Wooden Floors

Wooden floors can be a great choice for home owners and they have many advantages. They can be perfect for modern homes or more traditional and are often suited to every type of room from a spacious kitchen to a cosy bedroom. Although wooded floors may appear a little colder and not as cosy as a carpeted room, they are extremely practical and with the addition of a few rugs, can be warming and comfortable. To keep your wooden floor looking its best, it is important to properly care for and maintain it. One of the most important things you can do to maintain a wooden floor is to clean it regularly. Dust, dirt, and debris can scratch the surface of the floor, so it is important to sweep, vacuum or dry mop the floor on a regular basis. You need to ensure that you do not get it too wet as this can cause warping or cupping of the floor boards. Often steam mops and similar are not ideal for real wooden floors buy may be ok to be used on some laminate floors as long as they are properly sealed.

Make sure that you only ever use cleaning products that have been designed for use on wooden hard flooring. Some chemical cleaners are simply too harsh and can end up damaging the surface of the floor making it appear dull.

It is not unusual for furniture and shoes to damage a wooden floor. One of the most comment complaints of a wooden floor is the mark that stiletto shoes can cause. As the weight is concentrated on a small surface area, it often causes dimples in the wood which cannot be reversed. Removing shoes before walking on a wooden floor is the best way to avoid this. To protect the floor from furniture damage, use furniture pads or felt protectors on the legs of chairs, tables, and other furniture and avoid dragging it across the floor, as this can cause scratches.

Wooden surfaces can quickly be stained or marked by spillages and so they need to be cleaned up quickly to prevent this. If you do spill something on the floor, use a dry cloth or kitchen paper to blot up the excess liquid. Try not to rub the area, as this can spread the liquid and cause the stain to set. If the spill has left a stain, use a cleaner that is specifically designed for the type of stain on the floor.