How To Care For Engineered Wood Flooring

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As you will know from previous posts most of our downstairs has engineered wood flooring throughout, including our kitchen / diner, family room and hallways.

But what are the best ways of keeping it looking clean and in tip-top condition? Let’s have a look at some tips on how to care for engineered wood flooring.

Treat It With Care To Prevent Scratches

Engineered wood is actually pretty durable, and in some ways has greater structural stability and more tolerance to moisture than standard wood flooring.

But like all wooden flooring, engineered wood is prone to scratching if mistreated. This can really detract from the overall appearance, so it’s important to treat it with respect. Consider using pads under furniture, especially chairs, so that they can be moved without damaging your flooring.

Use mats by external doors to help prevent stones or grit from being brought in from outside. Also, sweep or vacuum your floor regularly to make sure anything that has been brought in from outside won’t get scraped across your flooring on soles of shoes etc. A regular sweeping is the best thing you can do to care for engineered wood flooring.

Clean It Regularly

Aside from the daily routine of sweeping or vacuuming to keep things from scratching your flooring, cleaning your flooring regularly is also important. However, be sure not to use harsh chemicals or abrasive products when cleaning your floors, as this can damage the wood. Consider using a dry microfibre mop to get the easier stains up from your engineered wood flooring.

You can also use a normal mop, but you should ensure it is well wrung out before use, so as to avoid excess water sitting on your flooring. Flat bottomed mops are better as they spread less water around than the traditional stringy mop. If using cleaning products, remember to wipe or mop the floor over with clean water before finishing and remove any excess water quickly.

Finally, given engineered wood flooring isn’t a big fan of water, be sure not to use a steam mop as part of your cleaning process, as this could lead to permanent damage. If you do have tough stains that won’t shift use an approved cleaning product and a bit of elbow grease!

Deal With Spillages Quickly

Although engineered wood flooring is pretty durable, it doesn’t like being overly wet for lengthy periods of time. So if you spill water on the floor be sure to wipe it up quickly to prevent any possible damage. This is especially important in kitchen areas where you may experience water spilling over from a sink when washing up, or even have a dishwasher or washing machine malfunction. Paper towels or a dry hand towel should do the trick for most minor spillages, so keep an eye out and act quickly!

Repair If Need Be

Given engineered wood flooring has a layer of real wood on top, it can be repaired to an extent. If for example, you have some scratches that look unsightly you can lightly sand most of them out, before refinishing. Depending on how thick the layer of wood is on the engineered wood flooring that you bought you should be able to do this at least once if needed.

Hopefully by following these tips on how to care for engineered wood flooring you can keep your floor looking its best for many years to come.

For more about home and gardens pop along to our Home & Garden section. You can also look at our renovation progress so far, and how we fared when building an extension with a toddler!