Price: $143.60Common Causes Of Laminate Floor Damage
Water Damage- This is the fastest and easiest way to damage your wood floor. Water damage usually happens when someone mops the floors with water or uses to much of a liquid floor cleaner!
Even though todays wood floors are made to be waterproof they are not 100% water proof! With this in mind you should only clean your flooring with dry mops or with specially designed flooring cleaner used very sparingly.If you get to much water on your floor it will have the ability to seep in between the floor planks and attack the wood from the side. This is the most vulnerable spot on the planks and prolonged exposure to excess water can cause your floor to peel, buckle or warp.
Floor Scratches- This is another common form of wood floor damage that is easily avoided. The scratch in your floor come from one source, dirt and abrasives that find their way indoors.
The biggest carrier of dirt and grime is the bottom of your shoes. If you have enough of it on your shoes you will scratch the floor when you walk.Over time you will start to see dulling in your floor where it is most heavily traveled. To avoid this problem remove your shoes when you enter your home.
Another overlooked cause of laminate floor scratches is furniture. The legs of the furniture can easily scratch a floor due to the weight they support. Anti slip rubber pads under your furniture legs can go a long way when you are trying to prevent wood floor damage.
Wood floors are both beautiful and elegant and easy to clean. Because of this they are rapidly increasing in popularity. Unfortunatley most people that install these floors are not aware of some potential damaging actions and proper wood floor care.
Summer Wood Floor Care Tips
Many times in summer kids will run through sprinklers or swim in pools. If they come into the house after playing in the water and get the wood flooring wet this can lead to potential damage.
Generally wood flooring is not water proofed very well on the sides and any water that gets in between the planks can lead to swelling peeling and buckling.If the water is chlorinated it can also dull the floor over time. and eat away at the clear coat finish resulting in peeling and dulling.
To avoid this always tell children and even adults to dry off before entering the home or lay down towels that they can walk on and clean them up quickly after use!
Winter Wood Floor Care
Many areas use the use of salt is common to melt ice and snow and to prevent slipping. Salt is very dangerous to your laminate flooring. Not only can it discolor and damage the floors clear coating but it is also abrasive and can scratch your wood flooring severely.Water left behind by melted snow is also a potential hazard to your laminate floor and can cause swelling and peeling if left alone.To avoid these problems remove all boots and shoes before stepping on the flooring and clean up any water or salt that finds its way onto the floor.
Laminate Floor Care Tips Tips For Spring And Fall
Spring and fall are both wet seasons and there fore you should always take off your shoes before you enter your home to remove the possibilities of bringing water and mud onto your floors.
Both water and mud will damage your wood floors easily and by removing your shoes you remove the source of the problem!
If you have marble floors then you must acknowledge that they do not need to be replaced. The contemporary trend is to keep up that highly polished stone finish with the aim of showing the elegance and beauty of those innate stone floorings. To begin with, non-polished stone such as marble and granite were used for flooring since they were economical construction material as they were very much heavy-duty and uncomplicated to maintain. Stone flooring only required the customary cleaning such as sweeping and mopping but as styles keep on changing and developments in the flooring industry continue to progress, there is without a doubt a longing for more improved and aesthetic flooring material. As it is, there is also an increase in the expenditure of having such new flooring and regular sweeping and mopping can no longer maintain the highly polished look most homeowners are vying for.
As time goes by, your house in due course takes a beating from customary wear and tear. For example, abrasion from walking on those polished stone floors causes the shine to go dull in the end and it is a reality that only regular polishing can take back and retain the magnificence and style of the flooring which is the most noticeable part of your home. Your floors are fundamentally an element of the central makeup of your house together with the ceilings, walls and the roof. For stone floors, one ought to be conscious that there are customary maintenance procedures and even expert techniques used to keep that highly polished look. Luckily for owners of such floors, one can assemble a suitable maintenance program that will go well with your needs and keep your floors in its novel condition. Aside from this, professionals also offer tile and grout cleaning services included with marble restoration.
The loss of polished stone floors is mostly caused by dust, dirt, sand and other fine particles and with the traffic your floor encounter daily, ultimately scratch the surface of the innate flooring material. Removing the dust and dirt from the floor with sweeping and mopping can help keep the scratches to a minimum. In short, the less scratches on the floor then the less likely that your floors need to be polished or restored. A mop that is of good quality will certainly work best for your marble, granite or limestone flooring. Avoid excessive water on the floor when mopping since a light and damp mopping is all that is required. If there are visible dark grout lines then the answer to that would be to thoroughly scrub and use a lot of elbow grease. Finally, you just vacuum out the debris.
While doing a regular mop and sweep, make sure that the cleaner you are using is not high in alkaline or acidic. Only a neutral ph of seven is recommended for a cleaning agent. Any change in the ph can dull or damage the finish of the stone flooring and produce streaks. At the same time, also check for material that might dissolve the calcium in the water, eliminating the hard water deposits. This is problematic because marble and stone contain a large amount of calcium. If you find this difficult then the alternative is to find a professional by word of mouth and so try to survey and interview neighbors, family and friends in order to find out whom have they used for their successful restoration or cleaning projects. Scout out professionals who can help you in your house cleaning from top to bottom. You should not overlook the fact that cleaning and maintenance is crucial to the durability of your marble floors. Experts on major cleaning projects also provide carpet cleaning services boca and if you did your research correctly, then you have hired professionals who remember that you, first and foremost, the owner and is the one in control.
You may have been thinking about installing hardwood flooring in your home but have held back because you're concerned about how difficult it will be to install. Good news! There's a new type of flooring on the market called "floating hardwood floor" that is designed to be simple to install. It works exactly the way it says. With no glue or nails to secure it to the sub-floor, it basically floats. To add to its benefits, you can install it right on top of your existing hardwood floors, so you don't have the work and mess of tearing out the old floor.
Initially you'll want to determine if your sub-flooring is level and make sure it's clean. If you find areas that aren't level, you can use a joint compound that has been specially-formulated to take care of the problem. You also need to make the decision about which direction you want to lay your hardwood planks.
Another reason that floating flooring is so easy to use is that the boards interlock using a system of tongue-and-groove. In order to permanently secure the boards together, however, you will also need to apply glue between the planks. Use the glue sparingly, and wipe off any that comes through the cracks between the boards immediately. It you allow globs of glue to dry on the flooring, it will necessitate your spending time removing them later.
The most critical part of laying a hardwood floor is getting the first three rows of planks perfectly straight and fitting them together tightly. If these three rows aren't laid correctly, it will cause you problems in installing the entire floor. By using clamps or straps, you can make sure that these rows will stay snugly in place until the glue dries. After the first three rows have dried in place, it should be relatively easy to add the rest of the boards and complete the floor.
You will need to leave about a half inch gap around the edges of the flooring where it meets the walls. The gap is necessary, because of expansion and contraction inherent in wood flooring as seasons and temperatures change. Each flooring is different, however, so you'll want to consult the manufacturer's instructions that were included with the flooring to find out the size of gap they recommend. After the floor is finished you will cover the gaps with base molding, so it won't show.
Once all of the boards have been glued in place, you'll need to let the glue dry for the amount of time specified in your instructions. When the floor is dry, you'll be able to sand it with an electric sander and then finish it with whatever stains and urethane coatings you choose. This is the one step in the process that many people opt to hire a professional to handle for them, but you can do it yourself very successfully if you take your time.
