7 Common Mistakes People Make With Their Wooden Flooring

Wooden flooring looks great in any home and is a timeless feature in your design scheme, but without some real TLC, your wooden floors can look and feel neglected. In this week's blog post we talk about the common mistakes homeowners make for their wood to get ruined.

Common mistakes

1. Sanding down your wooden flooring: If you drop something heavy on your flooring, creating a quarter of an inch dent, it's likely you will sand a quarter inch off the whole floor to smooth it out which will shorten your floor's lifespan. If you are looking to refinish your floors, consider screening them, which is a lighter form of sanding. Screening removes the finish rather than the layers of wood.
2. Leak damage: If you come home to a pool of water which has been sitting there for hours, days or even weeks (depending on where you've been) a part of your floor would have warped and cupped. You should let the floor dry out so it can re-stabilise. This can take months to rectify depending on the season and climate but if you sand off the buckled parts too soon, you may be left with gaps between the boards when they dry out and sink back down.
3. Houseplants: You may have plants scattered around your home with some of them placed on the floor. If this is the case, this can cause water damage but there is a solution. Place a trivet under the saucer, so air can get under the plant, otherwise water can wick underneath and sit there for months, resulting in you having to sand or patch the spot.
4. Patching your floor with the wrong wood: This is a common mistake, if you don't match the species or the grain pattern, the patch may wear differently than your existing floors.
5. Stilettos: Unfortunately high heels, especially stilettos can really damage softwoods like pine or chestnut, so avoid wearing them when wooden flooring is present.
6. Chairs: when it comes to chairs, using rubber casters for rolling chairs is a great idea. They will protect your wooden floors from any dents or scratches. If you have an older floor that has been sanded down a few times, the joints between the boards can become very thin and vulnerable enough to break under any weight. So if you're moving furniture around and rolling a chair on top of them, put down a plastic sheet. However, if it's furniture you're not moving very often, there are leather and fabric stick-ons available.
7. Skipping weekly maintenance: Whatever the finish of your wooden flooring may be, get a damp mop and clean your floor once a week - using mineral oil can hide some scratches.

If you're a culprit to any of these flooring mishaps, you can now rectify them with our helpful advice. However, if you want professional help when it comes to your wooden flooring, contact your flooring manufacturer or specialist.