5 Things You Shouldn't Do On Your Hardwood Floors

Here are 5 simple things to avoid doing on your precious wooden floors. Unlike laminate and tiles, wooden floors are obviously made from organic materials, which are far more easily affected by their environment. With proper care and preservation, your floors can significantly improve your homes appearance and continue to be considered to be an investment.

1. Avoid furniture with casters (wheels). Hard casters can cause damage as they make furniture unstable. Constant movement can easily cause wear and tear in isolated areas. They can also scuff and scratch if they roll over any grit or floor debris as they can drive it into the floor forcefully. If you already own furniture such as beds or chairs on casters, consider purchasing a set of caster stoppers, which are essentially wheel coasters to prevent movement.

For a full list, click here to read my blog on furniture wheel stoppers

2. Never drag furniture across your flooring. Sometimes, this may seem unavoidable, especially when a piece of furniture is too heavy to lift off the ground. However, there are clever lifting straps available which make dragging heavy alliances and wall units unnecessary.

Take a look at products such as forearm forklift straps and shoulder dollies, which can be used to lift very heavy items that would usually be impossible to lift using only hands to grip the object. Greater control and lifting ease will not only minimize floor and wall damage, but will also minimize the potential for injuries, which are common when moving large items.

3. Don't ever pour cleaning products directly onto your floors. Unfortunately, wooden floors have the potential to absorb these products, which can lead to affected areas becoming swollen. Harsh chemicals such as ammonia, dish washing liquid or other all purpose cleaners should never be used on wooden floors.

4. Don't forget to have your dog's nails trimmed. These days, people often don't give their dogs sufficient exercise to wear down their nails naturally. This results in dogs have long claws which have the potential to damage wooden floors. This also has the added bonus of minimizing the sound of your pet's claws, which can be quite annoying.

Be careful not to hurt your dog. A lot of people don't realize that you can't cut deep into the nail.  

5. Try not to wear heels inside unnecessarily. Heels and other sports shows can cause damage.

Most importantly

Do not leave furniture legs without proper protective pads. Even the simple action of pulling a chair out from under a table can cause significant wear and tear if it is done often enough. When considering the cost of refinishing, it becomes relatively obvious that the cheaper option is to invest $15 in some furniture leg pads in order to protect your floors. I recommend you read my blog post on the most highly reviewed gripper pads.