Here’s how to take care of your floors if they were finished with Glitsa MultiKote, a professional grade conversion varnish, what is traditional known as a Swedish finish. This finish is easy to maintain.
For daily maintenance a dry microfiber mop or dry dust mop to catch any animal hair, dust, and dirt floating around on the floor is the best. Wash as it gets dirty
For weekly maintenance the best way to care for your floors is to use a good cleaner. Most cleaners in big box stores labeled as hardwood floor cleaners are the worst thing you can use. Many leave a residue behind that can make your floor hazy, sticky, harm the finish, and are just junk. The cleaner that I use and recommend is called Glitsa Clean.
You can purchase it online at amazon or on google. Buy the concentrate version to get the best value. Use a sprayer to lightly mist the floor and scrub with a microfiber mop. Don’t forget to put the microfiber mop through the washing machine to keep it clean. One mop head per 500 feet or less on really dirty floors (eventually the mop fills up and you’re just spreading stuff around instead of getting it off the floor) The cleaner is safe for your floor, house, kids and pets!
For vacuuming you want to find a vac that isn’t to heavy or doesn’t have very hard wheels or one that doesn’t leave marks on the floor. My vac that i prefer is a backpack canister vac with a felt head that is the only part touching the floor. Keeping sand and dirt off of the floor will greatly increase the life of the floor.
For furniture you want to have felt pads on EVERYTHING! Even stuff that doesn’t normally move. Most of your furniture have plastic “buttons” on the bottom of them. Remove the buttons and install felt pads on the bottom of everything. This is probably the one thing that will add YEARS to your floor as most deep scratches come from furniture moving. Change out felt pads every 6 months to a year on chairs and stuff that gets moved a lot, they can fall off or build up sand in them turning them into sand paper eventually. If you cannot fit felt pads on the furniture get a rug that will cover the area of the chair (like those rocking chairs that turn)
For Rugs, it’s tempting to use the sticking rug holders under the rug. Those are also bad, they will eventually stick to the floor and fall apart after a couple of years harming the finish. Use a felt rug pad for under rugs to keep the floor from getting harmed. If you have a few months of no one occupying the home, remove rugs from the floor so the “aging” process of the sunlight can even out the area that is normally covered by the rug.
For pets, clipping and filing their nails on a regular basis will keep them from scratching the floor too much. Dogs that get excited and run around the floor will scratch it no matter what you use, try to keep it to a minimum. We have heard good reports about using a product called “Soft Claws” They are vinyl toe nail caps that help prevent your dogs toe nails from scratching the floor.
For Entry ways, keep aggressive welcome mats in front of doorways and if possible, take shoes off before walking on wood floors.
DO NOT STEAM MOP YOUR FLOORS!!! It could damage both the finish and the wood.
Use a humidifier throughout the winter months to minimize gaps or cracks.
This is all easy stuff to accomplish and can add not just years, but decades to the life of your floors. Even a very hard finish can prematurely wear if care is not taken to keep the floor clean and scratch free. Technically you could have a floor last forever if you don’t walk on it. But what fun is that? Scratches will happen, and it’s just a part of life. 95% of scratches are in just the finish and not the wood. Eventually one day you will need to sand and finish again, and at that point you can choose to change the color of the floor, or go back to the same, and have a new floor all over again. Wood floors (especially sanded in place floors) create a warm, clean, inviting, and beautiful surface to live on! Easy to clean, doesn’t trap dirt, sand, hair, allergens, or promote an environment for bugs to live in. With proper care, a hardwood floor should be able to last 200 years. I have worked on quite a few floors that are over 100 years old and still have a lot of life ahead of them.
To extend the life of your floors we recommend having us come in at least once a year to do a deep clean of your floor with our specialized cleaning equipment.
What this includes is:
Deep clean with a portable auto scrubber to remove all contaminates from the floor in a 2 part process.
Check (and replace if needed) felt pads on furniture (dining room, bar stools, and any “high traffic” furniture gets replaced every time)
Shake out and vacuum area rugs
Spot treat any deep scratches to seal them up so the wood is still protected.
With the Glitsa MultiKote finish we recommend applying a maintenance coat of finish every 5-7 years, depending on how you use your floor. This will fill in light scratches and extend the time between complete refinishes.
To plan on this, make sure it is scheduled BEFORE floor starts getting “grey” areas, that is where the finish is completely gone off of a floor and the wood is starting to turn grey from not being protected any more. There are DIY products out there, they are way softer than what a professional will put down and have a high probability of peeling off and really messing up your floor, do not use them. Do not use any “refresher” or “polish” type products.
A wood floor is an investment in your home. It is the best return on investment than any other flooring product in terms of value, cleanliness, and overall warmth and feel of a home. These instructions will keep your floors looking and preforming great for years and decades to come.