Removing stains from your wooden flooring does not have to be your worst nightmare anymore

What is a wooden floor’s worst nightmare? Stains! Stains can often cause a lot of issues with wooden floors, simply because they might ruin the finish and the overall look of the flooring. However, that does not have to be the case always.

Before you dive in with all your tools to remove the stain, it is extremely important to assess the situation and understand what kind of a problem you have on your hands. You need to consider points like:

·         Type of flooring

·         Age of the flooring

·         Type of stain

·         Cause of the stain

·         Age of the stain

When you have these pieces of information, you will be in a much better position to gauge the right method to get rid of the stains.

Spillage

Humans are social animals, and it is quite natural to socialize. The problem with socializing is that many a times, people might spill drinks like alcohol, or other liquids on the wooden flooring. In such cases, the first and foremost plan of action should be to soak up the spilled liquid with a dry cloth/sponge immediately, without allowing the spill to seep into the floor cracks. The sooner you absorb the spill, the better it would be for your flooring. In cases where in the floors have been stained by alcohol, sweets, nail varnish, or non greasy food, you can use warm water and a mild wood cleaner to get rid of the stains. However, the idea is to attack the stain as soon as it occurs to avoid a permanent damage to the flooring.

Older vs. newer floors

Depending on the age of your flooring, you should take a decision on how to handle the stains. If your floor is relatively old, you can try the sanding the stain back, and further recoat the area to make it merge with the rest of the flooring. If you have multiple stains on the floor, then you can even consider sanding back the whole floor and resealing it to avoid any permanent issues in the future.

If your floor is new, and has a good sealer on it, then you can assume the stains would only be restricted to the surface. In such situations, one can use a chemical infused floor cleaning product, which is easily available in the market. However, make sure you use a product which is ideal for wooden floors only.

Type of flooring

Engineered wood is more resistant to water, than its counterpart solid wood. For this very reason, many home owners usually prefer engineered wooden flooring in their homes. In cases where there is staining, one can resort to using hydrogen peroxide as a resort. Soak a piece of cloth in hydrogen peroxide and place it over the stain for 6 hours. Hopefully, the stain would weaken as the peroxide seeps into the floor. In case there are light remains after 6 hours as well, you can try keeping it the cloth for 12 hours and wipe off the excess liquid once done.

Always remember, prevention is better than cure. At all times, it is advisable for people to avoid any kinds of staining on wooden floors, since a lot goes into removing them in the long run. It not only affects your flooring’s life, but also its color and appearance in the long run.