Hardwood is still
homeowner’s favorite choice of flooring and caring for it takes minimal effort. Unlike laminate or engineered wood, hardwood can be refinished many times, and will add years of beauty and warmth to your home, as well as increase its value and speed its resale. Ongoing floor care is needed to keep your hardwood looking its best, however, and there are four major aspects of hardwood floor care:1. Hardwood floor cleaning
2. Hardwood floor repair
3. Hardwood floor refinishing
4. Hardwood floor protection Clean Your Hardwood Regularly Knowing how to clean hardwood floors is important because
bane of hardwood is dirt and grit, which will scratch and mark
floor if not removed promptly. As well, dust is seen more easily on wood floors than it is on linoleum or on carpet, especially in
sunlight and especially if
floor has a dark stain. Hardwood floor care, therefore, means sweeping and dusting regularly – once a week, at least, and after any event that leaves dirt and grit behind. Regular household dusting and cleaning products will cause damage, however, and you must use only products specifically designed for hardwood. Vacuuming is preferable to sweeping because it allows
dirt and dust to be pulled from between
boards, but use a vacuum with a bare floor attachment, not a beater bar, which can damage
wood. When a more in-depth cleaning is required, use a cleaning method appropriate to
finish on your floor. If your floor has a glossy finish, it means that polyurethane, or a water-based urethane, or a similar finish has been used to form a protective barrier over
hardwood. If it has a matte finish, it means that
floor is protected with a penetrating seal of oil and/or wax. On neither of these finishes is water an acceptable cleaning agent, but both of them can accept a surface, damp-mop cleaning, which means
mop is not wet but only damp to
touch. You are cleaning only
surface and not using enough water to penetrate even
oiled-and-waxed hardwood. When using a damp mop on oil and waxed hardwood, you can add a little neutral ph hardwood floor cleaner to
water before dipping
mop into it. A floor with a protective glossy barrier can accept a generic hardwood floor cleaner providing it doesn’t contain any wax or oil. The don’ts are every bit as important as
do’s in hardwood floor care;
1. Don’t use ammonia, regular floor cleaners, household cleaners, or dusting products on hardwood.
2. Never use wax on a floor with a urethane or other glossy finish.
3. Never wash hardwood; use only a slightly damp mop. Repair Any Damage to Your Floors as Soon as Possible In most cases, when your oil and waxed hardwood floors have suffered surface damage, you have to remove
finish with a wax or oil stripper before dealing with
damage. After completing
repair, you then re-wax or re-oil
area. Surface damage occurs less often on hardwood protected by polyurethane or a similar type of sealer, and when it does,
damage is not as obvious. When repairing floors with such finishes, strip
finish from
entire board or boards where
damage has occurred. Make your repairs and then apply a finishing product to those boards that is consistent with
rest of
floor.
1. Water marks: Remove
protective finish, rub
marks with fine grade steel wool. Repeat if necessary, clean, and then refinish.