An unsightly scratch on a pristine hardwood floor can ruin its exquisite beauty. Sadly, scratches on hardwood floors are unavoidable. However, there are a few ways that can help you avoid the inevitable for as long as possible. In fact, you can effectively minimize the dents and scratches on your hardwood floor and prolong its life simply following a few basic tips.
So, let’s look at 8 tips that can help you protect your hardwood flooring from damaging scratches.
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1. Take Off Your Shoes
You’d be surprised to know just how badly your shoes can scratch your aesthetic engineered oak flooring in Melbourne. In particular, shoes with pointy edges or hard heels can cause a lot of damage to your hardwood flooring. This is because they don’t distribute your weight evenly, which increases the risk of pockmarks and dents on your floor. Even shoes with soft undersides can track sand and dirt onto your floor, both of which effectively act as sandpaper that can scratch up your floor!
The best thing that you can do to protect your hardwood floors is to put a bench or plastic shoe hanger beside your main door, where you and your guests can keep your shoes. You can use soft slippers to walk on your floors as they won’t cause any scratches on them.
2. Clean The Outdoor Areas Of Your Home
As mentioned above, your shoes can track dirt, grime, and sand onto your hardwood floors and damage them. Even your pets and a strong gust of air can track and blow in nasty and damaging debris and particles into your home.
So, it’s best if you keep the outdoor high-traffic areas of your house – including the patio, stairways, garage, front entrance, and every other entrance area into the house – as spotless as possible. Make sure to regularly sweep these areas clean to avoid causing any damage to your floors.
3. Place Rugs And Mats In High Traffic Areas
Another great way to protect your recycled timber flooring in Melbourne is to put entry mats and rugs on either side of your main door. This will prevent the onslaught of tracked-in dirt and water, there prolonging your hardwood floor’s life.
In fact, you can decorate all high traffic areas of your home with stylish rugs and mats to prevent the damage caused constant stress. Get area rugs for your dining room and kitchen or other places where you are likely to move chairs regularly. However, steer clear of the rubber-backed mats as they are notorious for locking in moisture that can damage your floors.
Invest in area rug pads to put underneath all your area rugs. These pads are designed to protect your hardwood floors from scratches caused your rug’s backing. Also, rug pads help keep your mats and rugs in place and make them feel softer on your feet.
4. Add Felt Pads To Your Furniture
The best thing that you can do to protect your floor from scratches is to buy lots of felt pads for your furniture. Felt pads or protectors are little round disks that you can attach to the legs of your furniture. They can create a huge difference curtailing the stress on your floor caused the constant movement of your furniture.
Felt pads will effectively protect your floors from scratches and scuffs. Make sure to put them on all of the furniture that you move around on a regular basis. Moving furniture around has the potential of leaving unpleasant scratches on your hardwood floors.
Pro Tip: If you are strapped for time and can’t buy felt pads right away, then you can use old socks, plastic bags, loose paper, or old business cards to act as a temporary protective barrier between your furniture and your hardwood floor.
5. Avoid All Furniture With Wheels
Avoid chairs or any furniture with rollers or plastic wheels as they can easily scratch up and mar your hardwood floors. Plus, grit can easily find its way into the cracks of the wheels of these chairs and cause more harm to your floors. So, either avoid them completely, or if you must have wheeled-furniture, then make sure to carpet the area underneath it to protect your floors.
6. Redecorate Your Floor Plan Every Now And Then
A solid tip to avoid getting scratches or dents on your hardwood floor is to rearrange your floor plan every now and then. Reorganize your rugs and furniture to make sure that your hardwood floors age evenly. Occasional rearrangement of furniture will ensure that the stress on your floor is redistributed. It will also refresh the whole look of your place.
Pro Tip: You can invest in window treatments to reduce the damage to your hardwood floor caused harmful UV rays.
7. Clean Your Floor Regularly With A Hardwood-Friendly Tool
Make sure that you clean and sweep your floors regularly to get rid of all the dirt and debris that will find its way into your home. Don’t use just any vacuum cleaner or sweeper to clean your hardwood floors. Regular carpet vacuum cleaners can actually cause scratches on your floors so don’t use them on your floors at all. Instead, buy a high-quality vacuum cleaner that is designed to be hardwood-friendly.
8. Trim Your Pet’s Claws
If you happen to have a furry, little friend and you are also keen on using parquetry flooring in Melbourne, then you can definitely have both in your life— you don’t have to choose between having exquisite hardwood flooring and your beloved pet. Simply make sure that you regularly and properly groom and trim your pet’s claws so that they don’t scratch your floors.
Hardwood floors wear out easily. To prolong the lifespan of your hardwood floors and to avoid scratches as long as possible, use the above-mentioned tips.
About Author:-
Simon is an entrepreneur and self-proclaimed jack of all trades. Simon has experience in the building and home renovation industry and he knows what it takes to knock out a successful project whether it be commercial or residential. Currently, he works as a marketing consultant with Smarter Timber – a leading supplier of parquetry flooring in Melbourne, grey floorboards, oak floorboards etc. Another interest of Simon’s is travel and the outdoors, as well as sporting equipment and bikes. A big kid at heart – if it goes fast, bounces, slides or you can climb it, you can be sure that Simon has put it to the test.