Giving your best in learning how to protect hardwood floors in kitchen of yours just shows your love for your space and the willingness to keep things going for as long as possible. Definitely, something to be praised for!
Now you must be wondering what are those habits or maybe tips that can help you with such a wish. Things that’ll make sure your kitchen’s hardwood floor stays nice and neat for a good period of time.
Exactly what we’ll be talking about in this piece of writing. Are You Ready?
Here’s How to Protect Hardwood Floors in Kitchen Following These Tips
Before starting, keep in mind that there are different conditions that might be affecting your kitchen flooring in varying ways. So, there’s actually no guaranteed set of rules that one can entirely trusted for protecting hardwood flooring for a certain period of time.
Because people have different ways of living and so, the conditions inside their kitchen area ought to be distinct from one another. However still, for the most part, giving some easy tips a try is never a bad idea. Keep On Reading…
Moisture Can be Your Kitchen Hardwood Floor’s Biggest Enemy
The first rule on kitchen hardwood protection relates to water damage. Getting spills and moisture on the flooring inside your kitchen is not very unusual. In fact, something that frequently happens. But if you chose to keep it ignored for too long, things will backfire and you’ll have your hardwood integrity risked.
However, one thing that really helps here is having some sort of finish on top. People go for oiling, varnishing as well as lacquering. Just after you get the floor installed, it’s best to keep one of these included.
And also, you should consider reapplications from time to time. This extra layer will keep the moisture away from causing any damage to the hardwood surface.
Now, this also applies to your kitchen floor cleaning habits. If you are someone who in the name of deep cleaning loves to splash buckets of water on flooring and then mop it, THIS COULD BE BAD! Because while you mop one part of the surface, other areas might be covered with water for as long as you’re mopping. This being done, again and again, could cause potential water damages from too long exposure to moisture.
That’s where the next tip comes in handy!
Reconsider Your Floor Cleaning Methods & Habits
So, we already know how you care for hardwood floors in kitchen and keep it clean has something to do with its overall protection. Now let’s talk a bit about what should be your priorities to maintain when cleaning the hardwood flooring. Follow these pointers:
- Never use too much water for cleaning. That’s the counterproductive way and would surely cause high damage instead of cleaning.
- Avoid the beater bars when cleaning with a vacuum every day. Go for felt padding ones.
- The tiny dust particles also play a role in causing scratches on your hardwood floor and deprives it of shining. So regular brush or broom-based dusting is important.
- For regular cleaning, try to keep things water-free as much as possible.
- The engineered flooring requires a deep cleaning session from time to time. A spray mop can be really helpful.
- Instead of any type of bleach, ammonia, or harsher chemical-based cleaners, you should always invest in a proper wood floor cleaner.
- If you have sealant applied on your hardwood floor, make sure to never use any steam cleaners. These would create steam that can highly weaken the coating on top. And also, the steam would be able to reach inner layers and reside there as moisture.
Use Waterproof Rugs for Hardwood Floors, Especially in High Traffic Spots
Area or waterproof rugs for hardwood floors are really helpful for spots that are more likely to get messy and have the most traffic. You want to target the area right in front of your kitchen sink and dishwasher.
Also, where the stove is placed and refrigerator. These are the spots that face spills and mess a lot. And having a rug here would make all those daily wear and tear never reach your hardwood floor.
Plus, area rugs are a great way to make a space look more put together if you buy something that matches the whole décor concept.
One thing you want to focus on is buying a rug that comes with proper backing material. Something that would not leave any residue as well as cause discoloration to the flooring beneath. There are wood-safe rug pads available as well.
The waterproof rugs come with liquid and spill repelling abilities. Also, these are made to not cause any scratches or marks on the floor. So investing in one a great way to go.
Masonite Layers Are Great for Preventing Scratches
Keeping the floor protected means you also don’t want any sort of scratches happening on it. And that sometimes is a hard to do task with wooden floors. If you have a habit of moving furniture and appliances quite frequently, that can be a problem and could risk into potential scratches.
One thing you can do is getting Masonite o melamine layer. Just have them beneath your kitchen appliances such as your refrigerator. And this will ensure no scratch or marks ever appears on your kitchen floor.
When trying to move any appliance, you can use the same thickness Masonite piece for it. If you are trying to shift over rage or the refrigerator, make sure to alternate two such pieces. And that should help.
Overall Thoughts
So, from buying hardwood safe kitchen mats to perfecting your floor cleaning habits, there were quite a few things we talked about today. Now you should know a bit about how to protect hardwood floors in kitchen where things can get extra messy and hard for the flooring to stay intact.
Hopefully, you would use these tips and maybe come up with a few more while trying things out to keep those floorings stay great as new for a long time ahead. Good Luck!
