Hardwood flooring takes a lot more work to effectively maintain than just scrubbing the linoleum floors with ammonia like we used to. Hardwood floors are a far cry in both look and feel from older vinyl or linoleum floors, so it’s only natural that they’re more difficult to maintain. D&M Hardwood Flooring is here to give you some tips to extend the life of your hardwood floors.
Avoid Scratches
This sounds like a really simple tip – and it is. This tip is not without reason though. The finish on your floors helps to keep the wood underneath resistant to rotting, molding, and normal wear and tear. If you scratch your floors frequently, this finish will come off and allow water and dirt to make their way into the gaps. This will shorten the life of your hardwood floors.
Clean Spills Quickly
Similar to the previous tip, any liquid spills should be dried quickly to ensure that they don’t seep into the cracks in the floor and cause warping or other water damage.
Rearrange Your Furniture
There are a handful of reasons why rearranging your furniture extends the lifespan of your hardwood floors. It allows your floor to share the load of the furniture weight, leading to less wear and tear on certain sections of the floor. By rearranging furniture, you redirect the natural foot traffic of a room. This puts less use on high traffic areas and more use on lower traffic areas, stretching the “life” of your floors.
Fresh Finish
Adding a fresh coat of finish to your wood floors can cover up any scratches in the original finish, effectively resealing the floor. This will help prevent rotting and water damage. Additionally, you should sand down and refinish your floors every 5 to 10 years. While this obviously wears your floors down, it also evens out surface imperfections and allows for a fresh and even coat of finish.
What Should You Do If Your Floors Get Damaged?
If your floors do end up damaged, you should reach out to a hardwood flooring professional like D&M Flooring. A professional will be able to fully understand the issues your floor is having and can recommend an exact plan specific to your issue. Generally, damaged floors can be sanded and refinished. There will be a point where your floors can’t be refinished and need to be completely replaced. D&M Flooring also handles wood floor installation. A new floor installation tends to be costly, making refinishing the preferred option.
If you’re looking for preventative maintenance, refinishing, or a new floor entirely, call D&M Flooring at (401) 855-9663. D&M Flooring is located in Cranston, RI and has been repairing and installing floors in RI since 1998.