We’ve been fitting floors in and around York for the best part of 4 decades, but it never ceases to amaze us how hardwood flooring maintenance seems to fall through the cracks. Damaged floorboards, sticking plaster solutions, woeful subfloor prep – we’ve seen it all. Luckily, these issues can all be avoided by caring for a wood floor properly and making sure that the installation is done to a good standard in the first place.
Still, we know that caring for wood flooring isn’t always straightforward. You might be weighing up whether the material fits your lifestyle, wondering if it’s too much upkeep, or curious how it performs with underfloor heating. Maybe you’ve just installed your own wooden floor (well done, by the way!) and want to make sure it stays looking its best. Whatever your situation, the right care can keep your floor stunning for decades and your bank account balance happy.
Now, let’s cut to the chase.
Skip to:
- The Top Line
- Why Maintenance Matters
- Deep Cleaning and Seasonal Maintenance
- Refinishing Wood Floors: Why, When & How
- Why Good Installation Sets You Up for Success
- Next Steps
Caring for a Wood Floor: What’s the Top Line on Maintenance?
Hardwood flooring – both engineered wood and classic, solid wood floorboards – requires careful cleaning to retain its integrity over time.
You should tackle spills asap to avoid staining, warping and any other damage to the floor, and aim for semi-regular brushing, dusting and hoovering to get rid of debris build-up that might scratch the floor.
On top of this, perform the occasional deep clean with a damp mop and a non-abrasive cleaning product. If all else fails and the floor becomes damaged, you can always sand down and refinish the surface, given that the problem is only cosmetic. Issues like an uneven, bouncy, or excessively squeaky floorboards, or even discolouration from damp, all point towards structural and subfloor trouble.
Why Maintenance Matters
It might seem obvious, but caring for a wood floor means protecting your investment. While solid wood doesn’t come cheap, looking after it well ensures that you’re retaining its value, extending its lifespan and keeping your interiors looking gorgeous and feeling healthy. Even with a lower price tag, engineered wood benefits from considered care; maintaining your floors reduces the likelihood of damage and, thus, costly repairs later down the line.
Daily Care Basics
Do you live in a lovely Yorkshire Victorian terrace with original wood floors? Perhaps you bit the bullet and installed engineered wood in your apartment? Whatever the case, know that care for wood floors is a pretty standard process that anyone can ace. Really, it’s not complicated at all!
Regular Care
Regular care for wood floors essentially comes down to weekly dusting, brushing and hoovering. Good news, if you’re often low on time. Here, make sure to be delicate with the vacuum cleaner, and don’t forget to use the hard flooring settings to protect it along the way.
Scratch & Dent Prevention
Wooden floors are known for being robust: they’ll withstand the throws of chaotic family life, from the kids running about in their school shoes to the pitter-patter of paws – yes, wood is a great pet-friendly option. However, this doesn’t mean that they’re infallible.
Luckily, though, there’s plenty you can do:
- Have a home rule of taking off shoes as soon as you enter the house
- Keep pets to certain areas, clip their claws semi-regularly and make sure to wipe down paws as they come inside
- Put mats at the entrances or attach a boot cleaner to the wall outside
- Try felt floor protectors on your furniture, avoid dragging heavy pieces around or wheeled furniture that might dent and mark the floorboards over time
- Be careful not to drop heavy items on your floor
Dealing with Spills, Gunk & Grime
Sooner rather than later should be your motto when spills happen. The moisture is bad for the boards, so the longer you leave substances like water, mud, grease or alcohol, the higher the risk of warping, water damage, stains and other unsightly marks.
The solution? Don’t clean the entire floor – simply tend to the affected area with a damp mop or cloth dipped in a non-abrasive cleaner, either specially formulated for wood or with a gentle ingredients list. Bleach is best avoided here. Once you’ve wiped the offending mess away, you can blot it dry with a tea towel.
Tackling Stains & Discolouration
If you’re anything like us, seeing unsightly stains on your beautiful floor will do your head in, drawing your attention away from the beautiful material and the quality of the fit. Luckily, there’s much you can do to remedy the issue:
- Resist the urge to reach for a harsh cleaning product like bleach or abrasive scourers – trust us, this will make matters worse
- Instead, give the baking soda method a go: create a thick paste with water and baking soda to apply to stains, rub in a gentle, circular motion and leave to sit for 24hrs before removing.
- Try a vinegar and warm water solution: dab the equal parts solution onto stains with a soft cloth and allow it to sit for 30mins for stubborn spots, before wiping it away.
- If all fails, you may need to get the professionals in, try a specialist cleaning solution, or refinish the floorboards (more on that last one later).
What About Underfloor Heating?
Another thing to keep in mind with hardwood floor care is the role of underfloor heating. Although solid and engineered wood is an excellent match for this toasty technology, there are limitations.
Sudden changes in temperatures or overheating (typically caused by covering large areas with rugs) should certainly be looked out for. Also, for solid longevity, we recommend using your underfloor heating at low and constant temperatures, gradually turning it up/down, rather than abruptly on and off.
Deep Cleaning and Seasonal Maintenance
As well as your casual wood flooring care with a broom or the hoover, it’s a good idea to schedule in a monthly deep clean. For sparkling yet safe results, the best method is to use a wood-friendly cleaning solution and a damp spray mop (preferably with a flat head) and give the entire room a focussed clean. Encounter any stubborn marks? Then refer back to our stain removal tips after giving the entire room a go around.
Your most important takeaway here is this: never allow your wood floors to get sopping wet, as this could damage the material. Instead, ring out mops, don’t pour water directly onto the floor, and use a combination of tea towels, a dehumidifier and good ventilation to dry it out efficiently. Steam is another no-no.
By implementing these tips, you’ll be strides ahead of a decent percentage of the UK population who don’t mop their hard floors (37%), and even further ahead of those who don’t clean them at all (17.8%)!
Refinishing Wood Floors: Why, When & How
Not happy with the appearance of your boarded floor? Fortunately, you can turn things around with a bit of TLC. By refinishing them, you can, well, as the term suggests, bestow them a new, higher-quality finish – one that helps your flooring last longer, removes ugly signs of wear, and potentially even increases your home’s value. But when is it worth the effort?
In our specialist opinion, a wooden floor that has been fitted and refinished properly can be a major selling point to a home – or simply a beautiful feature in its own right that enhances the interior design of the room it’s inhabiting.
That said, refinishing involves a lot of work and decent DIY competence; you’ll have to fix loose boards, fill any gaps in the flooring, sand down each individual board until smooth and then seal them with a varnish. This is doable DIY, but if you’re after a polished look, consider a professional job. Another thing: you could even lay LVT over the existing flooring if the surface permits and if something more low-maintenance is preferable.
Why Good Installation Sets You Up for Success
Now for our last words of wisdom. Whether you have a standard laying pattern, something like herringbone or chevron, or even a cheaper engineered wood as opposed to the original vintage wooden floors, the quality of the initial fit makes all the difference to future maintenance needs. This includes allowing your floorboards to properly acclimatise to the environment prior to installation; hence why we always deliver wood to our clients a week before we fit it.
With a quality installation, you prevent problems requiring extra care, and at the end of the day, a more durable, well-insulated, longer-lasting floor. This includes protection against buckling, squeaking, gaps, damp and mould, but the list of potential issues is longer.
In our experience fitting floors across Yorkshire, we find that failing to replace an inadequate subfloor is a common flooring regret, but often it’s the fault of a previous owner or subpar flooring contractor.
To give you an example, we stumbled upon this nasty surprise when doing a job for a local clinic in York – the previous fitters had plyboarded over an extremely damp concrete subfloor, rather than completing the necessary work. While we ripped out the damaged material and replaced the old floors with safety flooring here, the same thing could happen to any type of flooring. The lesson is always make sure your subfloor is up to scratch!
See our subfloor FAQs for more info on how to get it right.
Next Steps: It’s Time to Floor Your Visitors
Nice one – you made it to the end of this hardwood flooring care guide. By now, you should know exactly how to look after your wooden floorboards, so that they last as long as possible.
Luckily, for you, maintenance is very easy: it’s a simple matter of keeping on top of your hoovering, wiping up spills when they occur, doing the occasional deep clean with a damp mop, and ensuring that the initial installation meets a high standard.
Feeling capable? Then get the ball rolling with a new wooden floor if you haven’t already – our award-winning flooring fitters are your first port of call for an enduring finish.
Or, alternatively, if you don’t trust yourself with a mop, why not read up on your other options? LVT, for example, is more water-resistant than solid wood and can withstand sopping wet conditions. Either way, get in touch with our professionals for the soundest advice out there.
