It’s summertime, and the livin’ is easy. Unless, of course, you’re a hardwood floor, and then the hot sunny days can cause a bit of anxiety. Weathered and distressed wood may be all the rage, but weathered and distressed isn’t the same as allowing your wood floors to warp, cup, buckle, rot, mold, or become discolored. If you’re not careful, one summer season can cause all of those pesky problems for your floors. There are, of course, simple preventative steps you can take to protect your hardwood floors from summer damage.
Maintain the right temperature in your home to prevent summer damage to your wood floors.
Summer damage to hardwood floors
The biggest threat that summer poses to your floors is big shifts in moisture. Colorado isn’t a terribly humid place, but with hot summer days, the moisture content in the air is bound to rise. Rising moisture levels in the air will impact your floors. Sunlight can also wear on your hardwood floors, and summer increases the number of hours that the bright sun is shining on your floors.
Regulating indoor air quality
Hardwood floors are particularly susceptible to changes in moisture. That’s why we take special care to properly acclimate all hardwood to the environment before installation. Acclimation will, therefore, maintain the integrity of your wood floors, increasing the lifespan as well as preventing the floors from warping and cupping. Maintain the indoor air quality with AC or a dehumidifier.
Moisture rots your floors
If the moisture levels in your home or the humidity get out of control for a long time, not only will the structure and character of your floors be impacted, but eventually, your floors could start to rot and mold. Once floors have sustained significant moisture damage, you may have to replace your floors entirely, instead of being able to fix the problem by sanding and refinishing.
Move furniture so that the floor gets an even amount of sunlight.
Move furniture and rugs
Sunlight can result in discolored floors. If you don’t want one patch of floor to prematurely age under the sun, be sure to move your furniture around during the summer months. Area rugs should also be moved around. If you leave furniture and rugs in place for a long time, you may find that once you move them, the wood that has not been exposed to the sun will be much darker than the rest of your floors. For your floors to age evenly and avoid discoloration from too much sun, you have to rearrange every now and again.
Repair sun-damaged hardwood floors
Wood floors that have sustained sun damage can be repaired by professional hardwood flooring craftsman. We can refinish your floors to get them back to their original glory. We can refinish the whole room, or just fix the damaged area. For discolored floors, we recommend getting the entire room sanded and refinished for more evenly colored floors.
If you have questions about damaged hardwood floors or how to maintain your floors, schedule a free consultation with one of Colorado’s finest hardwood flooring craftsmen to find the best solution to your problem.