HardWood Floor

By Nancy Davies

Wood floors are very popular nowadays and you can find them in many homes right now. This is why there is lately a strong emphasis on caring for the wood floor since many people are still doing it the wrong way. This is why proper attention and floor care is important in maintaining the floor clean and healthy and reduce the aging rate of the flooring. As long as you follow some important tips your floors will keep their beauty and shine for a long time to come.

The floors need regular sweeping and vacuuming to avoid having scratched areas due to accumulated grit. When you are vacuuming use one which has a brush or felt head. Before vacuuming make sure that the wheels of your machine are clean so they don't damage the finish of your floor. Avoid at all costs using a vacuum with a beater bar head.

If you spilled something on your hardwood floor, clean it up right away with a soft cloth and make sure that it gets dried up fast.

Don't use water on your hard wood floor as water tends to damage the wood. Also avoid using oil soaps, various wax products or household cleaners containing oils such as lemon, tung or silicon because they tend to damage the flooring and this will render your warranty.

If you have pets keep their nails trimmed at all times and keep their paws clean. Don't let them walk all over the place with dirty or oily paws.

To avoid scratching and denting of the wood surface, put protective pads and covers under the furniture legs. Protective pads are also useful when you are moving your furniture from point A to point B in the room.

If there are areas that are mostly walked over every day, use rugs that protect those areas. For example room entries, stair landings are all areas of the house that you can put rugs on. Also put door mats at the door as this will keep the dirt and dust away from your flooring.

Don't walk with high heels or spiked heels in the areas where you have wooden flooring placed. Many times it happened that the heels scratched the floor making it looking ugly as it's very difficult to remove these scratching from the wood.

Most of these are common sense tips but many people fail to use them or simply forget, which is a pity because it really doesn't take long to maintain the proper care of your hardwood flooring. So don't become one of the lazy or careless people who neglect their floors as this might cost you in the long run big money if you need to call an expert to fix your damaged floor or even refloor it completely.

Although most tips are useful for any type of flooring, hardwood floors need a different care than vinyl floors or tile floors. For maintaining your different floor type make sure that you read your manufacturer's user manual and use the commercial cleaning products that are expressly recommended by them.

For more information on real wood flooring visit my website at http://www.realwoodflooring.org/

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