Extra foot traffic in the winter can leave a mark on your hardwood floors
Ahhh, fall. Beautiful colors, homemade soups, evenings in front of fireplaces and a clutter of jackets, coats, boots and sweaters by your front and back door. Instead of running out to meet our friends, we’re inviting our social lives inside where it’s warm. This is both a blessing and a curse.
Filling your home with friends and family is a blessing. The extra traffic on your floors, particularly hardwood floors, can be a curse. And if you think you have a lot of people coming in and out now, just wait until the holidays roll around! Take the time now to make sure you have a few safeguards in place to protect your floors from all the extra love they’re going to get for the next three or four months.
Don’t let wet clothes drip directly onto your hardwood floors
The weather is getting colder and wetter as the days pass. That also means that your guests are getting colder and wetter as well. Before you offer your guests a cup of hot chocolate, make sure their wet clothes and boots are hung up, and your hardwood floors are protected. Doormats should do it, or a rug that can be washed and cleaned. Don’t let wet clothes and boots drip and dry off directly onto your wooden floors. Wood and moisture make a bad combination.
Stick some felt to the bottom of furniture to protect your hardwood floors
More people in your home also means that your furniture, mainly chairs, are moved around a lot more. Or rather, dragged around. No one gently picks up a chair and places it back down when they go to sit at the table. Have you noticed how your heart breaks a little every time you hear a chair being scraped across your beautiful hardwood floors? Go and get some of those little soft felt pads to stick on the bottom of the chairs, tables, couches and bar stools. Avoid premature wrinkles by wincing every 5 minutes. Not having to listen to your floors being torn to pieces will make you look and feel ten years younger!
Once all the good times start to take their toll on your hardwood floors, a quick sanding and refinishing is all it takes to bring them back to life. That’s the beauty of hardwood floors!
