Regular

With today’s advances in wood flooring stains and finishes, cleaning your wood floors has never been easier.

Regular maintenance requires little more than sweeping with a soft bristle broom, or vacuuming with a soft floor attachment if your wood floor includes a beveled edge that could collect debris.

You also should clean your floors periodically with a professional wood floor cleaning product, preferably one recommended by a wood flooring professional.

Preventive

Pro-active steps you can take to minimize maintenance and maintain the beauty of your wood floors:

• Do not use sheet vinyl or tile floor care products on wood floors. Self-polishing acrylic waxes can cause wood to become slippery and appear dull.
• To prevent scratching, use throw rugs both inside and outside of doorways to help prevent grit, dirt, and other debris from being tracked onto your wood floors.
• Do not wet-mop a wood floor! Standing water can dull the finish, damage the wood, and leave a discoloring residue.
• Immediately wipe up spills with a slightly dampened towel.
• Only wax finish can go over a waxed floor.
• Do not over-wax a wood floor. If the floor dulls, try buffing instead. Avoid wax buildup under furniture and other light traffic areas by applying wax in these spots every other waxing session.
• To prevent scuffing and scratching, put soft plastic or fabric-faced glides under the legs of furniture.
• Avoid walking on your wood floors with cleats, sports shoes, and high heels. A 125-pound woman walking in high heels has an impact of 2,000 pounds per square inch. An exposed heel nail can exert up to 8,000 pounds per square inch. This amount of impact can dent any floor surface.
• Do not slide heavy furniture on wood flooring. It is best to pick up the piece completely to protect the wood.
• Place an area rug in front of the kitchen sink to protect wood flooring.
• Throughout the winter months use a humidifier to keep wood movement and shrinkage to a minimum.