Ensuring you get the best hardwood floor vacuum for your home depends on certain factors such as the type of wood, the finish of the wood and how the flooring was installed.
Cleaners for laminate floors are not what you would use for wooden floors. You clean laminate floors with a good amount of water.
Hardwood flooring can enhance the both the value and the look of your home. Especially when it harmonizes with the furniture and other furnishings in your room. Once you’ve invested in and installed your hardwood floor you will want to preserve it and showcase it by caring for it in the best way possible. A hardwood floor vacuum will help with that no matter which room your new floor is in.
Hardwood floors can be made of many different types of wood including hickory, maple, elm, ash, oak, cypress, teak, cherry, walnut and bamboo.
Each kind of wood differs in hardness, color, and stability. Some are very hard woods such as Brazilian Walnut, Caribbean Cherry and Bloodwood. Others are quite soft such as Chestnut, Douglas Fir and North American Cherry. Each requires different cleaning processes and will affect your choice for a vacuum for hardwood.
In addition to the type of wood and it’s hardness you also have to consider hardwood floor finishes. Unfinished wood floors must be cleaned and cared for differently than those sealed and finished. The way your floor’s surface has been treated can cause it to be either more or less resilient and water-resistant. Urethanes and polyurethanes serve to protect your floor and don’t require waxing.
Wax finishes are less glossy because they penetrate the cells of the wood, rather than sitting on top of it like other finishes. Floors with wax finishes need to be buffed periodically to make then shine again.
If your area gets a lot of traffic you may want to increase the hardness and durability by using an acrylic finish instead.
With these concepts in mind, homeowners will find that hardwood floors are easy to maintain. To ensure the beauty and longevity of hardwoods follow these guidelines and use a vacuum for hard floors.
- Sweep and vacuum on a regular basis to keep dust to a minimum. Dust can scratch the finish of your floor.
- Use mops for hardwood floors when mopping. Don’t get your wood too wet.
- Use rugs or doormats at doors from the outside to keep sand from scratching the floors.
- Make sure that furniture has pads to keep scratches to a minimum when moving furniture like chairs.
- You will want to keep the humidity in your room to about 45%. Otherwise your wood will shrink or swell.
- Places like sinks or counters where you tend to stand or work should have mats to protect from scratches, or water.
- Direct light is also detrimental. Intense direct light, whether natural from a window or artificial, can cause your new beautiful floor to fade and become discolored.
A hardwood floor vacuum must not scratch the wood in anyway. The softer the wood, the higher the setting on your vacuum must be so as to make sure you don’t hang or scratch. When installing hardwood floors nails are often used. Nails tend to stick up a bit and can catch your vacuum and cause it to drag on your floor.
It’s a good idea to look for the best lightweight vacuum and top rated vacuums in consumer reports for vacuum cleaners. You can also find refurbished vacuum cleaners at cheaper prices. Kirby vacuums are good for cleaning laminate and wood floors.
Get the best hardwood floor vacuum for your floor and you’ll be able to enjoy the beauty of them for years to come.
