Whatever the style of your home, a hardwood floor can look amazing. There are many reasons why hardwood flooring should be your flooring of choice but the fact that it doesn’t hide any dirt or dust is a big deal! Many people suffer from dust allergies and this can be eased if you swap carpet for wood flooring.
However if you do have a wood floor then you have to look after it. This type of flooring can look amazing but if it is scuffed, marked or dirty then it is going to look worn and dull. I’m sure you will want to avoid this!
Thankfully the maintenance of this type of flooring isn’t too difficult, so keeping your flooring in tip top condition is easy!
Vacuum
It is a good idea to sweep and vacuum your floor as often as you can. This will stop dirt and dust build up which can make your floor look dull and horrible. You should find that your vacuum has a wood flooring setting, use this if you can rather than the generic setting for carpet, you’ll find it is much more effective!
Mopping
It is important to mop the floor when you can but it is equally important that you use the right products. Using generic cleaners and bleach will make wood fade and this can have a massive effect on your flooring – leaving it looking dull and patchy. You should also be aware of the amount of water you use, because too much can make wood dull and cause it to rot.
Polish
It can be tempting to want to polish your floor all the time but this will make matters worse. Instead you should invest in a high quality hard wood floor polish and use this on your flooring once or twice a year. You could even look at getting in touch with a local commercial floor polishing company and getting them to do the hard work for you!
Avoiding Scratches and Scuffs
It is a good idea to have a no shoes in the house rule if you have wood flooring. High heels and other shoes can easily mark flooring and this is something that you will want to avoid. Make sure that you trim pets claws too as these can easily scratch flooring.
If for any reason your floor does get marked then the best thing you can do is buy a high quality wax crayon to go over the area. You can get these in all sorts of colours and shades, so make sure you browse through a selection of them to find the one that matches your floor. You simply colour over the scratch and the use a wet cloth to remove any excess.
Using furniture protectors and wheel castors are also essential as this will prevent furniture from making the floor.
It’s important to remember that keeping your floor 100% scuff and mark free is hard, but as long as you follow the easy steps above to maintain your flooring you should find that it is kept as near to perfect as possible without too much hard work.
