If "Low Maintenance" Sounds Like "No Maintenance"

The warm appearance of wooden floors is getting more and more popular, now wooden pictures are embedded in all kind of flooring on a regular basis. Even tiles and vinyl are now being painted to look like wood. Laminate floors which are the cheaper substitute of hardwood floors, boomed in sales since the early 2000s, however nothing can fake the feel of a real wooden floor.


Apart from the comfort it provides, a hardwood flooring is a definite advantage if you want to sell the house later. Research among US real estate agencies found that such flooring increases the price of the house up to 11%. But many people get succumbed by the exaggerated claims about the durability of the wooden floor and ease of cleaning made by manufacturers. These people buy the hardwood flooring without thinking about any maintenance program in the future. It is a shame when the new floor does not receive any maintenance because of such misunderstanding. An then after the first signs of wear people realize that the wooden floor is not indestructible and they are deceived.

 How "Hard" is Your Hardwood Floor?

This is why, serious research should be made before making such a big investment. To check the hardness of the wood take a look at the "Janka Test". It measures how much pounds of weight it takes before a small steel ball is embedded on half in the wood material. For example White Oak(1360) is widely considered as a very durable timber material while Cherry(995) has great looks but it would wear considerably faster and wont be such a good wood for a high traffic area.


Wood flooring has progressed immensely over the last decades from solid strip to "engineered wood", grass bamboo and laminate. The coating is also bringing stronger "wear layers", withstanding heavy usage. Despite this, many people regret such a buy, because the wooden floor does not look good after just few months. But when asked about maintenance program they have nothing to say. In many cases the manufacturer advertises this product as "scratch resistant" and "soil repelling" but this still does not mean that the hardwood floor wont need any maintenance. Sadly people often interpret "low maintenance" as "no maintenance at all".

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

It does not matter how hard is the wood material or how tough is the wear layer, still this is not a rock. You can't expect it to be imprevious to damage. Actually soil contains small pieces of rock which are perfectly capable to scratch any wood. And if you want to argue about the definition of soil, just stop and take a sample and look it at microscope, yes most of the soil is just dirt but there are all kind of materials in it. Sand and minerals are perfectly capable of causing damage, because once they fall under your shoe they will act as a sandpaper, slowly but surely eroding the surface layer.

To eliminate the risk of floor damage you don't have to buy the strongest possible coating, what you need to do is to stop the soil entering your house. The easiest way to do this is by placing a walk-off mat at all entrances. It has been scientifically proven that just a few feet of scrubbing mat greatly reduces the dirt on your shoes. Not only these mats are cheap but they perfectly fit in the "low maintenance program" that most people like.

Area rugs and runner mats are another option that would absorb the remaining soil particles. Still sweeping with a mop would be a good practice that is certainly going to extend the life of your expensive hardwood floor. A simple tool for domestic cleaning that I recommend to everyone is the microfibre cloth. Microfibre cleans better than any other sweeping tool it is very durable and comes at affordable price, it is the perfect instrument for cleaning hardwood floors.

Remember if you take a good care of it, a wooden floor would outlast you. In some cases lasting more than a hundred years. This is not a myth, if you take care of your floor and refinish it every 15 years, the wooden floor would hold. This of course depends on many variables such as the hardness of the wood, the traffic, the average humidity and many more. Even though hardwood floors require little maintenance, that does not mean they are trouble free. It would be best if you incorporate some attention towards them in your cleaning routine. This big investment requires responsible attitude.

This article is provided with the kind support of carpet cleaning Chiswick.