Correct care & maintenance of your hardwood floor will help ensure your floor always looks its best and will aid its long term reliability and performance.

For routine care and maintenance please follow these simple instructions:

INITIAL CARE IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING INSTALLATION
(both solid & engineered flooring products)

Lacquered or UV Oiled finished floorings

• Dust the floor and if your flooring has been glued down clean off any adhesive residue with an appropriate adhesive cleaner.
• Clean the floor with “Bona - Wood Floor cleaner” taking care to use the correct type of flat mop and to follow the instructions on the container.

This cleaner is available through Karpet Mills.
A Bona – “Wood Floor Cleaning Kit” is also available which  includes the Bona cleaner and mop.

ONGOING CARE & MAINTENANCE

(both solid & engineered flooring products)

• Vacuum or sweep the floor weekly, or more frequently if required. The vacuum head must be brush or soft felt. Do not use a vacuum that has beater bars or a hard metal head.
• A floor swivel head flat mop with replaceable cloth cover is highly recommended to eliminate finer particles of dirt and grit that may build up on the floor.
• Spillages and tracked in dirt should be wiped off the floor immediately.

Periodically, or as is deemed necessary based on dirt build up etc, thoroughly clean your lacquered or UV Oiled floor by using the “Bona –Wood Floor Cleaner”.
For occasional “refreshing” of your floor surface the following products are available:

Lacquered finish : Bona – “Wood Floor Refresher”
UV Oiled Floor : Carl`s – “Hardwax Oil Refresher”

Both these refresher products should be applied using Bona – Refresher applicator pad beige.  
All these maintenance items should be available through Karpet Mills.

Things to “do” and be aware of:

• DO - Make use of door mats at all external entrances and over high traffic areas of the floor as this will significantly help to avoid dirt and grit being walked on to the floor.
• DO - Use furniture protection pads under all furniture legs and feet as this will avoid damage being caused by the movement of furniture across the floor. Use work station mats at desks, under chairs and in front of any furniture where footfall is continual in a small specific area. This will avoid damage and excessive or accelerated wear from castors, chair feet and specific continual footfall in these areas.
• DO – Try to keep the relative humidity within the room between 35–55% as this will minimise the floors natural tendency to move during the seasons of the year. Small humidity meters can be purchased via many online companies and should be relatively inexpensive.
• DO - Protect your floor from constant direct sunlight where possible as areas subjected to constant sunlight will age and discolour at an accelerated rate compared to shaded areas of the floor.

• BE AWARE! – If mats or rugs are laid on the floor, occasionally reposition them to avoid edge discolouration forming beneath them and at their edges as the flooring ages.
• BE AWARE! – That your floor is a natural product and as such will show signs of movement, i.e minor gapping, during the various seasons of the year as it reacts normally to its environmental conditions.
• BE AWARE! – That shade and colour variance is also a normal feature of wooden flooring and that “blending” of the boards is a normal part of the wood floor installation process to ensure an overall blended acceptable appearance is achieved when fitted.

 Very important “don’t’s” and things to avoid:

• DON’T - “Wet mop” the flooring, as this will cause excessive expansion of the floor and possible damage to the lacquered and / or oiled surface finishes.
• DON’T - Walk on the floor in narrow hard, or stiletto type, heels as this may damage the surface of the flooring.
• DON’T – Slide heavy furniture or objects across the floor as this may also damage the surface.
• DON’T – Use ammonia based cleaners, acrylic finishes, wax based products, detergents, bleaches, polishes, abrasive soaps or cleaners, or any acidic based cleaners. These type of cleaners can etch or pit the surface of your flooring.
• AVOID - Letting pets with claws run across the flooring and always keep pets claws trimmed as animal claws may scratch the surface of the floor.
• AVOID – Letting sunlight shine on the floor for long periods of time as this will accelerate ageing of the floor, particularly if your room has large windows or patio doors. The use of curtains & blinds is recommended to reduce the effect of U.V. light ageing the floor.