How to Care Wood Flooring

Wood flooring is a good choice for people who want to get the natural atmosphere. As a room base, the wood parquet won’t be as strong as the ceramic or marble, but it will bring the cool, natural, and green atmosphere to the room. The wood parquet also has an advantage as it is easy to uninstall and renew. The modern wood parquet industry provides many models and designs that can be chosen to be used according to the room theme. The wood parquet technology is already very well developed to make the wood floor product that is strong and durable to function as a wood floor. Then we can use the wood floor for our house without any doubt about the strength and durability. But although a wood floor has been designed to function as a floor, we must keep in mind that it is still a wooden material that has different characteristics from the “stone” material, such as marble, cement, or ceramic.  To keep the wood floor last longer, then we need to treat it properly. 

wood floor bring the natural atmosphere

Here are some tips to care for the wood floor.

• Identify the type of finishing of the wood flooring.

There are many models of wood flooring available, but according to its finish, we can categorize the finish into 2 types: the simple traditional finish and the modern finish. The simple finishes are the oil, wax, or varnish. They are applied simply by brushing, dipping, or wiping. They can enhance the wood look and give the natural look, but they won’t make color. They are usually used on the solid wood floor, which is made from premium wood. The wood that is hard and strong with beautiful grain and color, such as teakwood, ironwood, rosewood, merbau, maple, walnut, etc. The wood is expensive and has a nice and unique appearance; he does not need a thick and “good” finish. The simple finish will maximize his nice looks and natural life as his main value.  This finish will not be as strong as the modern floor finish. It will wear after being used for some time. Usually the oil finish and wax finish are needed recoating once or two times a year. Fortunately, the recoating can be done easily; we can recoat the floor with wax or oil finish by brushing in the room. We don’t need to reinstall or resand the floor.  If the varnish is used, we can also recoat the varnish without reinstalling the floor. Because the varnish built a film layer, then we need to sand the film layer and apply the new varnish with a brush.

The traditionally finish is not quite as strong as the modern finish. The oil and wax even don’t build film to protect the wood underneath. The varnish will give a film that could give protection to the wood, but it does not have resistance to the chemicals, solvents, alcohol, or thinner.

While the modern coatings that are most used are the UV and PU coatings. The UV and PU finishes are strong, hard, and durable; they have high resistance to scratching, chemicals, and solvents. They are used to finish the engineering wood floor, such as the veneer, laminated wood, or plywood. The application of the material needs the facility and equipment that are only available at the modern factory. The PU coating needs to be sprayed, and it needs the finishing room and spraying equipment, which are only available in the finishing shop or furniture factory. While the more complicated facility is needed for the UV coating. It needs the UV oven that is only available in the flat-line finishing line. 

The PU or UV finish is stronger than the traditional finish, such as wax or oil finish. We can use thinner, alcohol, or solvent to clean the wood surface. It does not need to be recoated every time. But then the recoating and refinishing for this finish is hard and big work. The good sanding is needed to provide the smooth surface before being layered with the new coating.  We may have to uninstall the floor and do the finishing in the finishing shop.

• Keep the floor to be dry.

Water is one of the biggest enemies for timber and wood products. The humid condition of the wood will lead the fungi to grow and ruin the finish. The stagnant water could wet the wood and swell the wood and lead to construction problems such as warping, bending, or cracking. The water is absorbed for a long time and even will destroy the wood. Then it is important to keep the wooden floor dry. Avoid the stagnant water on the floor; wipe it off and dry the floor soon when there is some water or liquid spilled on. 

• Clean any dirt immediately.

As a floor, it is normal if it is easy to get dirty. There may be some food; flies and lizard feces could fall to the floor. The dirt that is staying too long on the floor could hardly stock on the floor. The chemical in the lizard's feces or flies could react and ruin the wood coating. Then clean any dirt as soon as possible. Sweep and sweep the floor regularly. 

• Use the proper chemical to clean the floor.

We need a proper cleaning chemical to clean the floor. The improper chemical could damage the floor finish. We can use the water, soap, or cleaning chemical to clean the floor. For the oil and wax finish, we can use the wax or oil finish to clean the finish and renew the finish. For the varnish, we can use the mineral spirit to clean any dirt or stain. Mineral spirit is also recommended to clean the UV coating or PU coating, although some stronger solvents (alcohol, thinner, and acetone) can also be used.