What are some things I should NOT do with my hardwood floors?

Do not wear high heels on your wood floors, EVER. This will result in about 2000 lbs per square inch of force on your floors. No wood floor can take this much pressure and will most likely dent the floors with every step.

Do not wet mop your floors or use steam mops. Both of these procedures introduce way too much water into the wood floors, ultimately resulting in the premature breakdown of the floor finish and/or dulling the sheen and/or premature cupping/crowning of your floor as the wood absorbs the moisture and starts to move. If you want to wet mop, we recommend drying the floor immediately with cotton towels/rags.

Do not use any cleaner that says “polish” or claims to make your floors “shiny” or restore the shine of your floors (Orange Glo, Old English, Pledge). Quite often, these cleaners contain wax or silicone which will inhibit the potential re-coating of your floors and make them very slippery. Do not use a strong amount of vinegar, if cleaning with vinegar and water, we recommend a 1 to 10 ratio, respectively.

Do not put blue tape or ANY tape on your hardwood floors, yes, even the ones that say “low tack”. The longer it sits on the floor, the more chance it has to pull the polyurethane finish off, when this happens, it usually means the floors have to be re-sanded. We have, unfortunately, had to sand a number of homes for painting contractors that have left blue tape on the floors, then peeled them off, only to peel the finish off also.

Do not drag your furniture across the wood floors. This also places a lot of pounds per square inch on the floors and often results in scratching the finish. We recommend lifting and placing everything.

Avoid spilling any liquids on your hardwood floors. If this happens, wipe it up immediately. The longer it sits, the more damage can occur. We see this often where potted plants sit on the wood floor, the water spills on the floor over time and leaves a perfect ring around the potted plant.

Do not leave your rugs in one spot for too long. Sometimes, depending on the amount of light your floors receive, and the species, you may not have any issues. Some floors like oak or pine, do not get too affected by the light, other woods like walnut or american cherry, start changing color almost immediately. Check under your rugs once a year. If you start to see a picture frame effect, move them around, it usually only takes a handful of months for the color to return.

Do not let your pet’s nails get too long. To ensure their nails do as little damage as possible, we recommend trimming them as needed. The larger the pet, the more important this is.

Do not go without using furniture pads, we prefer felt and can supply them to you. This small step can save you tons of headaches, especially on barstools in the kitchen (where we tend to see the most damage).

Do not forget to do regular maintenance coats on your wood floor. This is a fraction of the cost of refinishing and can be done in an afternoon. This is usually done a few years after when the client starts seeing some surface scratching or the sheen is getting compromised. We will come in, clean and buff the floors, then apply a nice thick coat of finish. Most of the time, it will look like your floors just get refinished again!