Protecting Wood Flooring During Home Improvement Work

In the current economic climate where house sales are fewer and further between, more and more people are renovating, extending and improving their homes rather than moving on to buy something new.  Irrespective of whether you’re improving an old home or upgrading a more recent property, if you have a wooden floor that you want to preserve, you need to take care.

No matter whether you’re planning to carry out the work in your home on a DIY basis or you’re getting the builders in, it’s a good idea to take preventative action to protect your floor.  Home improvements can play havoc with wooden floors if you don’t protect them, so it’s worth taking care to take the necessary steps to make sure you don’t end up with a damaged floor.

Here are out Top Tips:

When you’re clearing your room prior to the start of work, make sure you lift and don’t drag furniture.  Dragging furnishings, particularly heavy items, is one of the most common ways of damaging flooring and can so easily be avoided.  If you do find yourself in the position where you need to drag a piece of furniture, make sure you place a nice heavy rug or blanket under the item to enable you to slide it across the floor without causing damage.

If your renovation works require internal scaffolding or ladders, you need to make sure that you put pads or cups under the feet of the ladders or scaffolding so they don’t cause damage to the wood.  While this can be a bit of a pain, it is well worth the effort because the weight of ladders and scaffolding can cause permanent dents in your floor and might even cause weak boards to split or break.

If you are painting or plastering, your entire floor will need to be protected from spills and splashes.  Assuming your job isn’t going to take too long, the best way to do this is by using a thick plastic protective sheet, but if the job is likely to be ongoing over a long period of time, it’s best to use a breathable fabric so your wood flooring won’t become stifled during the work.

Depending on the extent of your home improvement, you may well consider lifting your floor for the duration of the work and then replacing it after the work is complete.  Although this may seem like a whole lot of hassle, if your floor is of high quality and the works you have in mind are invasive, it is well worth the effort.  By doing this, you can be certain that your flooring will remain undamaged after the work.

When the work is finished, allow time and budget for a re-sand and re-finish if at all possible.  Although there is much debate over whether it’s best to sand before or after final painting, generally speaking, modern day sanders will suck up enough dust to enable you to sand after painting, removing the risk of paint spills and splashes.