Hardwood Flooring Resources
Care & Maintenance
Your urethane coated engineered hardwood floors are very easily maintained. Most of your maintenance will be vacuuming/dusting and spot cleaning with your approved hardwood flooring cleaner.
We recommend Bona Hardwood Flooring Cleaner and Woodwise Hardwood Floor Cleaner. If neither is available in your area, please consult your local specialty flooring store for a cleaner.
It's best to buy your hardwood floor cleaner from a special flooring retailer as they usually have the correct and approved cleaning products for all flooring types. The staff in these stores can also have specialized knowledge on how to clean different types of flooring, and which cleaning products to avoid.
Some cleaners carried at hardware stores, grocery stores, etc. can be detrimental to your floor when used as directed. Trusting a specialty flooring store to have the correct cleaners is best.
There are many cleaners on the market that purport to be “safe for wood floors”, or “for wood floors” that have oils or others ingredients that can harm your floor. Some of these cleaners also direct you to apply a liquid cleaner directly on floor, or to wet mop your hardwood floor. Avoid these cleaners.
Vacuum or sweep your floor to remove any particles that could scratch your floor.
Warning: Vacuums with a beater bar or power rotary brush head can damage a wood floor. Make sure they are free from debris and that they do not damage your floor before using.
Failure to vacuum or sweep your floor before using the dampened cloth to clean can result in “creating mud” on your floor which then can get trapped in the texture of your floor. This can be very difficult to remove if it builds up over time.
Apply the cleaner to the cloth flooring mop, and not the floor. Do not spray the cleaner directly on the floor to avoid the wood absorbing the moisture.
Spraying cleaner directly on the floor can also result in the cleaner drying on the floor and leaving a “milky haze” due to dried cleaner solids on top of the finish.
If a haze appears on your floor after a while due to dried solids on the finish you should clean your floor with reverse-osmosis or distilled water instead of a wood floor cleaner for your regular cleaning until the haze is gone.
Reverse osmosis and distilled water have no dissolved solids (like calcium) that tap water can contain. These types of water should re-dissolve the solids dried on the floor, so the cloth can pick them up.
Some approved cleaners (like Bona) have mops that spray a fine mist of cleaner on the floor. These are fine as long as you do not apply too much liquid to the floor and the floor appears dry once done cleaning an area.
Common Cleaning Mistakes that can Void Your Warranty and Damage Your Floor
Some cleaners have directions to “wet mop” the floor or apply cleaner liberally to the floor. This is not correct and these cleaners or cleaning methods should not be used.
The exception to this is if the cleaner is approved (like Bona) and is applied in small amounts via a fine mist like the Bona Spray Mop.
Once your floor has been dust mopped or vacuumed you only need to spot clean the areas that require it.
If you are cleaning the whole floor always spray the mop head with cleaner.
Wetting down your floor with cleaner can damage the floor if the wood absorbs excess moisture and it will cause the haze on your floor that was previously discussed.
The flooring should not look “wet” when you are done cleaning an area. If it looks wet you used too much liquid and did not pick up all the moisture with the back-and-forth motion. Your flooring should look dry when done cleaning an area.
If you floor looks wet after you have cleaned it you have left moisture on the floor. The wood will absorb this moisture and expand. The wood expansion will stretch the urethane finish. When the wood loses this moisture it contracts, but the urethane finish cannot contract. This will weaken the bond between the urethane finish and the wood.
Over time this repeated expansion and contraction due to excessive moisture during cleaning will break the bond between the wood and finish resulting in the finish peeling. This damage is not warrantable as it was caused by excessive moisture.
PROFESSIONAL CLEANERS: If you hire a professional cleaning service, do not assume they will use the correct cleaning products on your floor. Often the products and techniques that professional cleaners use are not correct or compatible with hardwood flooring. You must direct your cleaners on which products to use.
STEAM MOP WARNING: Although promoted by Steam Mop manufacturers as being safe for use on wood floors this is NOT THE CASE.
Use of a steam mop can introduce excess moisture and heat into your wood floor. This can cause permanent damage. USE OF A STEAM MOP WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY.
USE THE PROPER CLEANERS: Never use cleaners with wax, oils (natural or otherwise) oil-based soaps, household detergents or laundry detergents on any engineered hardwood floor.
Some of these products may damage the finish, or leave a film/residue that is difficult to remove from the urethane finish.
Some of these residues can also dry in the texturing of the flooring and any dirt or other contaminate can stick to the residue and be difficult to remove without damaging the floor.
If you are usure of which cleaning products to use, consult your local specialty flooring dealer.
To prevent excessive expansion, shrinkage, crackling or buckling of your hardwood floor it is important to maintain humidity level for your area between 25% and 60% RH (non-radiant heated sub-floors)
NOTE: If your flooring has a 4mm lamella (top layer), the humidity levels are 35%-60% RH. See your dealer to help determine your lamella thickness.
Use appropriate relative humidity control devices and monitor your relative humidity (RH) with a stand-alone hygrometer that has a humidity range of least 10%-80% RH and is accurate to +/- 3% below 30% RH.
The ThermoPro TP50 model hydrometer is an affordable hygrometer that is accurate in these ranges.
Many hygrometers available at retail stores are not accurate below 30% and can give you a false sense of security. Make sure to check the technical specifications of the hygrometer before making your purchase.
If you have a radiant heated sub-floor you must maintain your humidity levels between 35%-60% RH as direct heat will drive moisture out of wood.
The installer, home builder and homeowner should all have infrared thermometers to measure the surface temperature of the flooring to make sure it does not exceed 80F (27C) at any time.
The thermostats in the house do not measure the flooring temperature so do not rely on them to tell you how hot your floor surface is, use an infrared thermometer.
Infrared thermometers are relatively inexpensive and are available at most home improvement retailers.
Water, dust, sand and salt are the worst enemies of wood. The combined effect of water and sand, salt or dust is devastating to flooring, so it is important to place floor mats at entrances.
Install felt pads to the legs of furniture and chairs to avoid scratching flooring when objects are moved.
If using mats on your wood floor do not use rubber-backed mats as it will trap moisture and damage your floor. Use a breathable mat and honeycomb type of non-slip mat underneath so air can circulate through the mat to the floor.
Normal exposure to sunlight will cause colour changes in any hardwood floor. Area rugs, which block out light, should therefore be shifted regularly. The use of window coverings to shade the floor will minimize changes due to sunlight.
It is important to leave rugs off any new floor if you can for ~6+ months. A lot of the color change can happen in the first 6 months as the floor is exposed to UV rays for the first time.
For best results, we recommend the use of specially formulated wood flooring cleaners and maintenance products such as Bona or Woodwise products. Check with your local specialty flooring retailer for these products.
Note: Never use wax or household detergents on any engineered hardwood floor.
Do not use oil-based soap on a urethane finished floor.
These products may damage the finish and leave a greasy film, making the floor slippery and difficult to maintain afterwards.