Have you recently purchased an engineered wood floor for your home? This is a great style choice and it can last for many years but only if you maintain it properly and make sure that you are cleaning it regularly. Of course, engineered wood flooring doesn’t require too much heavy maintenance but there are some things that you can do to preserve it.
In this article, we are going to give you some of our top tips for maintaining your engineered wood flooring. This will include some tips on how you can clean your floor with the right kind of cleaning materials. Keep reading to find out what these tips might be and how you can look after your home.
What Is Engineered Wood Flooring?
Before we get started on our tips, we thought we’d first look at what engineered wood flooring actually is. This kind of flooring looks very like solid wood flooring because of the top layer that is in fact solid wood. Underneath this layer, however, is a plywood base which is what makes this kind of flooring more suitable for underfloor heating and cheaper to purchase. Many people invest in engineered wood flooring because they see the benefits, but few know how to go about actually maintaining it. Find out some of our advice on this kind of flooring below.
Things You Cannot Avoid
When you have engineered wood flooring, it is important that you understand that there are some things that you cannot avoid. When this floor is in a room in your home that is used frequently, you need to accept that it is going to be used all of the time and accidents can happen. With engineered flooring, it is normal to have some scratches as this can be very difficult to avoid when you have a real wood surface.
You should also be aware that the colouring of your flooring can change over time and this is something which many people experience. Any spillages that you have must be cleaned up right away if you want to avoid any serious damage or discolouring and it is important that you know this.
Finally, it can be very hard to have an engineered floor that will not expand and contract. This tends to happen when there is heat and moisture in your home and this is something which many people have to deal with. All you can do is make sure that it is maintained in the best possible way.
Scratches
If you do come across some scratches on your engineered wood flooring, you will find that there are some things that you can do to minimise the damage. First, you should try to use an abrasive matt at any kind of external doors as this will make a huge difference. You should also consider using maintenance oils or lacquer protection to help prevent this from happening in the future.
If you have a lot of furniture in the room, then we advise that you ensure there are felt pads installed on these. This will reduce the number of scratches on the engineered wood flooring. You must also make sure that you aren’t walking on your floor with worn heels or metal spikes as these can cause a lot of damage.
Finally, you should try to lift items on your floor instead of dragging them as this can cause more scratches. This is very important if you are planning on redecorating your home and are going to be moving a lot of furniture about so make sure to consider it. Try to follow these tips and you should find that your floor looks better for longer.
Cleaning
The great thing about engineered wood flooring is that it tends to be quite easy to clean. This is because it is a hard surface and it can absorb less dust that a carpet will. Of course, when it does come to cleaning your floor, you must make sure that you are using the right kind of materials and products otherwise you risk staining your floor and ruining it.
When you are cleaning your floor regularly, we suggest that you use a hoover with brushes. This will protect the floor and make sure that you pick up any kind of dirt and dust. This is simple and should keep your engineered wood flooring clean for longer.
If you want to make sure that there is a better finish on your flooring, then you can also use a wood flooring cleaner. Of course, if you are going to do this then you need to make sure that this is compatible with the top layer of your floor. You should make sure to do some extra research online or with your flooring retailer to help find out more information about this.
These kinds of floor cleaners can usually be applied to your floor with a mop and some water. Make sure to avoid adding too much moisture to your floor as this can cause damage. While these floors often appear in places that have a lot of moisture, you should try to avoid them getting too wet as this can warp them.
If you can follow these tips for cleaning your floor, then you can make sure that you don’t damage it when you do so.
Final Verdict
When you invest in engineered wood flooring, you need to make sure that you are not ruining it by cleaning it with the wrong materials or having heavy items dragged across it. Now that you have heard some of our top tips, you can get started on cleaning your floor and making sure that it lasts for a very long time.
Don’t forget to protect your floor in whatever way you can but also remember that sometimes, a few scratches are inevitable. These scratches can even add some character to your floor so it’s not all bad.
