Do you have wooden flooring in your home? It’s a beautiful addition to your décor, but there’s the chance you’ll scuff and scratch it. The last thing you want is to ruin your flooring by the couch shifting and gouging out the hardwood. We curated this list of five tips to help you protect your hardwood floors from scratches and scuffs.
How to Protect Floors from Scratches
Keep the Floor and Entrance Clean
Keeping your floors clean is one of the best preventative measures and ways to avoid unwanted scuffs and scratches. If you don’t remove your shoes when entering your home, you drag dirt and other debris across the floors.
That dirt and debris settles on your floor. If your chairs or couches move over it, it can scratch and scuff your flooring (even if they have felt pads underneath).
We recommend placing welcome mats at the entrances to your home. Not only do mats help people brush off their footwear before entering, but they also trap dirt and debris blowing in with the wind.
The best way to ensure no dirt enters your home is to ask your guests to remove their shoes before coming inside.
Protect Floors From Scratches With Furniture Protector Pads
When your couch moves across the floor, the feet can scratch it, even if it’s clean. Wood on wood or metal on wood is a disastrous combination. Jumping on heavy furniture, and accidentally moving it, creates a risk of scratching your wood flooring.
Place gripper pads under your couch and fit silicone leg sleeves to your chairs and table legs. The gripper pads prevent the sofa from moving. This will stop scuffing, and the silicone legs do the same for the chairs and tables in your home.
It’s an affordable fix, and you’ll find these pads and sleeves at all hardware stores or online retailers. Most furniture pads feature a design with silicone or felt, ensuring your floors remain scratch-free.
Place Rugs and Mats in High-Traffic Spots
Every home has high-traffic areas where people walk more often as they move around the rooms. Walking might seem like an innocent activity that can’t damage your floors, and you’re right. However, many footsteps, over and over on the floor can cause damage to the wood.
High-traffic areas get dirty fast and present a scuffing risk. We recommend placing a stylish rug on the floor in these high-traffic areas of your home. An area rug will give your floor all the protection it needs to stop the wear and tear of your flooring.
By fitting a rug in your living room, dining room, or anywhere you have installed hardwood floors or vinyl plank flooring. Doing this mitigates the risk of rubbing in dirt and grime to the flooring, preventing scratching. Also, place rugs under chairs, tables, and couches to stop them from moving and scuffing the floor.
Lay a Protective Topcoat To Protect Floors
Leaving bare hardwood exposed on your floors is attractive, but it’s asking for trouble. Bare wood is prone to scratching and warping.
Always ensure you seal the floor. We recommend adding a topcoat to the finished flooring. Topcoats are available in oil-based polyurethane materials or wax coatings. Both choices offer you durable floors and scratch prevention.
There are also options for moisture-cured urethane and water-based polyurethane finishes. These options offer excellent protection and scratch resistance to your flooring as well. Most of these choices are easy to apply yourself without hiring a professional.
Keep Your Pet’s Nails Short
Do you have dogs? Our furry friends are great companions and add a layer of security to your home. However, preventing your dog from scratching hardwood floors can be a challenge. One way to protect your floors from scratches caused by your dog is to keep your pet’s nails short.
Fido can get excited and start running around the house. They’ll dig their claws into the flooring to try and gain traction, especially when turning corners. Keeping your dog’s nails short will ensure they don’t reach the floor, and you won’t have a scratching problem, even if they run around the house. Cats typically don’t scratch your floors because their claws retract.
Most breeds require a claw clipping at the groomer. Only try and cut your dog’s nails yourself if you have experience. You could hit a nerve, and that’s excruciatingly painful for them. Let your vet show you the correct technique for trimming your dog’s claws.
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