Need Some Advice on Cleaning Engineered Hardwood?
Did you recently install engineered flooring in your home?
There are a lot of benefits to having engineered hardwood floors. They’re extremely durable, and they don’t expand as much as ordinary wooden flooring, which means less maintenance in the long run. Engineered wood flooring also increases your home’s value, making it easier for you to sell if you so choose.
Doing the maintenance is the tough part, though, because floors welcome every kind of stain, mess, and foreign material. There’s always a professional option, but it will cost you a lot of money. Instead, you can learn how to care for your engineered wood floor by yourself.
These are cleaning habits you can adopt to care for wood floors. Read what we have below and learn more.
1. Clean Your Flooring Regularly With A Dry Mop
When it comes to engineered flooring, cleaning it regularly will do the trick. Regular sweeping will keep the wood floors clean and maintain it for a long time.
It removes loose dirt and debris before they become a much bigger problem along the line. It’s also a good idea to do this more regularly when you have a pet around. The fur they shed can ruin the look of your engineered wood floors.
Aside from that, you can also give your floor a good mopping. Only slightly damp your mop head before you begin. Light moisture is enough to help clean the wood flooring because of its water-resistant properties.
Careful not to let moisture remain on the floor for long, though. It can still seep into the wood floors and cause varying damage depending on the hardwood grade of your floor.
How often you should perform regular cleaning depends on the traffic your floor gets. If it meets little activity, then once every two weeks should suffice. If there’s a lot of traffic passing through, though, it’s recommended you perform hardwood flooring care at least once a week.
2. Do Occasional Wet Cleaning
Grime and hard-to-remove dirt will always build up on your floors and rugs. This is common for hardwood floors, too, so you need a special way of cleaning it. The solution is an occasional deep cleaning to remove tough stains.
Often, these stains are liquid-based. Pet-urine, unclean water, and other liquids can be hard to remove on engineered hardwood. Specialized hardwood cleaners are often oil-based, making them efficient in getting rid of these stains.
Apply them on a rag or sponge and gently rub the area with the cleaner. Rinse with water and immediately dry the area to avoid further damages.
3. Handle Scratches with Care
Engineered hardwood floors are always advertised as scratch-proof flooring. The truth is, it’s impossible to have true scratch-proof flooring. It doesn’t mean that there’s no solution for scratches made on your wood flooring.
One way to avoid them is by using floor-appropriate cleaners, especially when vacuuming. Use a lightweight vacuum to prevent the device from scratching the floors itself. Also, use a soft-bristle attachment, as hard bristles are sure to damage the floor.
Using concealers will help make the scratches less noticeable. Sanding and refinishing are other ways of handling scratches on the floor. Keep in mind that sanding is only an option if it’s of wood, not bamboo flooring. Some resellers are calling bamboo floors engineered flooring. Bamboo floors are a different type and category of flooring altogether. When we talk about engineered wood, we are only talking about wood flooring.
If sanding the hardwood floor is not an option, you can use a walnut to handle the scratches. Walnuts have natural elements that make them good for repairing and enhancing the look of your scratched floor. Use its oil and rub it in the scratched area in a circular motion to remedy the problem.
Be sure to lift furniture when moving it, as to avoid scratches and gouges to the finish of your floors.
4. Avoid Using The Wrong Cleaner
When using cleaning agents for hardwood flooring maintenance, avoid cleaners that require rinsing. This includes any cleaning solutions that contain soaps or oils. Using these items will dull the finish on your wood flooring over time as a residue will build over your wearlayer. Use a cleaner like Armstrong's Once-N-Done, or an inexpensive vinegar and water cleaner from your local supermarket. After mopping, dry your floor with a clean and dry soft cloth.
Clean spills as soon as you catch them, as they can track to different areas.
5. Consider Your Indoor Footwear
Depending on what you wear indoors, it can damage the wood flooring. Footwear with spikes or heels can cause damage to the upper layer. When there’s damage on the flooring, water can seep through, making wood flooring maintenance all the more difficult.
The good news is, wood flooring can work with floor mats, rugs, and runners. You can use any of these items to protect areas with heavy traffic, like the kitchen, hallways, or the living room. Using a cover will protect the floor from the grit of footwear and prevent damages.
6. Avoid Rubbery Mats
Floor mats and other floor covering are good to use with wood floors, but not latex or rubbery mats. Plasticizer content in rubber-based materials reacts to hardwood flooring, causing discoloration. This substance is good for stretchy materials like rubber but not wood.
Use any kind of foam pads instead for floor mats to get the same covering effect. If your flooring is a vinyl plank, use non-slip instead because it’s good for wood floors. Using the right mat for your wood flooring will help you preserve it.
7. Use Walkoff Mats To Trap Dirt and Maintain The Gloss Level On Your Wood Floors
Walkoff mats outside of doorways will trap dirt and grit from the bottom of your shoes and keep it outside where it belongs. Grit from outside is the biggest cause of change in gloss level in the most commonly walked areas in your house. Having a walkoff mat will lengthen the lifetime of your floor.
Maintain Your Engineered Hardwood Floors Today!
Building a routine to clean and protect your engineered hardwood floors will reward you with a gleamy floor. When you stay consistent with your cleaning routine, expect to get a shine at the minimum effort. Follow these guides now and enjoy your flooring today!
Are you looking for a place to purchase hardwood flooring products? Contact us here and we’ll get in touch with you as soon as we can! At ReallyCheapFloors.com we offer the lowest prices on rigid vinyl planks and tiles, as well as solid and engineered hardwood floors.
