How to Care for Hardwood Floors

Hardwood floors add immense value to the look and feel of your home as well as to your home’s worth. Well maintained hardwood floors are an investment that can last for many. No matter what type of hardwood floors you have or what kind of finishing was applied, proper care and maintenance is essential to keep the wood looking good and functioning well indefinitely.

Hardwood floors are a major selling point for a home, so keeping them in tip top condition is really important to its resale value. Refinishing floors will bring them back to their original glory, but refinishing can be very expensive and avoidable just by behaving conscientiously.

The first step to taking caring for hardwood floors is finding out what type you have. There are many different types of woods used in flooring, and each one has different properties you should be aware of. For example, cherry is a very soft wood as compared to oak. Consequently, cherry wood will expand and contract with variations in humidity. The type of protective sealer that was applied to your hardwood floors will also affect how you treat them, so you need to determine this before you do any type of cleaning.

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Prevention is a big part of the care for hardwood floors. Scratches, dents and dulling diminish the look and value of your floors. To prevent scratches, use door mats to minimize the amount of dirt and sand that makes it into your home. Dirt and grit that makes it in should be frequently removed. Soft bristled brooms or cloth covered dust mops can be used. If sand or grit is allowed to say on the hardwood floors, just the act of walking over it can put scratches in the finish on your floors.

It’s important to educate yourself about the type of wood used for you hardwood floors. Different types of wood have different properties and can stand up to different levels of abuse. Softer woods like cherry wood more prone to dents and scratches than harder woods like oak. If you have a soft wood in your house, be sure to take extra caution to protect it.

Wearing high heels and other hard soled shoes might actually damage the delicate wood, so consider only wearing soft-sole shoes in the house. Softer woods also tend to expand and contract with change in humidity. Try to keep the humidity level as constant as possible throughout the year. A central humidifier can help you do that, as you can set the humidistat to monitor and control the amount of humidity in your home.

Furniture is another major scratching culprit. All furniture that rests on the hardwood floors should have felt contacts under the legs to protect the wood. Otherwise, the furniture can and will scratch the wood whenever it moves even just a little bit. The heavier the furniture is, the deeper the scratch will be. If furniture is heavy enough and the wood is soft enough, even just the weight of the furniture can dent the wood. If you are moving furniture, be careful to never drag it across the wood. Rather you should always lift the piece off the floor and carry it.

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