How Do We Protect Our Engineered Hardwood Floor Step by Step? This Is the Guide

Engineered wood floor belongs to the most popular floor coverings. It combines the luxury of solid wood floor with improved performance. People often concern about maintaining, caring, or even protecting it. Therefore, this article will discuss it further here.

What to Consider for Keeping an Engineered Wood Floor

If you want to keep your engineered wood flooring fantastic, you need to consider a few important things. They are site conditions, protection, maintenance, and cleaning. You have to note some characteristics of wood flooring that are inevitable:

– Engineered wood floor can expand and contract with heat & moisture changes.

– You have to clean spillages up immediately to avoid damage.

– Scratches are normal & hard to avoid.

– Coloring can change over time.

– Oiled wood flooring needs more maintenance compared to lacquer.

Heat & Humidity of Engineered Wood Floor

When maintaining it, you have to ensure the condition of the side is suitable. In fact, it is a natural product so that it reacts to the environment. After the engineered hardwood flooring installation, you will need to maintain a good site conditions or stable environment. You have to maintain the humidity constantly between 40 to 65%RH. It will be easier to maintain wood floor in a warm dry space. Since humidity belongs to something you should concern about, you can measure it with a hygrometer.

Besides that, you have to heat the room of installation and keep it between 16 to 28 degrees Celsius. But if you are away for long period of time, it is better to set your heating to maintain the lowest temperature at 16 degrees Celsius. It aims to avoid over-expansion.

How to Clean an Engineered Wood Floor

Sadly, engineered wood flooring tends to show off dirt and dust more than other kinds of floor. Without fibers or grooves for the debris to hide in, it is obvious when your kids track or your pet sheds in dirt from outside. Instead of letting dirt, hair, and dust remain in your tile for weeks, you have to take care of any messes quickly. Below is the step by step how to deal with the messes & keep your engineered hardwood floor gleaming.

Sweep Regularly

Sweeping is the most common and the simplest step. By cleaning it regularly, you will keep your floor clean. So, lose dirt, pet hair, dust, or other debris will be under control. If required, you can use a lightweight vacuum. However, you must avoid a vacuum with a rotating bristle bar because it can damage your wood floor.

How often you vacuum or sweep depends on how much traffic your wood floor sees. For more active areas such as entryways and hallways, you may need to sweep it every day or at least every other day. Then, areas with less foot traffic will only need your attention about once a week.

Use a Damp Mop

You also need to mop your engineered wood floor periodically. How often you should do it depends on the condition. You can a mop for a room with higher foot traffic once a week. Then, you just need to use a mop for a less-used area once a month.

In addition, if your wood flooring begins to dull, you should bring out the mop. Here, you have to keep your cloth or mop slightly damp rather than wet.

Although engineered hardwood floor is more water resistant compared to solid hardwood, you still need to care for it. Don’t let moisture seep into it. You cannot create standing water. After mopping, you must check the floor and then dry off any moisture remained.

Deep Clean Occasionally

Even though you clean your floor regularly, grime and dirt can still build up over time. If it happens to your engineered wood flooring, you will need to use a deep cleaning product. In this case, you have to make sure that you use a cleaning agent that is designed specifically for an engineered hardwood floor.

Besides that, you should avoid a cleaner that contains harsh chemicals because it can damage the finish of your wood floor. To apply the cleaning agent, you can use a sponge, mop, or rag. After you apply it on your floor, rinse the floor with clean water. Then, just wipe down using a clean, dry towel in order to eliminate excess moistures.

Read More : Simple Tips to Maintain Solid Wood Flooring

How to Protect Engineered Floor from Scratches

To avoid scratches on your engineered wood flooring, you should protect it with the following ways. First, for external doors, you can use an abrasive matt. Besides that, you also have to ensure that you install felt pads on all furnishings. Then, make sure to check shoes for worn heels or metal spikes. In addition, you cannot drag items. However, you must lift them. One more thing, you may need to use lacquer protection or maintenance oils.

For your information, oiled wood floor has the extra benefit as you can repair it more easily. To hide scratches, you can apply new oils. Usually, it doesn’t require sanding. On a lacquered finish, it requires a light sanding of the affected area. You should do it before applying new lacquer. Then, types of oil do vary. Therefore, you have to test a small area first before application. You don’t need to worry about scratching. In fact, you can find many good-looking wood floors have scratches that have built up over time.

Tips to Maintain Engineered Wood Floor

Engineered hardwood floor care is not that hard. However, you have to avoid cleaning products that contain harsh chemicals like ammonia. Besides that, you need to steer away from oil soaps and wax-based cleaners. You should only use soft materials to apply the cleaners. Using a scouring pad or steep wool brush to butt of scratches or marks is not a good idea. Even though you can clean dirt, scratches, or other minor damages, it is always better to avoid it.

If you are interested in engineered wood floor, you can purchase it at Jati Luhur Agung or visit jla.co.id.

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