Standing water, sand and grit are your floor’s worst enemy. Daily dry moping will go a long way to protect your wood floor. It is also a good idea to have rugs in front of doorways with outside access, but be careful not to let wet rugs sit for extended periods of time on your floor.
We recommend that you dry mop your floor once a week, or when the floor is visibly dirty. We also suggest that you stay away from using a cleaner with wax or oil-treated solutions. Waxes and oils can contaminate hardwood floor finishes, creating adhesion and other problems with future recoats. It’s important to make sure any cleaner you use is a non-wax floor cleaner. It’s recommended that you mop your floor with a non-wax cleaner about every 3-4 weeks. Ohio Floors has recommended cleaners in stock at our showroom, that you can give our office a call for more details or to place an order.
Wipe up food and spills immediately with a damp cloth or paper towel. Be sure to not use a lot of water, too much liquid will cause damage to your hardwood floor. For best results buff dry, with a terry cloth towel after spot cleaning. It is also important not to overwater plants that may be on your hardwood floors. Water leaking from pots can damage your hardwood.
Without protection, constant sliding and movement will prematurely wear and scratch your floor. We encourage you to utilize felt floor protectors on your chairs and other pieces of furniture. For chairs that are moved regularly we recommend a protector that is attached to the leg by a nail or metal fastener, stick on protectors can fall off and cause damage before you notice it has fallen off. However, stick on protectors work well for larger furniture that is not readily moved.
Particular shoes and your pet’s claws can potentially scratch up your hardwood floor. Women’s high heels can dent your floor, so we encourage you to keep all your shoes, both men’s and women’s, properly maintained. Ohio Floors also recommends that if you have pet’s, to keep their nails trimmed to prevent scratching your hardwood floors.
Have high traffic areas in your home? Area rugs are good option to prevent potential scratches in those high traffic areas, as well as under tables. Using an approved hardwood floor protective pad under area rugs is also a good idea, to help prevent your rug from scratching the hardwood floor, as well as keeping it from slipping. Ohio Floors recommends that you never place a rug on a newly coated floor until the floor has dried for at least 3 weeks. After the rug is placed, it is a beneficial to move it slightly every few months to avoid defined “age lines.”