Hardwood Floor Maintenance: The Dos and Don'ts

Now that your new hardwood flooring is installed, you're probably wondering about maintenance. Luckily, hardwood floors require little upkeep aside from regular sweeping and vacuuming. That said, there are certain things you should do and certain things you should not do if you want your flooring to last as long as it can. The following are a few Dos and Dont's regarding hardwood flooring maintenance. Enjoy!

Do: Use ventilated floor mats and furniture pads to protect your floors from scratches and scrapes caused by heavy furnishings.

Don't: Use oil soaps or ammonia cleaners. They dull the finish and may make refinishing more difficult.

Do: Clean sticky spots and spills as soon as you notice them. Use a damp sponge or towel and wipe up any remaining liquid.

Don't: Wax a wood floor that has a urethane finish.

Do: Minimize sun exposure by using shades or blinds on large windows.

Don't: Wet mop or use too much water when cleaning your floors. Remember, moisture is the arch enemy of hardwood flooring, so keep it dry.

Do: Vacuum! Using a vacuum (without a beater bar) is a great way to get dirt, dust, and debris out of hard-to-reach places like between boards and behind furniture.

Don't: Freak out when your flooring starts to change color. All hardwoods fade or change shades over time. This is natural.

For more information on hardwood flooring maintenance, call a Stone Wood Outlet flooring professional at 503-222-9663.

Wet mopping can do more harm than good to your hardwood floors.

Room Measuring: A 4-Step Process

Whether you're installing hardwood flooring, bamboo flooring, or laminate flooring, one thing is certain: you'll need to know the size of the room in question in order to know how much flooring material you will need to order. But accurately measuring a room can be tricky business: Where do you begin taking measurements? Do you include doorways or moldings? And what about areas with fireplaces or cabinets?
Never fear, dear reader. Stone Wood Outlet has an easy-to-follow, four-step method of measuring a room that will ensure you end up with the correct amount of flooring materials. Now get those measuring tapes out and have some fun!

Step 1:
Measure the length of the longest distance of the room into the doorways. Measure the width of the room, also from the longest point and round up to the nearest foot. To determine the square footage of the room, multiply the length x width. For example, if your room is 10' wide x 20' long, multiply 10x20 to equal 200 square feet.

Step 2:
If you have areas in your room that won't be covered with flooring (for example, a fireplace or a cabinet) just multiply the length and width of these and subtract from your total square footage. For example, in the room above a 4' x 5' entry way will not need hardwood flooring. So multiply the width of the entry way by the length of the entry way (4x5) to equal 20 square feet.

Step 3:
Subtract the areas that are not going to receive new flooring (Step 2) from the total square footage of the room (Step 1). In the example above, subtract 20 square feet (the entry way) from the total room square footage of 200 square feet. This gives our example room a total of 180 square feet needed.

Step 4:
Add for waste. All hard surface flooring requires a percent of waste to be added for installation. The percents vary depending on how much material you are installing. The general industry rule is to add 7% for installations requiring 1000 square feet of material or more. Add 10% to installations requiring less than 1000 square feet. In our example above, we would multiply 180 x 10% to equal a grand total of 198 square feet. The common abbreviation for square footage is sf.

Hardwood floors come packaged in individual cartons on delivery day. You will either round up or down to the nearest carton when purchasing your new floor.

Call 503-222-9663 for more information, or visit one of our four locations to speak with a knowledgeable flooring professional.