Can I put tape on my hardwood floors?

The best answer is NO. Don’t Google this.. if you do the consensus (from people that do not deal with hardwood floors everyday) is that it is ok. It is not. Everyone wants to put blue tape on their floors especially when they are painting. I’ll say that most of the time, you probably can get away with it…probably. But that 5-10% chance that the tape will pull the finish from the wood floors can be devastating. I’ll explain in a second.

There are a lot of different tapes on the market. Using anything like duct tape, or a packing tape, will almost always cause a problem. The odds are better if you are using a “painters” tape or a low tack tape. We have found that unrolling the tape, dabbing it on your clothing or a surface first, will de-tack it even more and will help avoid doing damage to your wood floors.

The longer you leave the tape on the wood floors, the higher the chance of pulling the finish from your wood floors. This is why if you do apply tape to the wood floors, removing it quickly (never leave overnight) and pulling it up slowly on a 45-degree angle will increase your chances of preserving your wood floors.

THE DAMAGE: What happens when you put tape on your floors? The worst-case scenario is that the finish comes up with the tape and leaves dull marks on the floors, because it has pulled layers of finish off the floor. This will be very obvious, and the worst part is most of the time, in order to get rid of it, the ENTIRE floor has to be sanded down to bare wood. People often think, “just put more finish over the top and it will go away”. Unfortunately, it does not go away with adding more finish.

It can also leave a residue on your floors that will be a magnet for dirt and debris.

If you have to put some type of floor covering on you wood floors, tape the covering to itself and then to the baseboards. This will ensure that you are not having to pre-maturely sand and finish your hardwood floors.

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