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Wood flooring maintenance

Regular cleaning and maintenance are essential to maintain the long life and good looks of your engineered wood flooring. This is easily achieved: simply sweep or Hoover regularly (with a soft brush attachment) and then wash your floor, using a damp cloth or well-wrung mop. It is important not to use excessive amounts of water.

We recommend using our daily spray cleaner for wood flooring. Never use cleaning products with abrasive, alkaline or solvent-based ingredients (e.g. acetone).

Dirt or grit can cause scratching on any floor surface, so for daily maintenance, you can also use an antistatic dust sweeper. Take care to wipe up any spillages, spots or marks as quickly as possible. Flooding, standing water or other liquids left on the floor can cause lasting damage. Always use good quality floor mats in doorways to catch dirt and moisture. Do not use latex or rubber backed mats, rubber furniture feet or rubber wheeled castors.

In a kitchen, place area rugs or mats in front of the appliances and sink to protect your floor from heavy traffic, water spillages, dropping food, grease, and other factors that can cause premature wear of your kitchen floor

The most common form of physical damage is indentation marking from pressure points such as high heels and legs/castors from furniture and appliances. We recommend the use of castor cups or felt foot pads wherever possible. Office roller chairs must comply with EN12529 (Type W). Use protective office mats under the wheels. Heavy boots, stilettoes and other footwear that could damage your floor should be avoided and if you have a pet cat or dog, remember to keep their claws trimmed!

Do not drag furniture across the floor. If building or installation work is being carried out in the room where the floor is installed, protect it with craft paper, plywood or hardboard.

In kitchens, avoid damage from appliances by placing a sheet of hardboard between the appliance and the floor. When moving the appliance simply slide from one hardboard sheet to another.

Take care with cigarettes, kitchen utensils, hot or heavy objects which if dropped can damage the floor covering.

Wood is affected by UV light, a process known as oxidation. Wood left exposed to direct, unfiltered UV rays will noticeably change in colour in the first 1-3 months. Depending on the colour, the change in appearance may result in it darkening, lightening or yellowing.

It is important to move area rugs and furnishings to allow for even colour change. Use blinds, curtains or other sun screening systems to minimize exposure to UV light. UV-protected windows are also recommended.

If a room is intensively heated, the indoor air humidity may drop so low that the floor could dry out. As wood is a natural material, this may cause shrinkage of the planks that will result in minor gaps in the flooring joints. Similarly, too much humidity can lead to expansion. Use a room humidifier/dehumidifier to prevent this.

Our wooden flooring should be maintained temperature at a constant temperature between 15ºC to 25ºC and relative humidity in a range from 40% to 65%.

Low humidity will cause wood to shrink, high humidity will cause it to expand. Low humidity is generally caused by overheating a room. High humidity by poor ventilation. Gas heaters can also cause high humidity.

Introducing plants that are watered regularly or open containers of water to a room may increase humidity, airing a room can lower it. A humidifier/dehumidifier can also be useful. It is especially important to monitor rooms that may remain unheated for long periods, where humidity may build up.

If your flooring is fitted with underfloor heating, please note that rugs or mats placed on top of the floor may function as heat accumulators and increase the floor surface temperature more than the maximum surface temperature recommended (22 ºC).

Please also note that whenever you are turning underfloor heating on, you should increase the temperature by no more than 2ºC  for each 24-hour period until the desired room temperature is achieved. A similar cool-down timetable should also be used (2ºC  for each 24-hour period) when turning your UFH off.

Periodically, you may wish to give your floor a deeper clean with our heavy duty cleaner which is also good for removing more serious stains. 

If your wooden flooring comes with a protective UV oil top layer, oil renewer can be easily applied to local areas of the floor if and when it is needed, whether to freshen up the surface or as part of a periodic maintenance programme.

In areas of high traffic such as kitchens (or in commercial installations) an initial application of renewer oil is recommended to commission the floor, adding extra protection where needed. This will enhance and prolong the the usability of the oiled surface.

How often your floor needs recoating thereafter will depend on use, but it’s best to do it before it starts to look worn and becomes susceptible to dirt and water penetration - perhaps every two or three years in a normal domestic setting.

A good test is to see if drops of water on the surface can be easily wiped away, which would suggest no treatment is necessary. If water seeps into the wood, however, then it’s time to get your oil out.

If your floor is badly soiled even after deep cleaning and reoiling, then resanding is another option.

If yours is a lacquered floor and has been used in heavy traffic conditions or badly maintained then it may be necessary to rejuvenate the lacquered surface.

The surface must first be “keyed” using a fine grit sand paper on a sanding machine. This allows a new coating of lacquer to be applied without sanding back to the bare wood.

Once the surface is prepared a coat of varnish/ lacquer can be applied.

This is usually a job best carried out by an experience floor finisher.

In addition to maintenance products, we also offer a range of colour-matched stains and wax fillers which can be used to repair any scratches or marks on your floor that may appear over the years.