Hardwood Floors
Maintaining Hardwood Floors Year Round
October 11, 2017,4:49 pm
Maintaining Hardwood Floors Year Round
Hardwood is often the preferred flooring throughout homes, as it adds an elevated appearance and traps less dirt, dust and germs than carpet. However, this elevated look can become tarnished over the years if hardwood is not properly maintained. To avoid the costly expense and inconvenience of sanding, refinishing, or even a complete replacement, Exclusive Cleaning and Restoration knows that maintaining hardwood floors year round is key. If you have hardwood flooring throughout your home, read on for our suggested at home maintenance and cleaning procedures. Daily Cleaning Okay – ‘daily’ might be a strong word, but if you have time to dust and sweep your hardwoods on a daily basis, this is your best defense against scratches and surface damage that comes with daily activities. We suggest conducting a quick sweep to pick up any larger items or loose dirt and dust, and then doubling back with a microfiber mop to efficiently pick up and trap remaining messes.
Weekly Cleaning Common misconception – vacuums are only for cleaning carpets. Not in our book! Busting out the vac at least once a week is great for cleaning those harder to reach places, such as corners, under bookshelves, and so on. Reminder: if your vacuum has wheels on it, be sure not to let them scrape along the hardwood in order to avoid scrapes and damage. And, if vacuuming isn’t your style, you can always wet mop, just remember that water and hardwood don’t mix! Lightly mist the surface with hardwood cleaner and wipe away impurities. Monthly Cleaning Polish, polish, polish. Polishing hardwood not only renews and refreshes the surface, but it also ensures that the finish is getting the most attentions, filling microscopic scratches and events out the surface with minimal effort. Simply purchase hardwood polish, spray, and buff out to reveal shiny, good-as-new floors.
Yearly Cleaning Like most items within the home, a deep clean once a year is a fantastic rule of thumb for maintaining quality. A deep scrub, finish or gloss will save you years before needing to sand, refinish or replace your hardwood flooring. Of course, if you aren’t keen on spending your spare time with another household chore, we’re here to help. Our professional three-step cleaning system will clean, re-coat, and refurbish your hardwood floors, reversing and preventing years of damage. Learn about Exclusive cleaning and Restoration’s Hardwood Floor Cleaning & Refinishing services in Summit County. |
Maintaining Hardwood Floors
March 1, 2017,4:41 pm
Top Tips for Maintaining Hardwood Flooring
Whether your hardwood floors were just installed in your new home, or they have been around for awhile, they all need some TLC to keep them well-maintained and looking like new. The stress of daily-wear takes a toll on flooring, so that’s why we have a few hardwood floor cleaning and hardwood floor refinishing tips to take the question out of cleaning your Breckenridge hardwood floors.
Get rid of that dirt!While it may seem like an intuitive first step, before you address any cleaning or polishing of your wood flooring, make sure to sweep, swiffer, or vacuum to remove all of the debris, dust, and dirt that is on the surface of your floor, or hiding in the corners. If you use a vacuum, make sure to use a felt or brush style head, so not to damage your floors. Additionally, check the wheels and bottom of the vacuum for dirt or food particles that could potentially scratch the wood.
Dealing with spills and spotsWhile there is some controversy on how to clean your hardwood flooring and whether or not to use water, we recommend skipping the worry and opting for a no-water technique. Depending on your floor type and finish, water can cause buckling, staining, and ultimately damage your expensive wood floors. Also, it may be tempting to opt for a DIY home floor cleaner, but there are several home products that can severely damage your floors such as vinegar, oil based soaps, wax products that are either liquid or paste, and basic household cleaners that have ingredients such as citrus oils, tung oil, silicon or ammonia. We instead suggest picking up a bottle of non-oil, hardwood-floor specific cleaner at your local grocery store for cleaning. Spray the cleaner on a sponge mop, or soft, clean cloth, and you’ll be set conquer those spill and spots on your flooring.
The final step – PolishingFinally, after the first two steps are finished, it’s time to make your Breckenridge hardwood floors sparkle. Your local home improvement store should carry hardwood-floor specific polishing and buffing products, so grab a bottle and get ready to make your floors shine. Using a soft cloth –preferably microfibre– apply the polish directly to the cloth. Work in small areas at time, going with the grain of the wood, and using a feathering motion to avoid streaks of polish. Make sure not to polish yourself in, so find the exit and work towards that as you polish! Furthermore, once these steps are finished, allow the floor to dry for at least 1 hour before allowing light traffic, and 24 hours for heavy traffic.
Preventative MeasuresWhile cleaning and polishing are great steps to maintaining your floors, there are a few additional tips and trick that will help you reduce wear-and-tear on your home’s hardwood flooring.
While these tips are great for everyday care of your hardwood flooring, we realize things get busy, and you may not have the time to dedicate to maintaining your flooring. Exclusive Cleaning and Restoration understands this, and with their 3 steps care process, they will take care of your hardwood floor cleaning and hardwood floor refinishing, giving you the time to deal with all the other things on your to-do list.
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