Hardwood Floors: Maintaining Their Beauty

Hardwood floors represent a sizable financial investment. But they will reward you with decades of beauty and wear only if they're properly maintained. Fortunately, this only requires a modest effort.

Preventing the gradual deterioration of the floor's surface is the most important consideration. Dirt and small pieces of rock or grit are the most likely culprits to damage your hardwood floor. Providing entrance ways with outdoor mats and indoor rugs will help prevent debris from being tracked indoors.

Tracked in dirt doesn't just appear unattractive. It behaves like sandpaper, causing micro-abrasions in the wood's surface as it gets walked on. Despite all precautions, some grit will inevitably find its way onto your floor. The only remedy is to keep your hardwood floors well cleaned.

A broom will remove the large material, but a soft dust mop is gentler on the surface. The bristles on a broom don't cause damage to a well-coated hardwood floor, but because a downward force is applied when using one, those small pieces of dirt tend to dig into the surface as they are swept into a pile.

Vacuum cleaner bristles on the rollers have much the same effect. Be sure to set the vacuum cleaner to 'floor' setting before use on a hardwood floor. That way particles get lifted up from the surface rather than dragged across it.

Even after broom and vacuum work are done, dirt will remain on the surface. A quick wet mop will take care of that. But make sure it's only moist, not wet. Water that remains on even a treated surface for a few hours has several disadvantages.

Apart from providing a medium for mildew growth, any dust in the air that falls onto the moisture will tend to coagulate and create miniature mud particles that soon dry out. Those are then ground into the surface, creating the very problem the mopping was supposed to solve. If the floor dries quickly, the problem is minimized.

Stains should always be cleaned up as soon as they occur. A good hardwood floor with proper surface treatment will resist stains from coffee, tea and other typical kitchen spills well. But hot coffee can easily penetrate wax and soon find its way into small grooves where it's nearly impossible to remove. Stronger substances, like grease and acid-containing tomato or citrus juice can be a even greater problem. Wipe them up completely and your hardwood floor will last for many years.

Avoid dragging furniture over hardwood floors. Make the extra effort to lift it of the floor before moving it sideways. Once a scratch is made in the surface of a hardwood floor, the only way to eliminate is to sand it out and refinish, or use wood putty and stain to cover it. Felt pads on table and couch legs will help eliminate the problem before it occurs.

Strong sunlight will, over time, fade even the best quality hardwood floors. Keeping drapes closed or using a diffuser curtain will reduce the incident UV rays that do the damage. Using louvres rather than blinds enables you to direct the sunlight up and away from the floor, reflecting it off the walls and ceiling. That dramatically reduces any UV radiation reaching your floor.

Treat your floor periodically with a protective coating made especially for hardwood floors. That will help deflect sunlight and offer partial protection against stains and scratches.

American Oak, Brazilian Walnut or Teak and other hardwood flooring materials will often be sold with warranties as long as 50-years. But that will cover only major defects in the plank. Because surface scratches, scuff marks and stains can occur in any wood surface, they are not covered. You can easily keep problems to a minimum by the proper care and treatment of your beautiful hardwood floors.