Hardwood Care and Maintenance


	Hardwood Care and Hardwood Care and Maintenance Maintaining a Hardwood Floor is not difficult; however, it is important to use the proper products. This will allow you to enjoy the natural beauty the floor brings to your home for years to come. Most floors sold since the early 90’s have some type of a surface finish. These finishes are referred to as urethane, polyurethane, aluminum oxide, water based finish, oil modified finish, etc. In manufacturing, the wood is sanded, stained (unless left natural) and a number of coats of finish are applied. This is either done in a factory or in your home. What you are maintaining is the finish. Wax finishes and oiled (i.e. Tung oil) finishes are different and require different maintenance. There are several very important points in hardwood care and maintenance to keep your surface finish looking new. * Dust Mop, Sweep, or Vacuum the floor often. Dirt, when walked on, acts like sandpaper and dulls the finish. Over time it can remove some of the finish. * Clean with a quality mop and cleaner on a regular basis. Do Not use steam mops on wood floors. * Apply additional urethane as needed to keep your floor looking great. This can be done by a professional contractor. Surface scratches and worn floors can be renewed with the Bona Hardwood Refresher. Click Here for Hardwood Floor Cleaning Tips Suggestion for a Cleaner (If your manufacturer offers a cleaner we recommend you use it. See Below) If you are not sure what cleaner is correct for your floor with a surface finish, we suggest Squeaky Clean by Basic Coatings. Basic Coatings is a wood floor finish manufacturer in the United States. The quality of their products is exceptional. An eco-friendly favorite is Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner. Suggestion for a Mop For an easy to use mop that works well, we recommend the Bona Microfiber Mop. This works great with all our hardwood floor cleaners. Suggestions for Cleaning Kits We also offer Cleaning Kits, at a discount. These kits have cleaners, the popular Bona Microfiber Mop with a dusting pad and extra microfiber cleaning pads. The kits are suggested for floors over and under 1,000 square feet. If you’ve had your floor for a while and it isn’t looking the way you would like. Oil soaps and citrus oils can leave a dull film on your floor over time. We DO NOT recommend these products; however if you have used them, the product Intensive Floor Treatment can remove them. Also many polishes on the market look good for a period of time and then turn dull. Advice on removing polishes. Maybe your floor is just high traffic and in need of a coat or two of aurethane top coat. Follow any of the links to more information and products to correct these problems. Scratch Repair Kits These kits are designed to disguise gouges, and deeper scratches that go into the wood. We carry kits from Bruce, Mannington,Tarkett/Roberts, and. The Bruce kits have three putty sticks and two stain marker pens to match a color range. The Mannington and Tarkett/Roberts kits are for specific floors. Manufacturers that have their own Wood Floor Cleaner American Arbor Craft Armstrong – Use for Hartco and Robbins Basic Coatings Bona Bruce Columbia Dura Seal Harris Tarkett Hartco Lauzon Mannington Robbins Tarkett WoodWise If you would like to talk with someone who is highly trained in Hardwood Care and Maintenance, give us a call. We are in the office Monday through Friday from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM PST. 1-800-949-0142 or e-mail us and request a call during those hours. Be sure to leave a name and telephone number with area code and we will return your call. If you have time to browse our site, you will see we offer a number of high quality products not only for wood floors but also natural stone, counter tops and floors, and select household cleaning products.