If you are someone who loves the classiness of hardwood floors, you are not alone. There is something about these floors that adds an earthy, vintage, and cozy charm to your space. However, despite being extremely durable, hardwood floors are not resistant to scratches.
And, hardwood repairs are not easy on the pocket. Depending on the extent of the damage, repairs start at $50 and go up to almost $900.
For many years, we have been helping folks in Calgary with not just all their flooring needs but also in avoiding their hardwood floors looking weary and paying ad-hoc repairing costs.
Here are some pro-tips from our flooring specialists:
Know your Wood
First things first! Though all wood flooring gets scratched, some types are more vulnerable than others. There are a few factors that determine your floor’s scratch resistance. These include the type of wood used, its grain pattern, and if the wood has a protective coating.
Our tip: Before purchasing the hardwood flooring, it’s good to look at the wood’s Janka hardness scale that determines how many pounds of pressure can a particular wood take. The higher the rating, the lower the impact of wear and tear. For instance, some of the most scratch-resistant woods include Red oak and Brazilian walnut and are more suited for high-traffic areas. Softwoods such as fir, pine, or spruce have low scratch resistance and are better for areas that don’t get a lot of footfalls.
Keep them Clean
Though all of us would love our hardwood floors to look gleaming and intact always, things do happen. Think of everything that comes into your house with the wind and shoes. These are dirt, tiny pebbles, gravel, and more. And they also make small but visible scratches on your floor.
Our tip: While the best solution is to deep-clean each time, it’s not possible always. Most people sweep their floors, but that’s also not enough since the dust settles right back in. The best way to clean your hardwood floor is to use a vacuum cleaner or a microfiber dust cloth.
Lift your Heavy Furniture
Bold and oversized signature furniture pieces like bookcases, heavy tables, and armchairs look great against the deep hues of hardwood. These and furniture pieces with wheels can cause deep scratches and gouges if you aren’t careful while moving them.
Our tip: For your light furniture, adding pads or wheels helps with their movement. These wheels won’t work for heavy pieces. When you want to move your heavy furniture, lift it instead of pushing, dragging, or sliding it across the floors. Once these are placed permanently, consider placing a cork pad under them as an extra protective layer between the floor and furniture’s legs.
Use Rugs
When compared to heavy items such as couches, beds, or sideboards, smaller items such as shoes and pets’ nails may not seem like a significant threat, but they still can scratch your hardwood floors. Flooring in high-traffic areas is much more prone to these tiny but very visible scratches than spaces that receive low footfalls.
Our tip: You may provide slippers for your guests to use. For the nail scratches, consider trimming your pets’ nails regularly. If these are not possible, placing area-wise rugs is the best solution, especially in the spaces that receive more visitors. Rugs not just protect your hardwood flooring and let everyone enjoy the floors, but also add pops of colours and a fun element to your space!
Use Quality Finishing
All Calgary hardwood floor owners worry about their beautiful floors getting scratched. For your peace of mind and enjoying the beauty of your floors at the same time, the most important thing to do is to protect them with a quality finishing or topcoat.
You can choose from wax (common, but requires frequent touch-ups), water-based polyurethane (easy to apply, dries faster, and has a low VOC content), oil-based polyurethane (affordable, more effective than its water-based version, but has a higher VOC content), moisture-cured urethane (one of the best finishes but requires professional application).
For the final tip, you may need a professional to guide you about choosing the best hardwood floors and how to enjoy them for a long time to come. Specialists at our Home Flooring Design Centre have more than a decade’s experience in serving the Calgary region and adding brilliance to spaces by ensuring your hardwood flooring remains intact for decades. To know more, call us at (403) 984-4100 or email us at [email protected]
