Maintenance for Hardwood Flooring

The key to enjoying beautiful flooring is proper maintenance.  The no-maintenance floor does not exist.  Proper maintenance is necessary for all hardwood flooring, regardless if the product is pre-finished at the factory or finished on the installation sight.

Both preventative and routine maintenance are important to the long term performance and natural beauty of your hardwood floor.

Preventive Maintenance:

Use protective walk-off mats at the exterior doors to help prevent sand and grit from walking onto the floors.  Gritty sand is flooring's worst enemy.  It is very important to keep any grit or dirt off your wood floors.

Install proper floor protectors on furniture used on hardwood floors.  Protectors will allow chairs and furniture to move easily over the floor without scuffing or scratching.  Clean the protectors on a regular basis to remove any grit that may have become imbedded in the protectors.

For general cleanup on floors, use a lightly damp cloth to wipe up mess and be sure to wipe area dry.  If too much water is used it can seep between boards leaving dark stains and may even warp the boards.  Therefore, it is important to wipe up any liquid spills IMMEDIATELY with a damp cloth and towel dry.

Never wash or wet-mop wood floors.  Excessive water causes wood to expand resulting in possible damage to the flooring.

Keep high heel shoes in good repair.  Heels that have lost their protective cap thus exposing the fastening nail, will exert over 8,000 lbs per square inch of pressure on the floor.  That's hard enough to damage hardened concrete!

Routine Maintenance:

We recommend on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, depending on the traffic and dirt particles accumulated, wipe down your floors with a good clean mop (not a sponge mop) with your non-wax wood floor cleaner.

When traffic patterns or dull spots begin to show, your finish is worn and should be professionally reapplied.  This is a process the industry calls "Screen and coat".

This is a one-day process.  The necessary frequency will depend on the amount of traffic your floor receives.  However, to keep your floors looking in good condition, we recommend not waiting more than 2-3 years.  Please call for an estimate when you feel a screen and coat is necessary.

If the floor is too worn for the screen and coat to repair, it will be necessary to resand and refinish.  It is important to have the screen and coat process done in a timely manner to avoid the necessity of resanding.

Any damages to your floor may either screen and coat or resanding and refinishing your floor depending on the damage.  You should request an estimator to assess your problem and its remedy.  You could do further damage by attempting to correct the problem.

NO RUGS FOR 5 DAYS!! For a water base finish

NO RUGS FOR 14 DAYS!! For an oil base finish