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Looking After Your Hardwood Floor
Hardwood floors require a certain amount of maintenance to keep them in tip-top condition. With healthy maintenance, your hardwood floor can retain its natural beauty for a Lifetime. Maples & Birch hardwood floors are durable and easy to keep clean, but there are some things you need to keep in mind to keep the floor looking good.
Daily Maintenance
The first step is to prevent the accumulation of dust, dirt and abrasive grit which can scratch and dull the surface. You can prevent this dulling by sweeping and vacuuming and by installing protective mats such as coir matting inside and outside all external doorways.
It is essential to protect your Hardwood Floor from indentation and scratching from all furniture by ensuring that felt pads are installed on feet and castors.
Be sure to wipe up any spilt liquids as soon as it occurs and avoid any standing water or fluids as hardwood will absorb fluid and which could affect the stability of the floor. All stains should be removed while wet with a clean simple damp cloth.
We strongly advise avoiding the use of any household cleaners. These can be abrasive and damage or dull the surface and can leave a dangerous slippery film.
Maintenance TIPS – Prevention
Keep Gravel and Sand Outside
Prevention is the best way to keep your hardwood in tip-top condition. By having a good doormat (preferably a coir mat) to clean and dry shoes before coming in from the outside of the entrance door.
We advise having a secondary doormat (absorbent type) on the inside of the door entrance will encourage visitors to wipe their feet at the second attempt of entering your home.
Put Protective Pade on Furniture
By applying soft/felt pads on the bottom of furnishing feet, table and chair legs will prevent scratches when furnishings are dragged across the hardwood floor. We advise that you keep an eye that they don’t fall off. Avoid use protectors made of metal as they can wear in patches and scratch the floor.
Maintenance Tips – Cleaning
Spillages
Wipe up any spilt liquids and avoid any standing water or liquid as wood will absorb liquid and expand which could affect the stability of the floor. Any stains should be removed while wet with a clean moist cloth.
Removing Marks
Dependent on the type of marks, it is important to remember not to use abrasive materials or products. Use branded floor Cleaners directly or diluted in water. Avoid bleach or cleaning fluids containing ammonia.
Oiled floors:
Avoid strong stain removing agents and hard scrubbing as they can lead to discolouring. Once the mark is removed Oil the cleaned area with the suited branded Oil. If there is a colour difference after removing the stain, you can use branded coloured touch-up oils.
Lacquered floors:
Again we advise avoid using strong stain removing agents and hard scrubbing can affect the lacquer. Our lacquered floors are resistant to most markings/stains but using the right branded cleaning product will ensure its longevity.
Light Coloured Floors
If you have light coloured hardwood floors, you’ll need to clean them a little more often because they are more prone to visual dirt and markings so regular adherence to maintaining your Hardwood floor is essential.
Vacuuming Hardwood Floors
Nothing removes dirt, debris and fine dust from the bevelled crevices or joint lines of a hardwood floor like a decent vacuum cleaner.
Over the years we have found that modern branded bag-less upright cleaners have become more effective and use advanced technology that ensures the brushes cause no damage to the surface of hardwood floors in the right setting.
The tried and tested cylinder cleaners with a long hose do the job perfectly but again they must be used with the correct head and on the right setting.
It is easy to overlook but be sure to keep the brush heads clean as hard debris will cause damage and will be the fault of the user.
Don’t Wet Mop Hardwood Floors
An absolute NO, at no point, should you ever wet mop your hardwood floor. Water and wood do not bow well, if you do your floor will expand and cup which will entail damage to the structure and can not be repaired or rectified.
Dry Moping Hardwood Floors
Micro-fibre dry mops are synthetically designed to attract and trap dust particles, Dry Mops are effective at keeping hardwood floors dust-free. Handles and heads are lightweight, cleaning pads come in disposable and washable formats.
Spray Clean Wood Flooring
Spray clean mops are a must-have for Hardwood floors. They use a synthetic cloth mop head that is machine washable and have a built-in reservoir for the cleaning fluid and a mist-spray
designed to clean the area of direction.
Hardwood Floor Maintenance
Floors that are finished in Oiled or Hard-wax require more upkeep and it essential to use the appropriate maintenance kits and fluids which are developed by manufacturers who truly understand wood floors all available from Wooden Floor Accessories.
As with oiled floors, it is just as imperative to care for lacquered finished wood floors and laminate wood floors and to do so is easy but only with the use of the right cleaning products.
Most care products available from your average supermarket tend to contain waxes and chemicals that could damage the lacquer or finish, all our lacquered floor cleaners are developed by manufacturers whose business is within the wood floor and you can find a wide range of products at Wooden Floor Accessories.
The use of quality Wood Floor Cleaners is essential for the up-keep, appearance and durability of lacquered wood floors, so don’t be fooled by cheap supermarket cleaners as some products can be harmful to the surface finish.
Visit our catalogue to see the full range available or call us today for a sample of our hardwoods selection on Tel: 0333 533 3330 or email Sales at: [email protected].
