Fixing the Scratches in Your Hardwood Floors

Scratches can be such a nuisance in hardwood flooring! You have all these beautiful hardwood floors that you spent all that time and money installing and maintaining and then BAM! Scratch. Now your beautiful floors have that embarrassing looking scratch. How do you fix it? Well, there are some steps you can take to get rid of the scratch.

1. Figure out how deep the scratch is. This is an important step in figuring out what to do next. Most scratches are only in the finish of the wood or at deepest, the surface level of the wood. Most scratches are not in the underpart of the wood, past the surface level, since those are considered cracks or gauges and they often require replacing that piece of wood or possibly a small section of the hardwood flooring. You will indeed know if the scratch is actually a gauge or a crack since they are such large imperfections in your floors. 
2. Clean the area. The scratch area, like a scratch on a person, requires cleaning before you can start to repair the area. The reason for needing to clean the floors is because you want to remove any dirt that is in the area that will inhibit the repair from going smoothly. 
3. Hide the scratch. If it is not time to refinish the floors and you would rather wait to fix the scratch until it is actually time to refinish the floors, then you have a few options. 
1. The first is to hide the scratch with a permanent marker; these come in a wide variety of colors at stores and so you can find one that is similar if not exactly the color of your hardwood floors. 
2. The second option is to find a stain marker. You can find these in flooring stores and hardware stores in colors that are going to match your hardwood flooring color. 
3. Reapply some of the stain from the staining. If you have some of the stain laying around, go ahead and reapply some. You can do this with a cotton swab, cotton ball, something that will gently apply the stain but not leave any of itself behind. 
4. Get a fix-it kit. Generally, flooring companies have fix-it kits they can give you to fix the scratch if you have a scratch that will not go away, even after you have tried the other home remedies. 
5. What if you have deeper scratches? To fix the larger or deeper scratches, get a fine grade sandpaper and rub the area. Make sure to follow the direction of the grain and move the sandpaper in a circular motion. After that, wipe the area with a damp cloth to clean the area, then allow it to dry. Once the area is dry, grab some stain and use a paint brush or whatever tool you used during the original staining and reapply some stain. Do it gently and then allow it to dry. 

If your scratch is just too large or deep, then you may have to replace some of the flooring or at least that floorboard. Hardwood flooring maintenance and hardwood flooring refinishing is not always difficult work for things but if you would rather hire someone to fix it, then hire Chicagoland Pro - a Palatine hardwood flooring company. We give free estimates.  As a Chicago hardwood flooring company, we know that people love their floors and having a scratch or some repair can be stressful, don't worry, we can take care of it and you will love your floors! 

Keeping Your Hardwood Floors Clean During Fall

As Fall peaks its head around the corner, we start to see how the wonderful season starts to make an impact on the cleanliness of our hardwood floors. But fear not! Just because there is a little extra dirt on the ground and leaves to step on does not mean that our floors have to suffer as well. There are a few, or more like 5, tips for keeping your amazing hardwood floors clean from dirt and gunk. Make sure to print this blog off or get a pen & paper because you will want to know this information.

The first tip for keeping your hardwood floors clean is to vacuum them every few days or at least weekly. Dirt builds up on floors very quickly and so do things like leaves. Even when you have a floor mat to wipe your feet off, sometimes things like leaves can still stick to the bottom of your shoes and make their way onto your hardwood floors. This issue compounds when you have pets that go inside and outside, such as dogs. Dogs are shameless and so they do not care, usually, about having some dirt on them and especially on their paws. While having dogs is a blessing, usually, they can make keeping your floors clean a magic act if you do not take the time to vacuum them every few days or once a week. It may seem silly but consider this, the dust and dirt that is brought into the house from outside acts like sandpaper on your floors; as the dirt sits on your floors and is pressed into the floors by people and pets walking on it, it grinds its way into your beautiful floors and wears on the finish of your floors. Try using a vacuum attachment when you do the vacuuming so you do not have to bend over and hurt your back; also, using an attachment with a felt bottom can pick up the dirt and prevent scratching the floor as opposed to using just the metal pipe or a rotating attachment.

The second tip for keeping your hardwood floors clean is to keep the rain out of your house. When you have a lot of rain, it is bound to make its way into your house via feet; people are outside and then they come inside or your pets are outside and then they have to come in, etc etc. The point is, rain is hard to keep out of your house and the frustration to win the battle is often high. The reason you want to keep the rain out of your house is because the water can ruin the finish on your hardwood floors. Another reason you will want to keep the rain out of your house is because if the water is left on your floors or is constantly there, then the water can seep its way into your floors and stain them, or worse, warp them. What you can do to help reduce the amount of water getting into your home is to have a mat for people to wipe their feet, encourage people to take off their shoes as soon as they step inside and wipe up any water that is on the floor. Have a designated spot for people to leave their shoes that are wet and make sure the area is able to handle water or at least keep it dry enough so the water does not ruin that spot.

The third tip to keeping your hardwood floors clean during fall is to keep the residue off the floor with a wax-free floor cleaner. This is something you can keep on hand for those quick fixes. For example, say someone spills a little juice on the floor, you can wipe up the juice with a paper towel or something but there is still some residue left on the floor from the juice; what you do is grab the wax-free floor cleaner and then spray a bit on the spot where the residue is and then clean. It may sound like more work than is necessary but the truth is, just wiping up a liquid that can leave a residue with a paper towel is not completely cleaning the area and so your floor finish can get ruined by the left-behind junk.

The fourth tip to keeping your hardwood floors clean during the fall months is to use a couple doormats. Now, early I mentioned how things can still get into your house and onto your hardwood floors even with the doormats but the truth is that things will be much worse if you do not use them at all. One thing you can try doing is to have extra long running mats on the floor; these mats are great for keeping things off the wood floors since by the time the person is done walking on the mat, they have walked at least 10 feet! Any dirt left on their shoes at that point is going to stay on their shoes.

The fifth tip to keeping your hardwood floors clean is to refinish the floors. If all else fails and the floors lose the battle against the elements, you may have to simply refinish the floors. You can either hire a service to do it or there are DIY ways to do it.

Refinishing Your Hardwood Floors 101

Have you been wondering how to do hardwood restoration at home? Well this blog will give you a few quick tips that can help you handle your hardwood floors .

The first tip is that you have to pick the right hardwood floor sander. If you are new to this sort of thing, then choosing any orbital sander is your safe bet; while these kinds of sanders do take longer to remove finish than drum sanders, they are more user-friendly. The reason orbital sanders are better for novices is because you can move them with or against the grain of the wood, it doesn't matter. The only precaution is that you keep the sander level while using it or you can have uneven sanding.

The second tip is to be careful & take precautions. Because of the amount of dust that is generated while doing hardwood refinishing , you should have plenty of dust masks, earplugs, and eye protection. Please, do not do the sanding without these things or the dust can get in your eyes, lungs & airways, ears and the sanders can be loud and damage your hearing. When applying the finish liquid, make sure to wear appropriate respirators, gloves (neoprene or vinyl).

The third tip is to be gentle. Don't be too aggressive with your hardwood while sanding them. Generally, you want to start with a lower grit count and then move them up as you progress your sanding and reach the desired fineness.

The fourth tip is to the careful while applying the finish. A good way to make sure you do the finish evenly is to go row by row on your hardwood floors . This way, you minimize the risk of over-coating while doing the floors . It is better to use thinner coats than thick coats while doing this stage.

Enjoy doing your own hardwood flooring refinishing and consult a pro if you run into any problems or questions.

Dogs and Hardwood Floors

Hardwood floors are nice to have in your home and look great; but what do you do when you have pets such as dogs? With their nails and constantly going inside and outside, they bring in elements from outside that can make your beautiful hardwood floors look crummy; not only bringing things inside, sometimes they create messes on the floor because they didn't get outside. Here are some hardwood floor types that can withstand the conditions of owning a dog or cat.

If you have a pet, you will want to get pre-finished hardwood floors. This will keep dirt and such out of the fibers in your floors. An option for pre-finished wood floors that will tolerate your pets will be laminate floors, such as pergo.

Another thing to remember is to get hardwood floors, not softwood. No matter what you do to softwood floors, such as pine, you won't be able to prevent the floor from getting destroyed.

Brazilian walnut floors are good for pets as well since it is dense. This floor is so dense that people have even been known to use it for exterior decks.

Another option to have nice floors that can take a beating, look to hard maple. You can count on this type of flooring being able to handle what you can dish out because it is often used for basketball courts.

An option that is durable that not many people have caught onto yet is bamboo flooring. This is a durable type of flooring because despite actually being a grass, not wood, it has resin mixed with the strands of bamboo that make the flooring very hard.

Hope you enjoy your great new floors and your pets!

Hardwood Flooring Textures: Brushed, Bandsaw and Tumbling

Our Palatine Hardwood Flooring Company can tell you that the final appearance of wood flooring is not just dependent on the type of timer but the treatements applied to the wood as well.  The staining, oil, wax, lacquer finishing, or fuming/smoking will affect the color of the wood as well. 

Chicagoland Pro specializes is hardwood flooring installation, hardwood flooring restoration, and hardwood flooring maintenance. In this blog, we will focus on the physical texture and grain of solid wood flooring.  There are three main textures of hardwood flooring, they are brushed, bandsawn, and distressed/tumbled. 

Brushed:

In the past, brushed flooring texture was achieved by hand using wire brushes.  Now with technology advancements, the same appearance can be achieved with purpose-built machinery which produces a steady depth of brushing over the while floor.

When our hardwood flooring company is trying to achieve the brushed appearance, we use a machine with copper of steel brushes that rotate over the surface.  This machine opens up the grain and turns the smooth surface into a more open-textured surface with indentations that follow the grain of the wood.  We can achieve different levels of grain accentuation depending on how hard or soft the brushing is.  We also can emphasize the depth of grain by using a colored or oiled finish that will accentuate the wood’s texture.

Bandsawn:

To create saw marks over the complete surface of the wood, our hardwood flooring installers would use a bandsaw.  We adjust the settings of the bandsaw to create different degrees of texture.  We have the skills to make your hardwood flooring look high textured and rustic or subtle. 

Tumbling:

One of the most common textures our Palatine Hardwood Flooring Company provides is the look of reclaimed wood, which involves tumbling.  Tumbling is often times a much lower cost and gives wood a distressed look.  The resulting effect of tumbling is wood that appears to have years of wear and tear and is difficult to distinguish whether it is distressed or reclaimed wood/

For hardwood flooring tips, the best method to tumbling is to distress/soften the corners and edges of the wood to make it look word and our machine will also create random indentations across the surface to give an overall “naturally aged” look.  Distressing adds character and beauty to your hardwood flooring and it is suitable for modern times.

We understand that everyone has different tastes in flooring whether it be hard wood or carpet or tile.  We think it is important for people to realize that there are so many options and looks to hardwood flooring that can be achieved in a multitude of ways.  If you have any questions about hardwood textures, please contact Chicagoland Pro for Palatine Hardwood Flooring Installation or comment below!

Summer Hardwood Flooring Maintenence

Hardwood Floors take a beating - we all know this. But most especially in the Hardwood Floors looking great!
summer when humidity is high, air conditioners are running, and we're constantly cleaning muddy shoe prints up. The constant heat, cold, and wet conditions can take their toll after a while, but there are ways to keep your

Hardwood Floor Refinishing and Repair is the best way to keep your hardwood floors looking as good as new, and Chicagoland Pro, a Palatine Hardwood Flooring Contractor, is the way to go.

Our hardwood flooring company recommends that you seeks Chicagoland Pro as for Palatine hardwood flooring maintenance company.  Maintenance during the summer months in more important than most people realize.  This is because the floors tend to wear out more and even the most carefully installed floor can expand during the summer months and cup or buckle due to the high moisture and the humidity in the air.  

One of our other hardwood flooring tips is that we do recommend that you vacuum your hardwood floors.  Vacuuming the floors allows for dirt or dust that is trapped to be sucked up and disposed of which a broom cannot reach.  However, if you are vacuuming your hardwood floors we strongly recommend that you use the bare floor attachment and not to roll the vacuum across the floors because this could also damage your flooring.

Also, the strong summer sun is very damaging to hardwood flooring.  Many of our calls are for hardwood flooring restoration due to sun damaging the floors from the shades of blinds never being drawn down or closed.  Direct sunlight to hardwood flooring can lead to discoloring the floor.

If you want to protect your floor and keep it looking beautiful for as long as possible, have one of our Palatine hardwood flooring installation experts tell you what the best products are to clean and care for your floor.  We want to advise you against using wax, detergents or any oil based soaps which will or could damage the finishing on your floor. Hardwood flooring refinishing is a great option for anyone interested in getting the beautiful luster and charm back to the floors.  Our hardwood flooring company can tell you exactly what products to use that are designed for your flooring.  Do not just rely on any product or water alone because when certain products evaporate, they can cause hardwood flooring stains.

If you have any questions about your hardwood floors, or if you are interested in hardwood flooring maintenance or hardwood flooring restoration, comment below or contact our Palatine hardwood flooring company.

Why You Should Choose Walnut Flooring

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Our Palatine hardwood flooring company knows how important it is to shop for the best quality flooring that will not exceed your budget.  Many people do not realize this, but most often, the floor is the first thing people look at when they walk into a new place.  Hardwood flooring is truly a focal point of your home and we want to help you make sure you make the best selection for your budget, the beauty of your home, and of course, for functionality.

Our hardwood flooring company knows that deciding on your flooring can be very time consuming and cannot be a spontaneous decision.  We are experts when it comes to hardwood flooring installation, hardwood flooring restoration, hardwood flooring maintenance and hardwood flooring restoration. 

Perhaps one of our favorite hardwood flooring panels we suggest to our clients is the dark walnut flooring.  We find that walnut flooring creates a timeless elegance in all homes that looks fantastic throughout the entire home.  The panels pick up a lot of colors that are great to match with furniture and art throughout your home.  Walnut definitely creates a warm ambiance and is very welcoming and comforting to guests. 

Palatine hardwood flooring also suggest walnut flooring because it is a hardwood that is extremely durable.  We know that you are looking for an affordable flooring option that is still attractive which is why one of our hardwood flooring tips is to buy walnut hardwood.  Walnut hardwood lasts much longer than other woods, so in the long run, it is a much better buy and will keep your home feeling cozy and beautiful longer.  Walnut also requires very little hardwood flooring maintenance.  We have found that walnut tends to resist water damage, mold, bug infestations, etc.  Not to mention, cleaning the floor is very simple because you are able to mop the floor without damaging it.  And hardwood flooring often, because walnut has a darker appearance, it hides dirt and grime well.  Walnut is also relatively easy to install, so our flooring experts can have your house looking beautiful in no time.

don’t worry if you are not able to clean your

If we haven’t sold you on selecting walnut hardwood flooring for your home, give our Palatine Hardwood Flooring Company a call.  We would love to speak with you about what flooring is best for your home and schedule an appointment for one of our Palatine hardwood flooring installers to visit your home.