Hard Wood Floors Cleaning and Polishing Service
Protect Your Hardwood Floors
Hardwood flooring is a very aesthetically pleasing type of flooring to have in your home. Not only are they typically easier to clean, but they also offer a warm and welcoming feeling and keep your feet warmer during the winter than most other types of flooring. It really is no wonder that they are a staple in so many homes these days.
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One thing to keep in mind is that hardwood flooring isn’t completely perfect — and no flooring truly is until they are self-cleaning and damage-proof! While hardwood floors are typically much more simple to clean and take care of than most other flooring options, you will still need to maintain your hardwood floors and give them occasional attention if you want to keep them in great shape for years to come. When it comes to hardwood floor cleaning and maintenance, here are some things to keep in mind:
Cleaning Your Hardwood Floors
Hardwood floor cleaning is fairly straightforward, but only to a certain extent. Take a second to think about how you care for your hardwood floors — mainly sweeping, vacuuming, and the occasional mopping, right? These are excellent ways of taking care of your hardwood floors on a day-to-day basis, as this can greatly decrease the chances of hard particles to wear away at the surface of your flooring. Make sure to keep in mind that sweeping with a harder bristled broom can cause abrasions to your flooring, so we highly recommend using a soft, dry dust mop for day-to-day use to keep your wood floors glistening.
When it comes to mopping your hardwood floors, you can actually cause damage to them if you aren’t careful. While mopping is generally a good idea for cleaning up spills and keeping your floors shiny, it is important to do it the correct way for this specific type of flooring. However, mopping the wrong way can actually cause more damage to your floors than the spills and abrasive debris we work so hard to get rid of. Try to keep in mind that hardwood flooring is made of natural, porous materials. This matters for the following two reasons:
1. Because it is a natural material, hardwood flooring is coated in a protective lacquer to help it last longer. When the wrong cleaning solutions are used, it can cause that protective coating to wear away and eventually wreck your flooring.
2. Hardwood floors are porous, so they absorb liquids. The protective coating on your floors helps to prevent moisture absorption, but it can only work so hard. If you leave excess water on your hardwoods after you mop, it will eventually start to seep into cracks between board and weak spots in the protective coating over time, ultimately causing your wood floors to warp.
With that being said, it is crucial to use the right cleaning solutions for hardwood floors and to mop up as much water as possible in order to protect your wood flooring against damage. As a great rule of thumb, if you can see water left behind on the floor after you have finished mopping a room, you’ve been using too much water. If this happens, thoroughly wring out your mop and go over your floors again to absorb as much water as possible.
Ongoing Maintenance
When you are using the right techniques and cleaners created specifically for hardwood floors, sweeping and mopping are both great for everyday messes and maintenance. However, your flooring will still see eventual wear just from people simply living in the home and frequently walking across it. To maintain and extend the life of your floors, it is helpful to keep these tips in mind:
– Make your home shoe-free.
– Put furniture pads on the legs of all furniture.
– Lay rugs across main walkways and be sure to clean under then regularly.
– Vacuum and sweep regularly to remove dirt and debris.
– Add treatments to your windows in order to prevent sun damage.
– Trim your pets nails regularly.
– Close all windows when it rains.
– Fix/recoat any scratches or dents.
By making these steps a part of your routine at home, you are setting yourself up for success by helping prolong the life of the protective sealant on your hardwood floors. Our last tip to truly maintaining the life of your hardwood floors and preventing any damage would be to get occasional professional hardwood floor cleanings. Working with professional services such as Lifestyle Cleaning and Restoration can help to remove deep stains and grime from your floors without causing any damage to the protective lacquer or the delicate wood underneath. Not only can we help to make your floors look good as new, but regularly scheduled professional hardwood floor cleanings can also make the protective coating last longer.
Once that protective coating begins wearing out, you will want to make sure that you have your flooring refinished as soon as possible. Not only will your floors look more full, but they will also damage much more easily. Hardwood floors soak in moisture and get scratched by abrasive debris much more easily without a protective coating, making it crucial to have them refinished. When the weather is humid, this is even more of a concern, as unprotected hardwood flooring begins to warp and split due to this humidity in the air. If it’s time to reseal your flooring, have them professionally cleaned by a hardwood floor cleaning specialist to ensure you get all the gunk and grime out before having them sealed over again.
Make Your Hardwood Floors Shine Like New Again.
Not unlike your carpeting, hardwood floors accumulate grime and dirt over time. While routine sweeping and mopping helps to eliminate most of the dirt you see, the additional dirt that is invisible to your eye often gets overlooked. When you work with a professional hardwood floor cleaner like Lifestyle Cleaning and Restoration, the dirt you cannot see is the least of your worries. It is our mission to provide you with the highest quality hardwood floor cleaning services, which includes getting deep into the hard-to-reach cracks and crevices. We want your flooring to shine the way they are supposed to, and we accomplish this task with state-of-the-art cleaning methods and use only the highest-quality, specific cleaners for your hardwood floors.