. Between excessive exposure to sunlight and degradation due to continual use, wooden floors, if not maintained, can end up getting damaged before their time is due.

Here are some of the most useful tips for maintaining the shine of your wooden floor.

1.Vacuum Weekly

The most basic yet effective way of maintaining the shine of your floors is by vacuuming them regularly. The chances are that you already do this religiously. However, it is important to reiterate this tip to ensure that you know the importance of it!

What would vacuuming your floors give you?

It will help remove all the fine grit and dust that are merely mopping the floor won’t allow you to capture.

Fine dust tends to accumulate slowly and cause wear and tear to the wooden floors. By vacuuming at least once every week, you can avoid the accumulation of fine frit.

Make sure to use the right type of vacuum. For instance, if you have a rotating brush attached to your device, you will end up with scratches on the floor. Use another attachment, like a smooth brush that runs along the surface.

2.  Opt for Waterproof Flooring

Within the world of wooden flooring, there are a lot of variants for you to choose from. It is highly advised that you opt for waterproof laminate flooring.

This is because one of the biggest reasons why floors tend to lose their shine as well as suffer from wear and tear is due to the inclination of wooden floors to absorb water.

Most of us tend to mop our floors with a mixture of soap and water. And there is nothing wrong with this approach either. After all, unless you do so, you can’t guarantee that the floor is devoid of all bacteria and germs.

So, neither can you ultimately cut down on water usage on your hardwood floors, nor can you maintain its quality if you do so. The only solution to this problem is to invest in waterproof flooring, to begin with.

This way, your hardwood floor will come with a lamination that would render it incapable of absorbing water. Hence, its shine and durability will be retained automatically.

3.  Protect against Extreme Light Exposure

As mentioned earlier, one of the many factors that reduce the beauty and longevity of hardwood floors is sunlight. The more sunlight that falls on wooden floors, the more there is chances of spotting.

What is spotting?

Spotting refers to the appearance of dark and unpleasant spots all across your wooden floor. The same can also occur on any wooden furniture that is exposed to a lot of sunlight.

To protect your wooden floors as well as your furniture, you must keep its exposure to excessive light or temperature minimal. This can involve boarding up the windows during the day. Moreover, when it comes to placing hot beverages on the floor, try your best to avoid such acts.

4.  Use a “walk-off” Doormats

When you enter your house, there are a lot of things that enter with you. This includes dirt, dust, water and sometimes ice (depending on where you live)! Sadly, everything except you is not welcome in your house.

Each of these items doesn’t just affect the beauty of your hardwood floors, but if they are not cleaned properly, they end up causing lasting damage to it. Cleaning all the dirt via vacuum or spot cleaning is a great solution.

But, there is no better solution than prevention in the first place!

A great way to maintain the shine of your floor is to make sure that it doesn’t come into frequent contact with things that cause harm to it. To do so, you can use walk-off doormats in front of your doors.

Make a habit of rubbing off as much dirt as you can on the entrance. Even better, leave your shoes behind and enter your house barefoot. You can also switch shoes on your doorway if you don’t like trotting barefoot in your abode.

5.  Place Rugs on “High Traffic” Zones

Certain parts of your house are visited more often than others. For instance, in most homes, the drawing-room is only ever used when you have guests. Compared to this, the lounge is almost always packed with people.

You will notice that the flooring of the area you mostly occupy, tends to undergo wear and tear faster than the unused area. This is because walking across the floor a lot also plays a role in wearing down its finish.

To maintain the beauty and consistency of your wooden floor, you can place a visually appealing rug on the areas that are most often used. Make sure that it goes with the look of the room, and no one would ever know that you added the décor as a preventative measure!

Verdict

With these five tips, your wooden floors will easily last longer than usual. Maintain the shine of your floors, and your house will automatically look more appealing than before.

Do you think there are other ways to take care of your flooring? Let us know!

Author Bio:

Evie harrison is a blogger by choice.  She loves to discover the world around her. She likes to share her discoveries, experiences and express herself through her blogs. Find her on Twitter:@iamevieharrison