How To Protect Your Hardwood Floors

With winter snow nearly here, there’s a lot to think about in terms of winter projects like shoveling driveway snow and adding salt to your sidewalks. However, unfortunately for your hardwood floors, the road salt from parking lots, streets, or sidewalks will stick to the soles of your shoes and damage your flooring.  Here are a few ways for you to limit the amount of salt being tracked into your home and also a way to clean salt-stained hardwood flooring.

Protecting Your Investment

A good place to start when you realize you are having a problem with salt damage and staining is to place mats inside and outside the main entries of your home.  The outside mat removes a lot of snow and salt, while the inside mat soaks up the water that, if left on the hardwood flooring, can cause the wood to become warped.  Another tip is to have everyone who enters your home remove their shoes and leave them to dry on a towel, mat, or rug.  Not allowing the snow and salt to enter your home is the easiest way to avoid scratching the hardwood and damaging the finish.

Keep Up With Cleaning

If snow and salt still manage to make their way into your home, the next step is to clean up those nasty salt stains.  The sooner you get around to cleaning the stains off your floor, the better.  Allowing the salt to remain on the hardwood only furthers the damage it can cause.
If your hardwood floors have already suffered a beating it may be time to think about replacing or refinishing those floors. We can provide hardwood flooring installations and replacements as well as refinishing services. For more information give us a call or click here for a quote.