Hardwood flooring is a significant investment for homeowners and can cost anywhere from $6,000 to $12,000 to install in a 1000-square-foot area.
Luckily, you can restore hardwood floors to their original beauty if you use the right tools and materials. Do you want to learn more about hardwood restoration and how you can give your floors new life?
Keep reading this guide for everything you need to know about hardwood floor restoration.
Learn About Your Type of Flooring
Learning about your flooring is the first thing you must do when you are restoring your hardwood floors. This is because there are many different types of wood flooring and wood floor alternatives, each with different properties.
Something that may work well to clean laminate or vinyl plank flooring could easily damage your original hardwood floors.
Identify What Caused the Wear and Tear
Next, you need to identify what caused the wear and tear to your floor in the first place. This way, it will be easier to find the right cleaning products and tools to restore your flooring.
For example, if you have original hardwood floors, you may find that they are more susceptible to water damage. If you have them in areas of your home with high humidity, like a bathroom or kitchen, this may cause them to show damage more quickly.
Other things that can damage your hardwood flooring are scratches from your furniture, damage from pets, wear and tear from children, and regular wear and tear in the home.
Not only will identifying the cause of the damage help you repair it better, but it can also help you prevent damage in the future! For example, you may notice that a certain area of your home shows more wear and tear than others.
To protect the high-traffic areas of your flooring, you may want to use area rugs or runners on your hardwood floors.
Gather the Right Materials
Once you have identified the reason that your flooring needs to be restored, you can start gathering the right materials to help you restore your hardwood floors to their original condition.
Some things you may need include a broom and sponge mop for cleaning, a hardwood floor cleaner, floor polish, and a flathead mop to spread the polish across your wood flooring.
Move Your Furniture
Before you can start cleaning and restoring your hardwood flooring, you need to move your furniture out of your work area. This will ensure that your entire floor is treated and that all sections of your hardwood flooring are restored to the same condition.
If you have couches or other types of furniture on your flooring, you should move them to another room during the restoration process. You should also remove rugs and any other decor that may get in the way while you are cleaning and restoring your flooring.
Test Your Products
Testing your products is the last thing you need to do before you start restoring your flooring. Different types of flooring will react differently to cleaning solutions.
If you don’t test your products, you may end up doing more damage to your flooring when you try to restore it.
Plus, you may not know if your flooring has a finish on it or not. If your flooring doesn’t have a finish, it may cause more damage to try to polish and clean your flooring.
It is best to test each of your cleaning and restoration products on an inconspicuous area of your flooring. This way, you will be able to see how your flooring reacts to the products, and you can ensure that you will not cause more damage to your flooring during the process.
Clean Your Floors
Once you have tested all of your products, you can begin to clean your floors. A thorough clean can make a big difference and will make it easier to complete the restoration process. You should first start by removing all the dirt, dust, and debris from your flooring. You can use a broom or a vacuum to get up all of the particles from your flooring! Next, you should clean your floors with a professional-grade wood floor cleaner. Choosing a cleaner that is specifically made for hardwood floors will lower the chance that you cause unintentional damage to your flooring. Use a mop or another type of non-abrasive sponge to remove any grime from your flooring. This will prepare your floors for the polishing and restoration process. Lastly, you can use a wet rag to remove residue left behind from the cleaner. You should ensure that your floor is completely dry before you continue the restoration process.Polish the Flooring
After you have finished cleaning your wood floors, you can start polishing them. This will allow you to bring your wood floors to a shine and will make them look brand new! To polish the floors, you can either use a floor machine and a polishing pad or a flat surface mop. The type of polish you use for your restoration will depend on the type of finish you have on your flooring. For example, you need to use a water-based polish on floors that have a polyurethane finish. Otherwise, you can use wax-based polishes. When polishing your floors, you should always work from an interior corner towards the exit of your room. This way, you will not ruin any of the polishing you have already done when you leave the room. Make sure you work the polish in the direction of the wood grain to ensure that it is spread evenly across the floor. The polishing process will allow you to hide small scratches and other wear and tear on your hardwood flooring without having to refinish the flooring. This way, you can save time and money while still improving the appearance of your hardwood floors.Avoid Using the Room
Before you can begin using the space again, you need to wait for the polish to completely dry. You can allow light traffic on your floors after a few hours of drying, but you should still avoid normal use. This means that you should wait to return your furniture back to its original space until the polish has completely cured. If you don’t wait long enough, you may disrupt the restoration process and cause more damage to your flooring.Return Your Furniture
Once you have finished the restoration process and given your flooring plenty of time to rest, you can return your furniture to your space. You should also follow some precautions to protect your flooring when you start putting furniture back in the space. For example, you should never drag or slide your furniture, as this can cause more scratches. You may also want to apply felt pads to the feet of your furniture to protect your hardwood floors.Work With a Professional Restoration Company
Finally, you should consider working with a professional hardwood restoration company. A professional restoration company has the right training and knowledge to clean your hardwood, laminate, and plank flooring correctly. This way, you can have peace of mind that your floors will not get damaged during the restoration process. They can help you with original hardwood floor restoration to protect your investment and extend the life of your flooring. This will also provide you with cost savings, as it is much less expensive to restore your original floors than it is to replace your floors. When you work with a professionalhardwood restoration company, you can feel confident that your floors will look brand new, despite the wear and tear that it goes through each day. Plus, you will save a lot of time during the restoration process. A professional restoration company already has the equipment and products necessary to clean your space and will be able to finish the process much more effectively! If you want to learn more about the process of restoring hardwood floors, HammondKnoll can help! Our team can help with everything from hardwood restoration to furniture cleaning and more.Need Help With Hardwood Restoration? HammondKnoll Can Help
When you have hardwood flooring, it can be impossible to prevent some level of wear and tear. Learning more about the hardwood restoration process will make it easy to deep clean your floors and restore them to their former glory!
If you need help restoring hardwood floors, HammondKNoll can help! We pursue restoration over replacement whenever possible and offer cleaning, repair, and maintenance services to keep your floors in great shape.
Contact us today to learn more about restoring original hardwood floors and to schedule an appointment!
