Years ago most institutional floors and the flooring in homes was hardwood. This was because it lasted longer than any other flooring options at the time. However, it was difficult to keep looking pristine because of the traffic on it each day and the finishes of the time. This is why people put carpet over top of them. Carpet was warm, looked good and only had to vacuumed or touched up with a stain remover.
The urethane finishes revolutionized the hardwood floor industry, especially the prefinished products. Now you can get a beautiful hardwood floor that goes down without the mess of finishing.
- Do Not Wax: One of the big mistakes people make with hardwoods floors is to wax them. This was the traditional way to care for them as bees wax put a hard surface on them. This will leave an unsightly residue.
- Use a bonafide hardwood floor cleaner. This for removing scuffs and black heel marks.
- Never use ammonia-based or oil-soap cleaners. These products will tarnish and dull the finish. They will also hang around and resist any coating products if you decide to refinish this in the future.
- No wet mops. As tight as the floor may seem water can get in between the slats and cause the wood to swell or splinter.
- Clean up spills as soon as they occur. This is so it will not seep into the cracks of the planks.
The main thing is to get any dirt, sand or staining solutions, like soda pop, off the floor immediately. This will guarantee a long-lasting finish for your floor.
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