HardWood Floor

By Dola Raheem.

There are many things to consider when choosing the right Unfinished Hardwood Flooring for your home. From Solid to engineered, and dramatic to moderate grains, A few tidbits to get you started include some small but important differences between types of Unfinished Hardwood Flooring. An engineered floor can withstand humidity better than a solid floor, even though the solid floor is built from one piece of wood and has a better potential of lasting in a longer time period. The next item to decide is the type of wood. Oak and Cherry are among the most popular, but many consumers are now going with more exotic woods such as bamboo, teak and Brazilian Cherry. Choosing the wood is important since the longevity of each type of wood can make a difference in when the flooring will need to be replaced. Another important quality is to find out which type of wood is best suitable for your climate since wood expands in weather and humidity.

One of the great things about choosing Unfinished Hardwood Flooring, is the adventure of creating the look that best suites your home and personality, and even other wood in the home. a pre-finished floor can be much faster to the end result, but in the end you are limited to the styles and colors available. For the more adventurous, sanding and finishing the wood yourself can be quite satisfying. The most important thing to remember in finishing the wood yourself is to make sure it is sealed.

If, the decision is made to leave the wood unfinished, extra care is needed to make sure the floor is properly maintained. To clean Unfinished Hardwood Flooring, a vacuum, broom, bristle brush, TSP (trisodium phosphate), rags, and the occasional use of a sanding block are some necessary supplies. A word of warning, is that commercial products are usually made for finished floors and can ruin an unfinished floor. Its important also to watch out for oil based products or waxes as these can build up, making it hard to finish the floor later.

Installing Unfinished Hardwood Flooring is pretty simple with the ways the wood is now cut to match ends is much easier than in the past. Just remember to let the wood acclimate to its new environment before installation, and make sure it has the room to expand and contract to avoid splitting and damage. Wood floors add an unsurpassed beauty to any home and can also with the right installation, added overall home value.

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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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