Hardwood floors have long been the preferred floors for certain parts of the house. Hardwood is popular in dens, living rooms, and entrance ways. However, the advent of new hardwood flooring technology has spurred many homeowners to choose new places to implement hardwood. Hardwood is being installed in libraries, home offices, hallways, kitchens, powder rooms, and bedrooms. Each of those new installation locations has some unique difficulties that you need to account for.
Installing Hardwood in Bedrooms
When you are installing hardwood flooring in bedrooms, you need to account for the furniture in a bedroom. Furniture in the bedroom is slightly more likely to move around than furniture in the living room. A bedroom is more likely to have a desk with a desk chair. It’s also more likely to have closet doors that might slide or roll on the ground. All of those things can scratch a hardwood floor if you’re not careful. To avoid that, you should consider something protective for the furniture. If you have a chair that you need to slide around, you can protect your hardwood floor with some pieces of fabric under the legs to prevent them from scratching. Strategically placed rugs can also keep cabinet doors from scratching the floor.
Installing in Bathrooms
Moisture is the biggest danger to installing hardwood in the bathroom. Moisture from sink splashing or from dripping towels is an obvious danger; you can protect against this with a waterproof coating on the floor and by drying the floor when it gets wet. The bigger danger is actually just the level of humidity in the bathroom. Whenever you run hot water, it will increase the humidity in the room drastically. To protect against this, you should use a hardwood flooring that is designed for use in bathrooms. Also, you should use a fan that vents the bathroom as quickly as possible. A dehumidifier would also be a good option.
Installing in Kitchens
Kitchens have many of the same moisture concerns as bathrooms but they also have concerns about grease, oil, and food. Some foods such as tomato sauce are actually slightly acidic. When they drop on your hardwood floor, they’ll eat away at the finish very slowly. The effect of each spill will be largely unnoticeable but over time, they can damage the finish. Be sure to clean up any spills and to refinish the floor as often as recommended by the manufacturer.