If you’ve decided to install hardwood flooring, it is one of the best decisions you’ll make when improving your home. However, this investment is only as good as how well you maintain it. If you take good care of your hardwood floors, they may last a lifetime.
Here’s how to avoid damaging your hardwood and keep it looking great for years to come.
Humid Indoor Temperatures
Before getting hardwood flooring, you probably never thought much about the humidity in your home. If it’s hot outside, you cool it down with the air conditioner. If it’s cold outside, you warm it up with a fireplace or furnace.
However, when you have hardwood flooring, you’ll have to be very careful about indoor humidity.
Although hardwood is a very durable flooring option, moisture can cause all types of problems, including cupping, crowning, warping, and buckling. If you discover that indoor humidity is an issue in your home, it may be ideal to use a portable dehumidifier, particularly in warmer seasons, to keep moisture from damaging your hardwood floors.
If humidity is a consistent issue, you may want to replace your current HVAC system with one that has a whole-house dehumidifier.
Not Cleaning Spills Immediately
In most cases, when you spill something, you quickly get it up, especially if it’s wine, juice, or some other messy spill. However, some spills may occur that you don’t realize happened right away.
For instance, your pet may have knocked something over, and you don’t know it until you see the spill several hours later. Alternatively, the plant you water regularly may have spilled water from its container, which has been sitting on your hardwood floors for several days or weeks.
Failing to clean such spills may damage your hardwood floor, leading to water rings or other stains that can be difficult to remove once they soak into the wood. Ideally, you should check for spills often and get them up as soon as possible to avoid damage to your hardwood.
Leaking Appliances or Plumbing
Another issue that could ruin your hardwood floor is leaking appliances or pipes. Some of the most significant appliance leaks may occur when an old dishwasher is leaking. Another appliance that may damage hardwood flooring is an old refrigerator. A leaking washing machine can also ruin your hardwood flooring.
Plumbing issues can also damage your hardwood flooring. If the pipes under your sink are leaking, it could drip from your cabinets and onto your hardwood flooring, causing water stains and buckling in the area of the wood where the leak is. It’s ideal to replace these old appliances and fix the plumbing in your home to prevent further damage to your hardwood flooring.
Moving Heavy Furniture
When you had carpet, moving heavy furniture was a cinch. In most cases, you didn’t have to pick the furniture up to move it. Instead, you could drag it over the carpet without any damage or issues.
Unfortunately, dragging heavy furniture on hardwood could scratch and ding it. If you have to move heavy furniture, it is ideal to work with someone to carry it to its new destination or use protective pads on the bottom of the furniture to slide it into place. Such pads will minimize damage to your hardwood floors.
Foot Traffic
Walking across your hardwood floors is unavoidable. After all, you didn’t install hardwood floors just to admire them. They have a functional purpose, too. However, heavy foot traffic can ruin the hardwood floors, particularly in kitchens, mudrooms, hallways, and other areas where foot traffic is heavy in your home.
Heeled shoes can speed up damage from foot traffic. To minimize damage, it is ideal to place rugs in these areas and encourage family and visitors to avoid wearing hard-heeled shoes on hardwood floors.
No Window Treatments
In recent years, many homeowners have embraced increased sunlight in their homes by incorporating picture windows into the house or removing window treatments. Whether it’s to increase Vitamin D or reduce reliance on indoor lighting during the day, this practice may damage hardwood floors.
The UV rays from the sun at certain times of the day may shine on your hardwood floors and cause discoloration. To prevent this issue, it is ideal to use motorized window treatments that are scheduled to close and block sunlight at specific times of the day. Another option is to place rugs in front of the windows to prevent UV rays from fading floors.
Harsh Cleaning Products
One more way you may be damaging your hardwood floors is by using cleaning products that aren’t specially formulated for cleaning hardwood floors. Some vacuums come with brushes designed to clean both carpets and hardwood, which may scratch hardwood floors.
Using cleaners that have a bleach, ammonia, or vinegar base may etch the wood floor surface. Steam cleaners may infuse too much moisture into the hardwood, which could damage hardwood floors. When cleaning hardwood floors, it is best to use a mild dish soap diluted with water or cleaners specially formulated for hardwood floors.
Hardwood Floor Installation Built to Last
Have you damaged your hardwood flooring and need restoration services? Call Cameron the Sandman today for unmatched wood flooring services. We carry and install the most beautiful hardwood floors with a team backed by decades of experience. More than 80 years!
There’s nothing like hardwood floors in your home, and with expert care, they can truly last!