How to Protect Your Hardwood Flooring

• Everyday cleaning
• What damages wood
• Humidity in winter
• Mats and felt pads
• Refinishing and wear
• Need a hand?
• Frequently asked questions

Most of the wear on a wood floor is not dramatic. It is fine sand and road salt tracked in on shoes, which acts like sandpaper on the finish every time somebody walks over it. Getting that grit off the floor is the single most useful habit.

If you are not sure what your finish will tolerate, check the manufacturer’s care sheet for your floor. Most warranties name the cleaning methods they allow.

Knowing what actually causes the damage makes the prevention obvious.

• Grit and salt. The main cause of a dull, scratched finish. It arrives on shoes and gets walked in.
• Standing water. Wood swells where it sits. Watch the dishwasher, the fridge line, boots by the door and plant pots without a saucer.
• Pet claws. Untrimmed nails leave fine scratches, and a dog stopping quickly on a hallway floor leaves clusters of them.
• Sun. Direct sunlight changes the colour of wood over months. Anything left in one spot leaves a pale or dark rectangle behind when it moves. Blinds, sheers or UV film even things out, and so does moving rugs around occasionally.
• Dry winter air. Wood gives up moisture and shrinks, which opens gaps between boards. Some seasonal movement is normal, but extreme dryness can split boards.
• Furniture. Dragging a chair leaves a scratch in one second. Heavy pieces left on bare wood press permanent dents into softer species.

Installer tip: take shoes off at the door. It sounds like small advice, and it does more for a wood floor than any product you can buy.

This is the one that catches Toronto homeowners out. A house with forced-air heat can get very dry in January while the furnace runs, then humid again in July. The wood follows that air. It shrinks in the dry months and swells when the humidity climbs, and the gaps you see between boards in February usually close again by summer.

Most hardwood manufacturers ask you to hold indoor humidity in a range of roughly 35 to 55 per cent year round, and the exact numbers are in your warranty. A cheap hygrometer tells you where you actually are. In winter, a humidifier on the furnace or a portable one in the main living area keeps the floor stable. In humid summer weeks, air conditioning or a dehumidifier in the basement does the same job in reverse.

The point is not hitting an exact number. It is avoiding the swings. A floor that sits in a steady range moves very little, and boards that move very little stay flat and tight.

Two cheap habits prevent most of the damage people call us about.

Mats at every entrance. A coarse mat outside to knock the grit off, and an absorbent one inside to catch melting snow and salt. Shake them out often, because a saturated mat just holds water against the floor. Avoid rubber-backed mats on wood, since some backings trap moisture and can discolour the finish. Rugs in traffic lanes and in front of the sink take the same wear that would otherwise land on the boards.

Felt pads under everything. Every chair, table, sofa and bed leg gets a felt pad, and the pads get checked a couple of times a year because grit embeds in them and turns them into sanding blocks. Under heavy pieces like a piano or a full bookcase, use wide cups that spread the load. Never drag furniture across a wood floor. Lift it, or walk it on a rug slid underneath.

Also worth doing: trim pet nails on a schedule, keep the vacuum’s hard floor setting on, and put a tray under anything that holds water.

Being able to sand a floor back and start again is what separates real wood from the look-alikes, but not every wood floor has that option.

Solid hardwood is one piece of wood the whole way down, so it can usually be sanded and refinished several times over its life. That is why an old solid floor can be brought back after decades of wear.

Engineered hardwood has a real wood veneer over a stable core, and how many times it can be refinished depends entirely on how thick that veneer is. A thick wear layer will take a sanding once or twice. A thin one will not take any, and sanding it goes through to the core. The thickness is on the product spec sheet, so check it before you assume a refinish is in your future. Between those two options, a light screen and recoat, which refreshes the finish without sanding into the wood, is often enough to deal with surface scratches on either type.

Laminate and vinyl cannot be refinished. Damaged planks get replaced instead, which is worth knowing when you compare them with wood.

One more thing that affects how a floor ages: the floor you choose in the first place. Matte and satin finishes hide fine scratches better than high gloss, lighter and more varied grains hide dents and dust better than a dark uniform stain, and harder species take everyday knocks better than soft ones.

We supply and install hardwood across Toronto and the GTA, with a free in-home measure first. Browse solid hardwood and engineered hardwood, or read about hardwood installation and staircase remodelling.

Get a free Quote!