Collaborative Post¦ Taking the time to carefully restore your floorboards makes a huge difference to the overall feel of your home, as well as reducing the chore of undertaking daily maintenance to keep your flooring fresh. Whether your floorboards have been through daily wear and tear or hidden under carpets for the last few years, these simple tips will help you restore them to their former glory, and let you enjoy their natural beauty for months and years to come.
Carrying Out Your Floor Restoration
Avoid Potential Water Damage
If your floorboards appear dull, patchy or are coloured unevenly, it can be tempting to try and scrub them back to their full shine. However, it’s crucial to choose your floor cleaner wisely. Dripping water – either accidentally or on purpose – onto your floorboards can cause them to stain and discolour easily, and even to bloat and warp out of shape. Rather than jumping straight in with your everyday house cleaner, you should use a specialised wood cleaner to carefully lift away any dirt or discolouration, before you move onto the next stage of your floor restoration.
Get Sanding (Carefully)
One of the most effective ways to restore your wooden floorboards to their natural beauty is to sand away uneven areas and remove any buildup of dirt and grime. If you’re taking on the challenge of sanding your floorboards by yourself, you’ll need a handheld sanding machine, as well as safety equipment like goggles and a facemask. Sanding can get messy, quickly, so it’s important to have all the correct equipment to hand to keep dust from getting in your eyes and throat.
If you’d prefer to leave sanding to the experts, or you’d simply like a professional opinion on the best way to treat your floorboards, Quicksand Flooring specialises in sanding, staining and restoring hardwood flooring on a bespoke basis.
Incorporate a Natural Stain
Although it might be unnoticeable if the wooden flooring in your home has been hidden away for years, every floorboard has a unique grain and pattern that makes hardwood a beautiful, original feature within your home. Once you’ve carefully stripped away any stains by sanding, staining your floorboards with a light varnish is an incredibly effective way of restoring them to full shine.
Stains work by soaking into the wood grain, so it’s important to ensure your floors are sanded evenly and smoothly before you begin the staining process. As well as keeping your floorboards beautifully deep and shiny, many stains have water and spillage resistant properties, which will help protect your flooring for the future too.
Keeping Your Restored Flooring Stain-Free
Place Rugs in High Traffic Area
Once you’ve got the big jobs done when it comes to restoring your floorboards, it’s time to think about how you can look after them on a day to day basis. If you’re lucky enough to own wooden floorboards in high traffic areas like kitchens, bathrooms, hallways and landings, it’s a good idea to protect your flooring from any spillages, scuffs or dirt that’s more likely to come about in these areas.
Introduce a No-Shoe Rule
One of the biggest reasons your floorboards grow dull and uneven over time is from the stress of materials resting or digging into them. Over time, pet paws, shoes and even small stones and grit from the pavement can scratch and scuff your floors, creating darker grooves in them, and leading to an uneven finish. Encouraging any guests and children to leave their shoes at the door is a simple, but very effective way to preserve your floor restoration for longer.
Disclosure: This is a collaborative post.