It is important to be aware of how to look after and protect the appearance of your flooring.

Cleaning Hardwood Floors

Hardwood floors are very easy to maintain and are largely maintenance-free for the first 10 - 20 years. For general routine cleaning, simply vacuum or sweep (with a soft bristled broom to avoid scratching) dirt away and then dry mop your hardwood floor. Floors are protected by their surface finish and will withstand spills. To remove any marks on your hardwood floor, simply wipe marks away using wood floor cleaner spray which creates a fine mist, just enough moisture to get rid of any spills or stains without putting too much moisture in the floor.

Remove excess water immediately from hardwood floors as wood expands when wet and large amounts of water may cause your hardwood floor to swell and crack. To get rid of scratches on your hardwood floor apply a touch-up product to conceal minor damage. As a very last resort to remove stains, dents or other damage, lacquered floors can be re-sanded down to the bare wood and then re-stained and re-finished. They can only be re-sanded down a number of times in their lifetime – check with your wood flooring manufacturer for details.

Cleaning Real Wood Flooring

Normal household cleaning detergents are not recommended for real wood flooring so you must use special wood floor cleaning products as recommended by the flooring manfacturer.

Cleaning Laquered Wooden Floors

Bona Care Cleaner & Bona Care Refresher are recommended for lacquered wooden floors.

Cleaning Oiled Wooden Floors

Osmo Wash N Care & Osmo Liquid Wax Cleaner are recommended for maintainining oiled wooden floors.

Protecting Hardwood Floors

All hardwood floors will fade, darken or change shades over time. Exposure to sunlight will greatly increase this process. Regularly move furniture, rugs and mats around to even exposure and wear. Where there is a risk of water spillage, e.g. kitchens, an extra coat of laquer may be needed after laying the floor, particularly to beech floors as this is very sensitive to water. Hardwood flooring will last for many decades, and to protect your hardwood flooring and keep it look its best, follow the tips below:

• Use rugs in busy areas such as hallways
• Fit protective pads to the bottom of furniture to avoid unnecessary marks and scratches
• Take care when moving heavy objects across your floor to avoid scuffing
• Never have metal objects in contact with oiled floors - they may mark the surface
• Always wipe your feet on a stiff mat outside before entering an area with hardwood flooring to avoid bringing grit which could scratch the floor and dirt which could stain the floor
• Taking shoes off when walking on wood flooring will decrease the risk even further and will avoid scuffs which can be caused by shoes

Bonakemi

Bona have been the world leader in hardwood floor finishing and floor care for over 90 years. Bona offers a full range of high performing, environmentally sound products through the Bona System, covering everything a wooden floor needs throughout its lifetime. From fastening, sanding and finishing to maintenance, Bona can offer a product for every requirement to bring out the best in hardwood floors.

Bonakemi Products include cloth belts, velcro discs, mesh discs and polishing pads, as well as their lacquers and seal such as Bonakemi Mega, the world's number one wood floor seal. Bonakemi floor seal can be used on any timber floor in your home, office school or dance studio floor varnish, wood floor varnish.

Osmo Oils for Solid Wood Floors

You can buy the following matt and satin Osmo oils to clean and protect your solid wood flooring and apply them using an Osmo Polishing Pad.

• 0.75 Litre Clear Matt Osmo Oil
• 2.5 Litre Clear Matt Osmo Oil
• 0.75 Litre Clear Satin Osmo Oil
• 2.5 Litre Clear Satin Osmo Oil

myflooringsuppliers.com offer a choice of floor care and floor maintenance products and equipment plus other essential flooring accessories for trade and DIY.