Wood Flooring Maintenance And Care

Wood Maintenance is a must if you want to keep your timber floors or timber decking in pristine condition.

Due to its organic nature, wood would tend to shrink over time because, inferior wood stains or finishes would tend to flake, fade and crack over time.

Once the top coat of the wood has been damaged, the wood's durability would then be reduced greatly and is easily susceptible to shrinkage,scratches, fungi and algae attacks. This is because once the wood is damaged, it is less resistant to water and other harmful agents.

If left untreated, the rotten wood pieces would spread over to other planks and mending it would be very costly as the entire timber would need to be replaced.

Daily care for wood flooring

In general, these are some ways you can care for your wood flooring.

1. Avoid contact with sharp objects against your wood floors

Scratches can be very unsightly on wood as the finished layer which is usually darker in colour is scraped off leaving the inner layer of the wood exposed.

Consider placing furniture rugs beneath your furniture or placing pads on the contact points.

Rolling chairs that are made from hard plastic can also damage your wooden floors,large woven mats can also be use under these chairs.

Ensuring a clean environment might help in negating these nasty scratches as well, sharp debris under a rolling chair would can cause hairline scratches on wooden floors.

Always use floor protection when there's a renovation going on. Though it may be time consuming and costly, the cost of such floor protection is relatively much cheaper then mending your damaged wooden floors.

Though a temporary solution for such cases would be using Wood Furniture and Repair Markers, it is not advisable in the long run, as once the floor is damaged it is more prone to damages as mentioned above.

2. Avoid prolong contact with water 

Make sure wooden floors are not exposed to water excessively.

Damped wood is susceptible to fungi and algae attacks which will cost rotting of the wood.

Not to to mention, water can also cause water marks on the wood which can be very unsightly.

When cleaning wood surfaces, ensure that no excessive water is use, any excessive water should be wipe off using a dry cloth.

It will only take a few hours for water to cause permanent damage to the wood.

To increase your wood's resistance against water, we would recommend using Osmo's Wood Protector.

3. Ensure that the room's humidity is kept constant

The main reason for the shrinkage of wood is due to the moisture content being succumbed to the environment.

Especially in Singapore's humid environment, using of air-conditioners would create a very dry artificial environment as compared to our natural climate which would cause the moisture content of the wood to be affected.

Though this is hard to manage, using OSMO's Polyxoil wood finish would help the durability of the wood against such changes dramatically.

The combination of wax and oil does not only protects from the surface but also from the inside. The oil penetrates the wood while the wax creates a micro porous surface which reduces extensive loss of moisture over time.

4. Sanding and Varnishing

Though it may be pricey, a full maintenance of your wood floors would require sanding and varnishing.

Ultimately this will consist of sanding off the top layer of your wood, applying wood finish and wood fillers.

Your wooden floors would be as good as new as any stains,scratches and gaps would be completely eradicated through the application of wood fillers and sanding.

If there is no aesthetic damages to your wooden floors, sanding might not be required, just reapplying wood finish products that is able to penetrate the wood would suffice in improving your wood's durability.

One should also take note that excessive sanding is not recommended as it thins your wood. Hence, wooden floors do have a limited lifespan.

It can only be prolong through great care and maintenance.