General Care and Maintenance Guidelines -Songlin Floor
The floor after installation. Now your daily life, with all its challenges, begins. Shrill heels and dirty or wet shoes placed on the floor to the test, time and time again.
When it comes to maintenance, prevention is better than cure.
Maintenance apply depends on many factors and varies from case to case. More regular maintenance is required on floors where there is greater wear and tear, such as where people walk with outdoor shoes or in a high traffic place.
It becomes signal when the floor needs maintenance since it starts to feel more difficult to clean than before.
The following are 10 tips to protect and give the floor a longer life.
• Floors of engineered wood flooring need a suitable room climate, ie. a temperature of about 200C and a relative air humidity of 50-65%.
Cracks or gaps can occur if the humidity is too low while the floor can swell or arch if the humidity is too high.
•Make sure there is a right designed entrance and an effective wiping-off system. If possible, provide a scraping-off grating first, then a coarse felt mat outside followed by a textile mat inside any external door that removes moisture and fine grit.
The best door entrance design makes it possible to walk at least three steps on each mat – the more the better. This way, not only protect the floor, but also makes daily cleaning easier.
The cost that is incurred in designing a good entrance pays for itself many times over as a consequence of lower maintenance costs.
• Always use the cleaning products manufacture recommended. As the cleaning products need to match the finishing product that the factory use for the wood flooring.
Never use soft soap, hard soap or a scouring agent (they attack the surface) or furniture polishes or other film-forming cleaning agents.
• Loose dirt and sand should be removed immediately with a vacuum cleaner, mop, soft broom or dust cloth.
• Normal dirt can be wiped off with a damp cloth. Always wipe length ways along the floor planks with a well wrung-out cloth.
•Use soft castors especially with engineered wood floors. Hard castors affect the surface like emery paper.
•When conducting maintenance, it is best to move the furniture to one half of the room, treat the cleared area, and wait 1-2 hours. All the furniture is then moved to the other half and the treatment is repeated on the rest of the floor.
•Daily maintenance can be done on the parts of the floor surface where it is really needed, such as areas where people walk.
Maintenance work does not necessarily mean, therefore, that all the furniture must be moved out of the room. The surface dirt’s resistance, along with its resistance to moisture and durability, increases each time maintenance is done.
•Glue felt gliders to chairs and all furniture to avoid unnecessary marks and scratches to the floor.
•Clean the floor thoroughly. If there is dirt on the floor when maintenance is done, it may be difficult to remove later.
Always follow the manufacturer’s recommended maintenance procedure.