It is easy to build a house using concrete and steel, but it is quite a challenge to do so using wood. You might wonder why this is so, when wood is, perhaps, one of the most common building materials there is around.
This is because, unlike concrete, wood is an exhaustible resource. Meaning, if nobody plants trees, then it’s not likely that we will get any hardwood. And since most of our forest are starting to get depleted, then it is likely that the availability and cost of hardwood would continue to rise over time. Thus, our hardwood floors deserve the best treatment, if we are to expect longevity and stability from them.
So how do we clean our hardwood floors to ensure that they last long enough for the next generations to enjoy and benefit from? Here are some tips you might want to consider.
First, when cleaning your hardwood floor, make sure that you use a broom that explodes at the ends. A broom with too fine bristles won’t trap the dirt and will only have it accumulate within the little cracks and creases.
Over time, this will damage your flooring and eventually cause wear. You won’t be able to notice the changes until the damage becomes apparent. Surely this is something you want to avoid.
Second, do not use oil based soaps to clean your flooring. There are cleaning liquids made especially for hardwood floors that won’t cause damage to their finish. Remember that a finish is what shields your hardwood floor from wear and spills, so must always check if the coat is still thick enough to serve its purpose.
Third, do not leave standing water or wet rags on your hardwood floor. If this is too late, you can choose to either sand the affected area or replace the plank where the damage has been done. But if the water has just been these for a short while and your finish is newly done, then you have nothing worry about. Just wipe the wet area with a soft dry rag and you’re good to go.
Cleaning your hardwood floor requires diligence on your part, because, well, hardwood floors deserve to be maintained properly. They bring stability and sturdiness to your living space. The least you can do is to make sure it is cared for properly.
This might sound silly but there are actually people willing to pay to have a semblance of damage and wear on their hardwood floors. Just when we have been trying to figure out how to get rid of stains and scratches, there are some modern design enthusiasts who find pleasure and uniqueness in a distressed or scraped look.
Observing how the specially distressed hardwood floors turn out, perhaps they have reason to become fans of the method. Distressed hardwood floors, when done expertly, actually give a natural and earthy feel to the room — a certain air that is absent with perfectly finished and polished hardwood floors.
Since you’re still reading this article at this point, perhaps you are looking for tips on how to choose the right distressed material to become your hardwood floor. And you won’t be disappointed. Here are some tips you should consider before deciding if such kind of flooring is for you.
Handmade versus machine made distressed wood
Obviously, anything that requires manual labor is more expensive than having it factory made. The higher price of handmade distressed hardwood flooring is anchored on the fact that apart from the labor, no two hand distressed floor planks are the same.
If you purchase a factory manufactured distressed wood, you are likely to see the same scrapings at another part of the floor. The variety of scrapings on factory made distressed floors is limited, whereas if done by hand, the designs are limitless.
When choosing a distressed hardwood floor, realize that distress connoisseurs can easily spot a fake. Thus, only venture into this kind of design if you have the budget to spare. For a single square foot of machine made distressed flooring, you should expect to spend $10 or more. Handmade ones fetch $15 and above for the same size.
Finally, just because it’s distressed doesn’t mean you can just scrape away. There is a technique to this project to achieve a tastefully done “damage”. The most skilled hands will have your flooring turn itself into a great conversation piece at social gatherings and make your friends green with envy. But a poorly distressed floor will only invite mockery, and might even give the impression that you don’t know how to take care of your home.
Refinishing your hardwood floors yourself can be pretty daunting and those who are bent on making their floors look like new the do it yourself way may find it more convenient to just have the entire floor replaced, instead.
If you are planning to refinish your hardwood floors without calling in the professionals, it is advised that you buy tongue and groove materials so that you can easily snap them together. Buying prefinished hardwood flooring will also save you a lot of time and effort.
What is the cost of refinising hardwood floors?
The normal cost of refinishing hardwood floors around $1.25 to $4.00 for every square foot. If you bring in a professional, you stand to spend between $3 and $3.50 for every square foot on labor alone. So if this is an expense you wish to avoid, then refinishing your hardwood floor yourself is your best option. You do have to be ready for the task ahead, though.
The total cost of refinishing your hardwood floor varies depending on several factors.
What is your hardwood floor’s present condition? There are instances when, prior to the refinishing job itself, structural repairs have to be made. Such repairs will add to your expense. Your expenditure is also likely to rise further if the floor is covered by another type of flooring, like linoleum or carpet, as having these removed will add to the bill. You can choose to do this job yourself, but you won’t enjoy it.
The cost can also be affected by the kind of hardwood you have. Maple, for instance, will need professional tampering because it is relatively difficult to refinish. If you’re working with engineered hardwood floors, this will be easier, but you have to be careful not to accidentally sand through the material.
However, while it is costly to refinish a hardwood floor, it is well worth the investment. If maintained well, a floor’s finish can go for 40 years before you need to replace it again. If you’re planning to sell your property anytime soon, having nice and sturdy hardwood floors will help increase its appraised value, so you get your investment back in the long run.
The more you understand about any subject, the more interesting it becomes. As you read this article you’ll find that the subject of Hardwood Floor is certainly no exception.
Repairing and refinishing your hardwood floor can be quite a challenge, but with the right preventive measures and maintenance techniques, your hardwoord floor can stay as good as the first time you installed it even after several years.
Some of the best hardwood flooring, for instance, have withstood the test of time and stayed around for decades, even a century. If you take a look at old homes that still stand nowadays, you will see how their hardwood floors have stayed intact and stable through the years.
Thus, if we want to enjoy the full aesthetic and functional benefits of our hardwood floors, we should know how to properly take care of them so they don’t easily succumb to wear. Because hardwood floors are organic and can potentially decay, cleaning them regularly is necessary.
See how much you can learn about Hardwood Floor when you take a little time to read a well-researched article? Don’t miss out on the rest of this great information.
There is a technique to the proper cleaning of hardwood floors. For one, you shouldn’t use a damp rag to wipe it because the moisture might cause damage to your finishing. If your floor has just been waxed and coated with finish, you have no reason to worry about the water seeping into the woodwork. But if it has been a while since you’ve refinished your floor, then you should be careful to use only soft dry rags to polish it.
When sweeping, use only brooms with exploding bristles because they are the most effective in taking out grime and dust. The wrong broom might only have the dirt accummulate in the wrong places and lead to bigger headaches in the future. There are also cleaning fluids that are exclusive for use on hardwood floors. Don’t experiment with other cleaning materials or you might be sorry.
If your hardwood floor has lots of burns and scratches, sanding the area lightly and then reapplying a coat of finish will make your floor as good as new again. If sticky chewing gum is your problem, then you should ice the deposit first until it becomes brittle enough to crumble off. For hardheaded gums, try pouring floor cleaner around it so it loosens up.
Hardwood floors last a lifetime and more if properly maintained and regularly cleaned. Thus, it is our responsibility to apply the right methods to ensure that they outlive us.
You can’t predict when knowing something extra about Hardwood Floor will come in handy. If you learned anything new about &keyword% in this article, you should file the article where you can find it again.
Source: http://www.apxa.info/hardwood-floor/properly-cleaning-your-hardwood-floor.htm
Foremost, you a lot of houses made use of laminate flooring in days past. However, at the moment hardwood types of floors {dominate|control|have control of|have dominance in} the {marketplace|market} as a result of, permanence, and far reaching quality.
When you want to know more about hardwood, it is recommended that you have an idea also about “hardwood floor refinishing estimates ”, “refinish hardwood floors ”, or “cleaning wood floors”. This will surely enhances your skills on home improvement particularly for hardwood flooring installation.
If you want to have additional resources for hardwood installation, the Internet is a huge data bank which you can use for additional inputs. All you need to do is to type keywords like “hardwood floor refinishing equipment, refinish a pine hardwood floor, or cleaning waxed wood floors on the search engine. With that, you will be prompted with lots of websites which are ranked based on relevance to your query.
Below are some facts you may want to know:
Hardwood floors can obviously get dented by liquid, note that your hardwood kind of floor cleaner ought to have a neutral PH; More over certify you do not use oil-based soaps to clean them. The asking price of the engineered wood floor is one reward of hardwood kinds of floors as this exact kind doesn’t cost as expensively as general hardwood floors. So, it does not matter whether you do not have a lot of cash or not. Several the people I know can afford this kind of hardwood floors.
If you choose to do your research for hardwood flooring on the Internet, it is useful to realize that there will certainly be several Internet companies trying to sell off their products; take time to select those that you’re certain of. Laminate type of floors are attaining more and more acceptance each day and this is clearly because they look very much hardwood floors; and they are trouble-free to fix in the home.
Source: http://mentorman.com/home-theater/hardwood-floor-shine-cleaning-pre-finished-hardwood-floors.html