Do you ever feel frustrated when walking through the house because you know that you or someone else has damaged your floor?
Many people pay thousands of dollars on their flooring, and then they damage it. Whether you have hardwood floors or carpet, you can avoid damaging the floor. There are some ways to prevent the damage from happening so that your floor stays in good condition.
Choose the right floors
Whether it’s carpet or hardwoods, choosing the right floors for your lifestyle can help you avoid common floor damage. If you have children or pets, the carpet will be a more durable option than hardwood because it’s easier to clean and the plush fibers hide a multitude of sins. However, if you entertain often or have a lot of spills, a wood floor is going to be more practical. Some other factors to consider are:
Do you want to remove your shoes when you enter the house? If so, go with carpet. This way you can use door mats at every entrance and keep your carpets clean and fresh.
Will there be lots of heavy furniture in the space? Hardwoods are best because they don’t have fibers that will get worn down over time from moving beds or couches around for cleaning.
Will there be lots of bare feet running around? Carpet is great for keeping floors warm and comfortable when walking around barefoot.
Try furniture pads
Furniture pads are great for protecting all types of floors from scratches. They go under the legs of furniture and help prevent the furniture from sliding around when it is moved. The pads also soften the contact between the leg of the furniture piece and your flooring. This protection will help keep your floors scratch-free.
Felt pads
Felt pads are great for wood floors; they keep wood from getting scratched and won’t discolor it either. Felt pads come in a variety of shapes and sizes and can be bought at most home improvement stores. Be sure to place them on all furniture legs that will sit directly on the floor. If your furniture has casters, you may want to remove them while using felt pads, as they can snag or even rip the felt.
Floor runners
Floor runners are long strips of carpet or fabric that can be used to cover hardwood floors or high-traffic areas such as hallways, entryways and staircases. Runners help protect hardwood floors from scratches and dents.
Be careful when cleaning
When cleaning your home, make sure you take care with how you clean your floors. For example, don’t use any type of abrasive material on wood floors as this could cause scratches. Also, make sure that there isn’t anything on the bottom of your mop or broom that could damage your floor.
Keep your shoes off
Shoes can be one of the biggest culprits of damaging hardwood floors, so try your best to keep them off. If you have pets, teach them to walk on their paws rather than their claws, which can also scratch up a floor surface. If people must walk through with shoes on, place mats at all entrances to collect dirt and other debris that may damage floors.
Don’t use plastic or rubber casters
Plastic and rubber casters are cheap, but they’re also hard and often sharp at the edges. They can cause scratches in your floor over time. The caster’s wheels are also usually covered in plastic or rubber, which will degrade eventually and leave black marks on your floor.
Caring for the floors
Flooring can be expensive, so it’s best to take care of what you have.
Use an area rug or mat in front of the sink, stove, and refrigerator. Use door mats at any doorways that get a lot of traffic; this will help to keep dirt from being tracked into other areas of the house.
Use floor protectors on the bottom of all furniture legs to prevent scratches. These are inexpensive to purchase at any store that sells furniture or flooring. You can also use carpet scraps under your furniture legs. This works great when you rearrange your furniture and need something quick to protect your floors until you purchase the proper floor protectors.
When moving large items such as sofas or heavy tables you can slip a piece of plywood under the item you are going to move. The plywood will not only help you move these items but it will also protect your floors from scratches.
Avoid water damage
The best way to stop damaging your floor is by avoiding water damage.
Water can damage any type of hardwood flooring. This is because hardwood floors are not designed to come into contact with moisture or water for long periods of time. Moisture and water can cause warping, cupping, and other disfigurations of the hardwood floor’s surface. The amount of damage that water or moisture can do to a hardwood floor depends on several factors.
The first factor affecting the amount of damage done is the amount of time that the floor comes into contact with water or moisture. The less time that the wood comes into contact with water or moisture, the less damaged it will become. For example, if you spill a small puddle of water in one spot on your kitchen floor, and you dry it up right away, your floor will not be damaged at all. However, if you allow that small puddle to sit overnight, your kitchen floor could be permanently damaged.
A second factor in determining how much damage is done by water is the thickness and finish of your hardwood floors. If your hardwood floors have a very thick finish on them, they will have more protection from water than a thinner finish would provide.
In an ideal world, we would all have hardwood floors. They’re easy to clean, they don’t trap allergens, and they look great. But the reality is that most of us aren’t fortunate enough to live in a world where hardwood floors are feasible. If you apply these tips, we believe that you will be able to protect your floors from damage!
