Maintaining Hardwood Floors
If you have chosen to add hardwood floors to your home renovations you have made a great decision if you are planning to maintain the hardwood floors. Hardwood flooring is made from mature trees, and is treated when it is finished. But hardwood will absorb moisture and also scratch if something is dragged across it.
Leaving a puddle of water in your hardwood floors would not be a great idea. The moisture will go into the cracks in between the slates and they will swell as they absorb the water. If water happens to be spilt in even a small spot and sits it can still be seen. If there happens to be any liquid at all spilt on the hardwood floor you need to clean it up immediately. Use a damp mop only when you clean your hardwood floors. There are also floor cleaners that are specially formulted for hardwood floors that you could use, like new furniture usually. Either way only a damp mop should be used.
Dents and aslo scratches happen to hardwood floors often. High heels are torture to hardwood floors. Over time any furniture legs can dent or scratch the floors. It might be an idea to add some area rugs under your furniture or there are also felts available that go directly under the furniture legs. This can be the same as old floors to many people. Also you could add some area rugs to the highly traveled areas in your home such as kitchens, hallways, in front of the couch.
There are some people that feel that the scratches and the dents give their hardwood floors character. If you have a lot of dents and scratches then it is an option to have your hardwood floors refinished. You may need to have your hardwood floors refinished every ten years or so, this will also add a protective top coat to your hardwood floors, just like old floors usually. Moving anything across your hardwood floors to letting your dog run in the house can cause scratches and dents.