Beautiful flooring for your home
Over the past ten, fifteen, maybe twenty years, everyone is all about hardwood flooring in their homes. Original hardwood floors are the preferred choice, but the world of manufacturing has found ways to make a product that resembles hardwood flooring. In fact, in many ways, it is more durable and versatile than the original, but nothing beats the original, right?
Often though, people get a home with original hardwood flooring, or have the manufactured hardwood flooring installed, and they don’t have a clue about wood floor care and maintenance. There is much more to hardwood floor care and maintenance than there carpeting, linoleum, or even some tile flooring, which is what we are going to review today. We’ll answer some common questions and provide you some hardwood floor care tips so that when you get your hardwood flooring, it will look as beautiful as you have pictured!
So, are wood floors high maintenance?
Yes, care, maintenance, and upkeep can be a challenge. Yet, as we mentioned above, one of the features that home buyers seek and consider to be an amenity is hardwood flooring. If a house doesn’t come with original hardwood flooring, it can be expensive having hardwood flooring installed. are one of the amenities that home buyers often look for when buying a house.
There are three varieties of hardwood flooring:
- Strip Hardwood Flooring: 1-1/2” to 2-1/4” wide
- Parquet Hardwood Flooring: Individual squares creating a geometric pattern
- Plank Hardwood Flooring: Wider than strip hardwood flooring
When a home buyer purchases a home with unfinished hardwood flooring, they have the opportunity to finish the flooring with a stain that will match their personal décor and taste. If hardwood flooring is challenge, what is it that makes everyone desire to have it? There are three advantages that hardwood flooring offers:
- Durability that has proven in homes that are over 100 years old. When hardwood flooring is properly cared for and maintained, simple sweeping or vacuuming is all that is need with an occasional cleaning using a wood floor cleaner.
- The ROI when selling your home with hardwood flooring is found in quick sells to a home buyers that will pay more for a house hardwood flooring versus a home with wall-to-wall carpeting. Even in new builds, a home with hardwood flooring will cost more than a home with carpeting.
- Hardwood flooring offers versatile decorating style. It can be modern or traditional, and comes in cherry, oak, and walnut. If you have a style change, hardwood flooring changes with you.
How often should I clean hardwood floors?
On a daily basis, use a broom, sweep over your hardwood flooring, with special focus in the high traffic areas. Of your vacuum has a hard surface feature, or if you have a lightweight stick, these will work just as well as the standard broom and will collect the pet hair better.
Once a week, high traffic areas of hardwood flooring should be cleaned with a damp mop and the low traffic areas once a month. If your hardwood flooring isn’t sealed, make sure your mop is slightly damp.
Be careful not to use products that are not made for hardwood flooring, like abrasive or harsh chemicals. Ammonia, alkaline soap-based cleaners, furniture sprays, juice, oils, and vinegar, are out for use on hardwood flooring. These products will damage the seal and shine on your hardware flooring.
What is the best thing to use to clean wood floors?
White vinegar, a common kitchen ingredient makes a great natural cleaner for hardwood flooring. It’s all natural, safe on most hardwood flooring, and a money saver too. Mix half a cup of white vinegar with one gallon of lukewarm water and you’ll have clean, fresh smelling floors in no time. There are some hardwood flooring finishes that vinegar can dull, so try an area that is inconspicuous before doing the whole floor.
How do I get my hardwood floors to shine again?
Some homeowners like a matt finish on their hardwood flooring, others like theirs to shine. For proper hardwood floor cleaning and polishing, you need to determine the type of finish that has been applied first. Is the flooring engineered or solid hardwood, does it have a polyacrylic urethane or polyurethane, or a paste wax? Once you have this determined, the following steps will bring back that shine to your hardwood flooring:
- Clear and clean: Remove as much furniture as you can then clean any dirt and dust thoroughly, sweeping and vacuuming. Then with a commercial wood floor cleaner, mop the entire floor. Then go over the floor with clear water, then dry with a clean towel.
- Polish and shine: Pour a hardwood flooring polish in a S shape on the floor and with a flat-surface mop, going back and forth, working the solution with the wood grain, making sure to smooth out air bubbles. Work in three to five feet sections at a time to control the amount of flooring polish you apply, making sure you coat the entire floor in thin layers for quick drying.
Note: Keep from splashing the solution on baseboards and wall to prevent staining and allow the floors to dry for a full day before returning the furniture and allowing traffic.
Can I buff my wood floors?
Hardwood flooring can be buffed by hand, but the easier way is to rent an electric buffing machine. That will work the wax into the hardwood flooring for a protective layer from dirt, dust, and moisture.
Hardwood flooring is a beautiful addition and upgrades to any home no matter the age or style. With good care and maintenance, you’ll have that flooring for many years to come. Need new floor installation in Pantego and Arlington, TX? Call 817.861.3737 today.