July 7th, 2009
Do you realize that dragging things from outside across the floor, it becomes perfect sandpaper to scratch, grind, dull and dent the finish and surface? If you don’t even feel that you scratch your floor walking through it with the muddy shoes, you always leave all sorts of dirt, gravel, and tiny morsels of mud. It is not a crime to get dirt on the wood floor, it will happen – the crime is not cleaning it. It means that your floor needs to be swept, dust mopped, or vacuumed at least once a day. You must get the dirt off before all housemates start destroying the hardwood floor finish.
Since a contact with water is necessary in some cases, sand, grit and foreign matter become the number one enemy of the hardwood floor. Getting into the habit of sweeping leads to the best prevention, but who has time for this?
The easier way to protect your floor is to stop dirt from shoes coming into your building entrances. You need to buy a good mat to keep the damaging grit off your floor. The best solution is to put a tough, aggressive mat on the outside of the entry ( it will get the heavier mud, soil, grass, etc.) and an olefin or nylon mat inside (it is softer and it is designed to capture dirt and dust your shoes as you enter).
Tags: floor, gravel, hardwood, mat, sandpaper, scratch
Posted in Care & Maintenance | 1 Comment »
July 3rd, 2009
If we make a survey of the most popular wood’s enemy, the unbeaten leader will be water. Everyone knows that wooden furniture or hardwood floor in prolonged contact with water will swell the wood and cause the extreme buckling. Also water may leave dark spots after it dries up, especially on the light color woods. If water can be very damaging to wood, how about porches or decks? They are exposed to water every time when the rain comes.
The degree to which we can use water depends on the integrity of the finish. If our floor is protected properly and well-sealed, we could build a swimming pool on it. On a well-finished floor dampness never touches the wood so when we mop the floor with cleaning solutions and water, we clean the finish, not the wood itself. But we never know if our floor doesn’t have small gaps where water can be absorbed by the wood.
The hardwood floor like anything else, gets dirty, need to be cleaned. Every time when we have to wash it, we should reduce the amount of water on the floor be squeezing the mop to remove the excess moisture, and also use it very quickly.
Tags: damaging, enemy, finish, mop, solutions, woods
Posted in Care & Maintenance | 2 Comments »
June 26th, 2009
The homeowners, who decide to replace the old carpet and want to install a hardwood floor, should know some basic facts how to protect the floor. It is obvious that your floor needs the extra care to avoid any repairs and service works. The wood floor specialists are not so willing to take the small jobs and It could be very difficult to find out the honest contractor who will replace the damaged spot of your floor for a reasonable price.
First of all you should talk to the floor installers what his advice is to last a lifetime of use and if they can explain the do’s and don’ts from their experience. That may be a test whether you hire a professional team with enough knowledge of the wood floor. beyond that, here is a checklist, more information on hardwood floor than most contractors even know, let alone pass on their clients:
High heels
True grit-sand and soil
Water
Dropping Dings
Spills
Furniture
Sun
Vacuums
Mats and Rugs
Harsh Cleaners and other concoctions
Buildup
Tags: contractor, floor, hardwood, homeowners, install, professional, repairs
Posted in Care & Maintenance | No Comments »
