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Hardwood Flooring tips and advice

Your home is your castle, and making major changes in your home can include your flooring. The flooring in your home is one of those choices that you make now but won�t change again for years to come. Many of us never get the choice to change the flooring in our homes when the size it too large, or the cost too high. If you are considering changing the flooring in your home, you might want to consider hardwood flooring. Hardwood flooring is a little more expensive than some, but the colors and the wear of hardwood flooring is about endless!

The colors of hardwood flooring are not limited to just a few shades of wood grain, but the colors of hardwood flooring are limitless, just as the colors of the rainbow are. From the darkest shades to the lightest natural shades, colors of the flooring can make your every dream come true. 

Wood flooring is easy to care for and clean. Most all types of wood flooring will have some amount of finish on the flooring which makes sweeping and care for the floor easy. Very little water is needed to clean hardwood floors, and spills wipe up with a clean cloth easily, in all rooms of the home. Hardwood flooring doesn�t require waxing as much as a vinyl or other type of flooring wood, but maybe you would want to use a little beeswax on your hardwood flooring once a year or so to keep the shine and to protect your hardwood floors. 

Once you have installed your hardwood floors you want to keep your floors looking the best they possibly can. Regular care and maintenance is required, but in a little different manner than the other floors in your home. 

First you will need to vacuum, dust and get in the corners of the room to keep dirt from accumulating and getting in the cracks of your floor. A broom, a dry mop or even your vacuum with a soft brush on the end (like you use for drapes) is all you need to keep your floor clean on a daily basis. Don�t use a vacuum with a beater on the end, or a mop that has sharp edges as these can leave marks on your floor even without much pressure. 

If something is spilled on the floor or tracked in by the kids or the pets, be sure to wipe up the spills as soon as possible. Wetness, and sticky messes can be easily tracked if not taken care of right away. One of the best things about a hardwood floor is that you never have to use as much wax as on a regular vinyl floor, as a matter of fact no wax is really ever needed unless you are restoring your hardwood floors which is only done ever ten or twenty years!

Excessive amounts of liquids on the floor can cause wood problems over time. If you spill water, sodas, or other types of liquids on the flooring, wiping it up as soon as possible will cause no damages under most circumstances. Only when liquids have been continually on the floor is your hardwood floors going to warp or look a little different. Along those same lines you shouldn�t use a mop and bucket of water to clean your hardwood floors. A dry clothe or a broom and dustpan is really the only things you are going to need for the majority of your cleaning. If you are going to have a hardwood floor in a bathroom or in a kitchen, keep an area rug over the floor along the tub and in the sink to keep water from continually splashing on the floor protecting it even longer!

Keep in mind that you will not use the cleaner that you use in other areas of your home on the wood flooring. You should never use vinegar, ammonia, soaps, bleach, abrasive cleaners, or acidic type cleaners on the flooring as this can damage the finish of your flooring. 

To keep scratches to a minimum, trim the nails of your pets so that they can�t scratch the flooring accidentally or when they want to run in the house. On the posts of your couches or chairs, use a soft piece of cloth or sponge under the legs of furniture to keep the furniture from making marks on the floors if your furniture is often moved about in a room. Often even just a small piece of felt is all you need for great protection from scratches on your floors.