Suppose you have been living in your home for many years. You, your family, and your pets have walked across the floors frequently, particularly in the living room and kitchen. For many years, you’ve never paid attention to the floor. But, now that you work from home much more these days, you happen to notice some issues with your hardwood floors. There are stains from various spills over the years. There are also signs of wear on parts of the floor where there is frequent foot traffic.
Overall, the beauty and feel of hardwood far outweigh the imperfections, but you want to keep up on the appearance.
Perhaps you plan to move soon, and you want your floors to look pristine for potential buyers. Even if you decide to stay in your home, you don’t want to keep seeing unsightly floor problems scattered throughout rooms in your home. What can you do about the wear and tear of your beautiful hardwood floors?
Imperfect yet Perfect Hardwood Floors
Part of hardwood’s beauty is its imperfections. But that doesn’t mean you should let them turn unsightly. To know how to address problems with hardwood floors, it’s a good idea to know what they are so you can protect your long-term investment.
Stains
As with most floors, stains from food or drink spills can happen. Liquids like red wine or red juice can discolor the hardwood, particularly if it is light-colored like pine. These surface stains can be removed by cleaning them quickly. If they sit for a while, these stains can be very difficult to remove. Other stains that are difficult to remove if they sit are water stains or stains from pet urine. Additional stains that are common are paint, scuffs, fingernail polish, coffee, rust, or blood.
Scratches
Scratches are another one of the typical hardwood floor problems that homeowners face. One of the biggest culprits causing this problem is shoes, especially high heels. Another thing that causes scratches is dragging furniture across the floor. Things protruding from the bottom of the furniture, such as wood or metal, can scrape the floors.
Wear and Fading
Wear and fading are similar common problems with hardwood floors. Wear is often caused by using substandard cleaning products. Products not designed for hardwood floors can ruin them. Wheeled furniture can also damage these types of floors. Another problem similar to wear is fading. Exposure to direct sunlight is usually the root cause. Damp floor rugs and rubber mats can also discolor wood floors so make sure to use a breathable rug pad underneath.
Preventing Common Problems with Hardwood Floors
One of the best ways to minimize problems is to prevent them. You can avoid stains by minimizing spills in the area where the hardwood is. Also, ensuring that pets don’t have an accident on the floor will keep stains to a minimum. If these spills occur, remember to clean them up as soon as possible to keep the spill from penetrating into the hardwood.
Women’s high heels, sports cleats, or men’s dress shoes can all cause scratches. You can prevent scratches by avoiding these types of shoes on your floors. You can also avoid wearing shoes in the house altogether. To minimize scratches from furniture, you can place padding under the furniture. Or, you can make sure that you lift the furniture if you have to move it to keep it from scraping the hardwood floor.
When cleaning the floors, make sure that you use products that won’t damage the hardwood. Cleaners that can damage hardwood include ammonia, cleaners with excessive amounts of oil, and soapy water. If you want to use wheeled furniture, be sure to place a mat or rug on the floor. Or you can replace standard wheels with casters for hardwood floors.
You can prevent fading by minimizing the floor’s exposure to the sunlight. Large furniture can be placed in the path of the sunlight. Or, you can place glass film in your window to keep the sun’s UV rays out. Draperies and other traditional window treatments can also keep the sun from fading the floors.
Prevention and maintenance is the best means to a lifetime of beautiful wood floors. And even though you can remedy many of the common problems yourself, it’s best to leave this work to the professionals. This will prevent further damage to your floor’s finish and restore its luster. No matter the type of damage, a hardwood flooring professional such as Cameron the Sandman, will provide the best solution for the most common problems.
Our hardwood flooring services include wood floor restoration, refinishing, installing new wood floors and more! Contact one of our flooring specialists today for a consultation so that we can help you make your wood floors look fabulous again.