Maintaining Your Hardwood Floors

Taking care of your floors can be an easy process if done correctly and

regularly! Here are some floor-care tips of the trade.

- Keeping floors clean is an obvious necessity, proper sweeping and cleaning using

products that protect and revive your floors is an easy step.

- Commit to a regular maintenance routine, Deal with spills and other unexpected

messes immediately, dry dust your floors daily, and wet clean your floors weekly.

- When it comes to cleaning floors fast, there are only two basic steps: dry dusting

and wet cleaning. Dusting helps to remove large particles of dirt and debris that

could scratch and potentially harm your floors, and wet cleaning removes the smaller

bits and leaves your floors clean. People often expand these two steps into three or

more depending on the tools they have, but essentially, these two steps will do the

trick.

- A divide and conquer approach is best when cleaning floors. This helps make

cleaning more efficient and more effective since you’re not pushing around all the dirt

and debris you’re cleaning up. When it’s time for wet cleaning, a string mop and

bucket aren’t needed. Use a cleaning pad that will Velcro on the bottom of your mop

and has cleaner already infused in the pad so there is just enough liquid dispersed

on the floor. Too much liquid on floors can damage them.

- Avoid using regular house cleaners, pine sol, Clorox, Murphys soap, etc. These

products are not designed to protect your floor and can put them in danger of

loosing their beautiful look and feel.

- Strategically place rugs and mats throughout your house for optimum protection.

Especially in entrances or areas that will be exposed to water or excess moisture.

Consider having backup mats to ensure that they are always clean and dry to best

absorb water.

- Make it known! Don’t be afraid to let your guests or (residents) know that they must

take their shoes off before entering your home. Especially if it is wet outside, or if you

have a gravel walkway/driveway.

- During the Summer there is an abundance of moisture in the air outside, which

means its also in abundance inside, for this have a dehumidifier handy to balance the

moisture in your home. If this goes unchecked the wood will swell, causing cupping

and expansion.

- And During the winter time we are constantly heating our homes, this process

removes moisture from the air, if this goes unbalanced our floors will retract and

create gaps in the flooring.. To prevent this having a powerful humidifier in place will

keep the balance of air moisture, to keep your floors happy, and your home

comfortable and healthy!

- The recommended amount of humidity is around 50% the a leeway of ten degrees

either direction.