Dangers To Wood Flooring In Summer

Like all things, wood responds to the heat and light of the sun and can suffer damage as a result.  There are several things that can happen to your wood flooring in the summer.  At a very basic level, due to the higher temperatures and drier atmosphere, there’s more dust around in summer time than the rest of the year.  Dust and grit can play havoc with wood flooring because it acts as an abrasive and effectively “sands” the finish off your floor if you’re not careful and thorough in your cleaning regime.  One great way to reduce the negative effects of the increased dust and grit your feet bring into your home during the summer months is to invest in a high quality doormat.  A good doormat will remove a significant percentage of the dust and grit that could play havoc with your floor.  Thereafter, it’s a case of making sure you vacuum up any stray particles that make their way past the doormat.

After dust and grit, the other summer problem for wood floors is light from the sun itself, which can create real problems with not only your wood floor, but with all your furnishings.  There are two solutions to this problem, the first is to stop the light as much as possible from getting at your floors and the second is to treat your floors so they’ll stand up better to the effects of sunlight.  That said, living in a house with the curtains constantly closed in the summer months isn’t particularly appealing, so a treatment tends to win hands down.

A good ultraviolet or UV finish on your floor will really help minimise the negative effects of the sun.  At the moment, dark floors are particularly popular and require more protection from the sun that their lighter counterparts.  That said, no matter what type of floor you have, you should be able to find a good quality UV finish which will help protect your floor from the sun.  If you have any doubt about what might work for your floor, you should seek the advice of your floor supplier or a reliable DIY store.

The other main summer threats to wood floors are temperatures and humidity.  Temperature and humidity fluctuations can play havoc with even the best-laid floors, causing cupping and, or buckling.  When wood takes in moisture from the atmosphere, it expands which can cause it to distort.  In summer the moisture content of the air itself tends to be lower over a full day, ie.  the air is dryer than it is naturally in the winter months, but fluctuates significantly during each day.  If you think about a typical summer’s day, morning and evening dew are perfect evidence of the rise and fall of humidity levels in any 24 hour period.  Add to this, the fact that, in order to combat the heat, we often use artificial cooling or air conditioning equipment and you begin to see the issues that might arise with your wood floor.  Generally speaking, cooling equipment gives rise to a huge amount of condensation, which can again have a detrimental effect on your wood floor.

So, particularly during the hot summer months, think of your floor and be kind to it!