When cared for properly, hardwood floors can be enjoyed for decades. Easier said than done though. We put our floors through a lot, especially during the holiday season with family members and guests trekking through the house, sometimes while wearing heels.
We’ve compiled some of our favorite tips for helping to keep your floor in the best shape possible.
- An easy one – wipe up any spills right away. This will prevent liquids from seeping into the floor and leaving stains.
- Put felt padding on the bottoms of furniture legs to prevent them from scratching or putting indents in the floor.
- Try to avoid exposing the floor to direct sunlight. During peak sun, try to keep the drapes in areas with high concentrations of direct sunlight closed.
- Light scratches: To touch up light scratches, wax sticks and wood stain markers are going to become your new best friends.. They are available in a variety of colors at most hardware stores, so you can find a perfect match to cover those scratches.
- Dark Spots: Stains and watermarks can be buffed out using steel wool.
- Keep Fluffy’s nails trimmed: A pet’s claws can do some serious damage to otherwise pristine floors.
- Regular cleaning: At the end of each day, give the floors a quick sweep. This will prevent dirt and crumbs from building up, and makes deep cleaning easier and more effective. When vacuuming, use the wand attachment. When mopping, make sure you squeeze the mop very well, and avoid cleaning the floor with ammonia, wax-based products, or anything acidic, as it could damage your floors. Never pour water directly on the floor, it will damage the wood.
- Place area rugs and mats in high traffic areas to avoid damaging the floor. These will need to be moved around though, because floors need equal exposure in order to keep a unified color.
