Unprotected furniture legs could be a significant cause of scratches, dents and scrapes on your beautiful hardwood floors.
This is common if you keep dragging or pushing your chairs, tables, or beds when you are cleaning, decorating or styling your room.
Heavy furniture standing on grit and hard debris can grind them into the floor’s top surface, creating some dents and gouges.
A scratched wood floor appears uneven, old and dull and not appealing to look at. It can be time consuming and costly to fix scratches in a hardwood floor especially when they are deep or wide.
So, how do you protect your hardwood floors from furniture scratches?
Things to Think About
1. Avoid Dragging Furniture across the Floor
Most people find it a shortcut to push or pull heavy furniture across the floor, especially during cleaning.
This will cause the legs of furniture to scuff the surface and create marks that may extend past the finish into the wood.
When you have plans to move your furniture, consider lifting it off the floor. If it is too heavy you can request help from a family member or friend.
2. Install Furniture Pads/Glides
Glides or pads installed at the bottom of chairs or furniture greatly reduce the chances of scratching your floors.
There are various types of chair glides made from different types of materials for protection. They include the following:
- Tap-on Pads – The pads are firmly attached under the bottom of furniture legs with a nail or screw. They are made from different materials with varying levels of protection and cost. While installing, ensure the nail or screw is not exposed to damage your wood floor.
- Adhesive Pads – These are rubber- or felt-made pads that are installed by peeling and sticking them on the bottom of furniture legs. They are affordably cheap, although the adhesive may not be long-lasting, which can lead to pads falling off after some time.
- Slip-on floor savers – They are designed to fit over the furniture legs. The rubber or plastic material protects the floors without worrying about falling off or scratching your floor.
Choosing a furniture pad type will greatly depend on the rate of furniture movement in your home or office.
Rubber pads are the most ideal for heavy or furniture with high traffic, and are highly recommended by WFC Wood Floor Cleaner. Plastic pads serves well for stationery and light furniture.
3. Use Area Rugs
Area rugs are ideal for protecting your wood floors, and further add some style and coziness into your room.
Carpets and mats provides a protective barrier against rough furniture legs, traffic, moisture, grit, and debris.
High traffic areas such as hallways, mudrooms, dining rooms, and entries are likely to experience a high rate of wear and tear.
This is commonly due to shoe scuffing and sanding caused by debris from outside. It is important to utilize rugs in such places to protect your wood floor.
Before installing an area rug, your floor should be cleaned, and all dirt and debris be removed. Fix any other scratches, remove stains and ensure there is nothing coming in between the floor surface and the rug.
Ensure you also clean under the rug once in a while to help remove any material that can contribute to floor scratching.
There are different types of rugs you can place on your floors. Woven rugs will enhance air circulation to your floor, thus eliminating the possibility of any trapped moisture.
They are highly porous and can allow spills to reach the floor underneath, so be careful when you have them in your home.
Waterproof rugs have a protective barrier that prevents water or any other spills from reaching the floor underneath .
They are the best to use in places such as dining rooms and kitchens where spills are the order of the day.
Rugs should not contain dye or color substances that can bleed through when damp. They should also not have a rough backside that can create marks on the floor’s surface.
You may consider placing non-skid pads under your runner rugs if they are sliding on the floor.
How Do You Fix Scratches on Hardwood Floors Caused by Furniture?
Dealing with scratches on a hardwood floor is not an easy task. But due to their ugly appearance, you can choose to conceal them or repair them.
This will entirely depend on the scratch’s depth or magnitude. Heavy furniture can create deep gouges or marks on the floor that may take great effort to remove.
We have ways of fixing scratches in a hardwood floor you can employ. Deep scratches may require sanding and refinishing the area.
Light marks can be polished or be removed by a suitable wood floor cleaner.
Conclusion
Preventing scratches is the best practice of maintaining a hardwood floor.
This mainly involves proper regular cleaning, pet grooming, and creating area rugs among other methods.
In addition to keeping your floor beautiful, it will make it last longer.