The Winter Solstice is here! As temperatures continue to fall, a few neighbors have noticed some changes with their hardwood flooring. Indeed, the frigid cold can prove challenging for hardwood flooring, even if your home is heated. And with more visitors arriving for the holidays, the increased foot traffic adds yet another challenge.
Thankfully, it’s pretty easy to care for hardwood floors and help them last through the cold months ahead.
Proper Protection
If you haven’t installed your hardwood flooring yet, wait until a warmer season – unless the house is well heated and will remain that way. Hardwood floors will expand in warmer temperatures. Even though this expansion is slight, it’s enough to cause all sorts of problems if the panels were installed in a cold environment. Of course, this isn’t to say that a house with hardwood flooring should never be allowed to cool; just not during installation.
It’s worth mentioning that no pretreating is necessary for hardwood floors to resist cold weather when the season comes. Our panels are engineered to last throughout the year when installed properly from the start.
Maintain Your Home’s Humidity
With the falling temperatures outside of our homes and the methods we use to heat them inside, indoor humidity tends to fall during colder seasons. Given the natural tendency of how wood reacts to fluctuating humidity, it may be beneficial to invest in a humidifier, though it usually won’t be necessary to run it all day and night. Usually, the time between arriving home from work and going to bed should prove sufficient. Some homeowners simplify this process by installing a furnace humidifier.
Use Doormats: Keep the Snow Off Hardwood Floors
Hardwood floors are generally considered much easier to clean, so who cares if a little snow melts on them? However, snow is typically composed of more than meets the eye: dirt, pebbles, and even rock-salt in certain parts of the country. These particles can easily scratch the surface of your hardwood flooring. Even worse, a thin buildup of rock salt can degrade your floor’s surface over time.
Proper Cleaning
Continue cleaning your hardwood floors as you normally would. Although some climates experiencing temperature extremes call for specialized care, Indiana’s climate isn’t among them. So, the same solutions that you would use to clean and care for your hardwood flooring in the spring and summer are fine to use throughout winter.
To learn more about proper care for hardwood flooring – or to find the perfect match for your home’s style – be sure to stop by Rugs, Rolls & More in Plaistow today!
