Did you recently install prefinished hardwood floors in your home? Do you know how to properly care for your new prefinished floors? If not, you should learn the proper care techniques so that you can extend the lifetime of your brand new floors!
At Smith Brothers, we recognize the importance of regular maintenance and care when it comes to preserving the quality of your hardwood floors. While wood flooring requires much less attention than carpet, it can still suffer from an owner’s neglect.
If you’ve recently installed prefinished hardwood floors in your home, you should know how to properly care for your new floors. Here are a few simple cleaning tips to help you maintain prefinished hardwood floors:
Regular Sweeping and Mopping
With prefinished hardwood, you should be diligent to sweep or mop your floors every few days in order to prevent an accumulation of dust, dirt, and other debris. When dirt builds up on the surface of your floors, it can easily cause scratches when you walk over it.
Vacuum Proper
Don’t just use your regular carpet vacuum on hardwood floors, as the beater bar can scratch the surface of the wood. Vacuuming should be done without a beater bar and you should be careful to use the proper attachment to clean the grooves between wood planks and pick up dust and debris that has gathered in corners of rooms or along the baseboard.
Weekly Cleaning
Prefinished hardwood is unique in that it should be thoroughly cleaned with a proper hardwood flooring cleaner about once every week. The specific manufacturer of your floors should be able to tell you the exact cleaner you should be using.
When preparing to clean your floors, mix cleaning solution with water according to the instructions. Take out your trusted mop and be sure to wring it out thoroughly before hitting the floors. An excess of water can actually cause long-term damage to your floors.
The “Spill Patrol”
Because hardwood floors are susceptible to an accumulation of liquids of any kind, you should be careful to thoroughly clean up any spills or wet spots as quickly as possible. Excess moisture building up in your floorboards is a recipe for disaster, so be diligent to clean up spills with a mop or rag immediately after they occur.
Fight Tough Stains Smart
If stains do occur, you can remove them using a recommended stain-removing product and a clean, soft rag. Once again, your floor’s manufacturer should be able to give you an idea of the specific stain removal product you should use to remove stains without ultimately doing damage to your floors.
If you’d like to talk to one of our hardwood-flooring professionals about your floor’s specific needs for thorough cleaning and proper care, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at 1-403-917-0847 today!