While we’ve touched on how to clean your hardwood floors in a previous post, there are actually some tricks out there that can help maintain those floors that will make the cleaning even easier. There’s nothing better than walking into your home and admiring your hardwood flooring. It’s elegant, looks nice, it’s easy to repair, and lasts long. However, overtime the kids, pets, and guests will inevitably do some damage to the floors with the foot traffic so, how do you avoid that wear?
5 Tricks for Maintaining Hardwood Flooring
Take your shoes off
It’s okay to be one of those homeowners that demand their guests take their shoes off at the door. This is one of the easiest ways to maintain your hardwood floors. While it should be common courtesy, there are some who find taking their shoes off to be a challenge, but that still doesn’t mean you can’t ask because it is your home after all.
Invest in throw rugs
A throw rug or an area rug is another way to keep those floors looking nice and clean. If you have any furniture sitting on your hardwood floors, it doesn’t take much for those scratches and dents to surface. Therefore, go and visit a showroom that has some attractive area rugs and invest in a few. If you have hallways that are wooden, then go for a thinner throw rug that people can walk along.
Clean up spills as they happen
As soon as you see a drop of water land on your beautiful hardwood floors, grab a paper towel or rag and clean it up.
Trim the pet claws
We all love to have furry friends in the home, but their nails can do some serious damage to your floors if you don’t trim their claws. Even if you don’t have hardwood flooring and you have carpeting, still trim the claws.
Control the climate in your home
Since wood is a porous material, if it’s not kept in a controlled climate, it’s prone to mold, warping, and even shrink. During the winter, the air is thin and dry, this can cause the planks to shrink and you’ll see gaps in the flooring. If you’ve run into this problem or are worried about it, a humidifier should be able to help. Now, during the summer when it’s humid, you want to keep the humidity levels in your home between 35 and 55 percent. This will prevent the boards from absorbing any moisture which would cause them to expand or even warp and mold.
Damaged Hardwood Floors
If you hardwood floors are damaged, one of the best benefits is that it’s extremely easy to repair. With carpeting, you usually have to remove it all, but with hardwood flooring, you just have to remove the damaged planks and replace them. So, although hardwood flooring may be a more expensive investment, it’ll pay off down the road.
