With only a small amount of care, a hardwood floor will provide many years of service and look good in your home. Cleaning hardwood is an important aspect of the care and maintenance necessary to protect your investment. Placing throw carpets in high traffic areas is another way of protecting your floor as well. In this post we will discuss some of the ways to protect your hardwood floor. As well as keep it clean. Using a hardwood floor cleaner makes taking care of your hardwood flooring even easier. There are products that cover a variety of cleansing areas.
Protecting Your Hardwood Floor
Actually the best way to keep a hardwood floor clean is to protect it from dirt and traffic. For example, in the winter time we place salt and sand in a mixture on the driveway to prevent ice from forming and people slipping. Of course some of this material is tracked into the house on our boots and if we are not careful it ends up on our floors as well. This material will ruin your floors over time and rob them of that shiny new look that we all love to see. Keep them clean and vacuum often.
Sand is like a sandpaper to wood. Every time you step on it, small particles of the wood wear away and over a couple of years you will notice a difference. Always keep your boots on a mat and never wear your boots or shoes inside. Vacuum your floors regularly, at least once a week and more often in high traffic areas. We are not supporting one vacuum over another by using the above picture, just make sure that you use one that does not scratch your floor.
Some people will place throw rugs on the floors were there is a lot of foot traffic. This is an excellent way to protect your floors. Just remember to vacuum under the rug each time. If there is a lot of sun from a window in that area you may notice some discoloration over the years as well from fading due to the sun.
Cleaning your Hardwood Floors
Whether you have laminate flooring, or any kind of hardwood floor there are hardwood floor cleaners for the job. From basic floor cleaning solutions to all in one floor cleaning kits, there are products that will help keep your floors looking their best.
Avoid products that leave residue or are harmful on your floors with hardwood floor cleaner products like basic coating squeaky cleaner, intensive floor treatment or Swedish formula laminate floor cleaner. A hardwood floor cleaning kit is also ideal as everything you need comes in one package including specially designed cleaning mops.
Taking Care of Your Floors
Along with the helpful cleaning power of hardwood floor cleaner, here are some other steps you can take to care for your floors.
- You should sweep your floors with a broom that has fine bristles that are soft so they won’t damage or scratch the surface.
- It is also recommended to vacuum at least once or twice a week to keep dirt and sand from causing damage.
- Water should always be removed from hardwood surfaces right away. Always wipe up and dry any spills as soon as possible.
- For high traffic areas, rugs or mats can be used to avoid wear but these must also be kept clean and free from dirt or grit that may eventually harm your flooring.
- Vacuum once a week or twice a week if there is a lot of people and pets in your family
- Avoid dragging dirt and grit into your home as much as possible. Remove your boots and shoes prior to entering your home.
As long as you take some time and use a common sense approach to cleaning your hardwood flooring you can expect it to look as good as new for a long time. Using a hardwood floor cleaner will help to make this cleaning even easier and will help protect your investment.
Obviously we cannot support one hardwood floor cleaner over another, so talk to your flooring representative to find out what they recommend to maintain your floor in optimum condition.