Long Term Maintenance

With proper maintenance, a hardwood floor can last 50 years or more. Besides sweeping regularly and quickly removing any spills, here are some other tips that will extend the life and beauty of your hardwood floor.

• Sliding heavy items like refrigerators, couches, tables, etc. can scratch or even gouge your floors. Make sure, if you can’t lift the item, to use a moving dolly or cart with inflated rubber tires.


• Keep an eye on your pets’ nails. They can cause serious damage to a wood floor. Make sure their nails are kept short and use rugs in heavy traffic areas or where your pets spend a lot of time.


• Use lots of throw rugs especially at entryways from outside areas like the garage, front and back doors. They capture dirt and keep it from being deposited onto your wood floor where it can act like sandpaper when walked on. Here’s a tip for new floor owners – don’t add throw rugs until 30 days after your floor has been refinished. The finish needs exposure to air to cure properly.


• Watch out for athletic shoes with cleats. Make sure they are removed before walking on hardwood floors. Also, check the bottoms of ladies’ high heels to make sure the heel pad is intact and the nail is not exposed. High heels concentrate weight in a very small area and can easily damage wood floors.


• Try to keep the humidity level in your home consistent throughout the year. This may mean adding a humidifier to your HVAC system to add extra humidity in the wintertime. In the summer, your air conditioner will work as a dehumidifier, but if you don’t run it, consider purchasing separate dehumidifier.


• Add soft pads to table and chair legs to help prevent scratching when they are pulled and pushed. Keep an eye on the pads and change them every few months as grit can get embedded in the padding and scratch too.


• Eventually, after years of daily activity, your hardwood floors will start to show signs of wear. That’s when it’s a perfect time to call Northern Oak Hardwood Flooring, for our wood floor deep clean service. It renews your wood floors and removes minor surface scratches and only costs a fraction of the price of totally refinishing your floors. We recommend a deep clean every 3-5 years depending on traffic and lifestyles.