Quick Tips for a Healthy Wood Floor!

Good morning!  I hope everyone is enjoying their summer thus far!  I talk a lot about what a professional wood floor cleaning company can do for the maintenance of your wood floors.  The question that most people then call or message me about is: What can wood floor owners do to help maintain their wood floors in between professional cleanings?  Today we will go over some easy tips on how to help maintain your wood floors and help them stay newer longer!


The first is pretty obvious... Sweep the wood floors often with a  soft, fine bristle broom.  Next you will want to Vacuum one to two times per week with a soft brush attachment.  The vacuuming will help remove any dirt or sand, and the soft brush attachment will minimize any scratching.  If you absolutely must mop your floors, use a very dry damp mop.  Don't forget that excess water on wood floors can cause the floors to cup.  If you do have a water spill on your floor get rid of water quickly! Use soft towels or a wet/dry vacuum to pick up the spill and then dry the area thoroughly.


 Place carpet runners over wood floors in high traffic areas.  Then remember to vacuum area rugs and runners often.  The dirt will filter down through the rugs and scratch the finish underneath if they are not properly maintained.  Floor mats at each entrance help to clean shoes before you enter the house and track dirt all over the floors.


Women, I know how much fun it is to get dressed up and wear high heels, but try to not wear them on you hardwood floors.  Unfortunately they can cause dents on the floor's surface.  Never drag furniture across a wood floor.  Instead, clean the floor thoroughly of all the dirt, then use "gliding" furniture pads to aid in sliding it across the floor.  Once you have all the furniture in place, place furniture pads under table and chair legs, as well as under the feet of dressers and armoires.  Furniture pads can be easily purchased at a local hardware store or even Walmart!


I hope these few easy tips will help many of you maintain your wood floors for years to come!    If anyone has any questions or comments there are several ways to get in touch with me!  We love comments, so don't be scared to say what is on your mind below this blog!  Also you can visit our website @ www.wichitawoodfloorcleaning.com , or if you would rather speak to someone you can give me a call at 316-747-4066.  I would love to hear from you!  Have a great rest of the week!

The Company

Wichita Wood Floor Cleaning... the company in Wichita, Kansas that is trying to revolutionize the way wood floor owners are able to care for and maintain their floors.  The simple fact is, there are hundreds of carpet cleaning companies out there and most people know that to maintain your carpet's appearance you should have your carpets professionally cleaned about every six months.  What most people don't know is that the same is true for wood floors as well.

For the owners of wood floors, maintenance is very simple, just grab a broom and sweep them up.  The problem is after time the floors begin to loose their luster and shine.  Usually when that begins to happen, the owner then tries to find that easy quick fix at the local retail store.  Their are MANY "cleaners" out there that claim to bring the shine back to your wood floors, so why not try them right?  No Way!  Most of the cleaners sold at retail stores for your wood floors are not beneficial to your floors.  They usually leave a waxy film on the top layer of your finish coat.

So what do you do???  That is where a professional wood floor cleaning company comes in!  Just like when carpets are looking dingy and dirty, wood floors begin looking dull and lifeless.  A wood floor cleaning company can scrub all the dirt and grime out of the floor and then add either a refinisher or even a new top coat of finish to your floor.  Using a professional wood floor cleaning company can add years of life to your wood floors and even extend the time for when you will need them sanded down.

If your carpet gets dirty you don't get new carpet or put a new layer of carpet over the existing, you clean it and it looks great again.  With wood floors you don't have to sand them down just because the floor isn't as shiny as it was in the beginning, or cover those beautiful floors with carpet or linoleum.  Simply get them professionally cleaned as you would with your carpets.  You will be amazed at the results!

Check out our website for more information on what a professional wood floor cleaning company can do for you and your floors. www.wichitawoodfloorcleaning.com






LocalConstruction.net

The Machine... Dirt Dragon

Hello everyone!  I have been super busy this week, and have not had a chance to write any new blogs yet... So I am sneaking some time in today for a quick blog before the three day weekend gets here!  We have gone over the cleaning processes provided by a professional wood floor cleaning company, but not really the machine used in the cleaning processes.

As of right now there is only one wood floor cleaning machine out in the market and that is the Basic Coating's Dirt Dragon.  We have heard some rumors going around that Bona might be coming out with their own version here in the next few years however.  Below is a picture of the machine.  This is the latest model they just came out with this year.

The top of the machine is where the tanks are located.  These are what hold all the cleaning solutions and the soiled solution that gets sucked back into the machine by the vacuum system.  How the machine works is pretty simple.  The tank is first filled with a commercial grade cleaner.  When the machine is being used, the cleaner is lightly sprayed onto the wood floor, scrubbed by a cylindrical brushed that was specially engineered to not damage finish, and then sucked back into the machine with the vacuum system. 

One of the key features of the machine are the squeegees at the bottom of it.  Between the squeegees and the vacuum system, the floors are left completely dry after the cleaners are applied and then scrubbed.  This is very important when cleaning wood floors because as we have talked about before, any excess liquid left on hardwood floors could cause them to cup.  And that is definitely one thing a wood floor owner does not want!

So really the machine is pretty simple.  Please be cautious when hiring someone to clean your floors though. Just because they have a wood floor cleaning machine, and it seems simple to operate, without the proper training and settings set correctly on the machine, your floors could actually end up being damaged.  Really, this is true for any situation regarding your home.  You could hire an uninsured tree trimmer that tells you he will do a good job and promises to not let that big branch land on your neighbor's fence, or you could hire the tree trimmer that has proven his credentials to you and carries a guarantee with his work.  It's up to you and the risk you want to take.

Wichita Wood Floor Cleaning would like to wish everyone a safe and fun Memorial Weekend!  For any questions or a free bid, don't hesitate to contact us:  316.747.4066  And for those of you who don't like to talk on the phone you can e-mail @ jesse@wichitawoodfloorcleaning.com or message us on our FaceBook page: http://www.facebook.com/wichitawoodfloorcleaningLLC

Hand Scraped Wood Floors

One of my favorite types of wood floors are hand scraped wood floors.  These floors remind me so much of the reclaimed wood floors we spoke about in a previous blog: Recycled Wood Floors.  I have always enjoyed floors with a lot of character, the ones that have that "rustic" look to them.


Hand scraped floors have a natural worn appearance and look like floors from when wood floors were finished by hand.  These floors have become a popular choice among homeowners wanting hardwood floors with the look of an old reclaimed wood floor, but with today's tough urethane finishes.


What are hand scraped wood flooring?  It is a technique using wood scraping tools to give the boards an old-world authentic feeling to them.  In furniture this technique is called distressing or antiquing.  Each piece is worked by hand to smooth out any roughness in the board, leaving each plank with an unique texture and finish.


Not all wood floor companies are educated on how to do this process correctly, so if you are looking into installing a hand scraped floor, be sure to ask for previous work completed by the company.  When you do find an educated company, your results will be absolutely amazing!  Below I am going to paste a few pictures of hand scraped floors for you to enjoy viewing.  


If you have any questions or comments please feel free to post them at the bottom of this blog. You can also reach us at 316.747.4066, or by visiting our website at: www.wichitawoodfloorcleaning.com   Have a wonderful day!

Myths and Facts of Our National Forests

Good morning!  Last night and this morning I was pondering what to write about.  I decided to review some of the previous blogs and see what stood out to me.  I noticed that I had previously written about the benefits of wood floors, but had not really mentioned too much about the supply and demand of wood on our national forests.  It seems there are more buildings and houses going up, while more land and fields are being plowed over and built on.


Our family really enjoys the outdoors, especially hiking around in the woods and looking for different creatures roaming around.  So we appreciate when nature is being taken care of and not abused for the sake of making a house look better or a new store being built.  Some people think owning wood floors actually hurts the environment, simply because it is a natural resource and yes, they do come from trees.  However if you look up the statistics of our National Forests, many people will be surprised as to just how many trees our great nation truly has!


I came across a website at www.bugwood.org, and it is simply a list of Myths and Facts about U.S. Forests.  I went ahead and pasted them below this for you to read through.  So rest assured that your wood floors are not harming the environment.  I hope you enjoy the facts as much as I did!  Have a great day!

Myths and Facts about U.S. Forests

MYTH:The early U.S. forest was a carpet of trees that extended from coast to coast.
FACT:The preColumbian forest of 1600 covered less than half of the present day United States.

MYTH:We only have 5% of the original ancient forests left that once covered the Pacific Northwest in the preEuropean settlement era.
FACT:This figure wrongly assumes that the coastal Northwest was covered with old trees before the arrival of settlers from the East.  According to U.S. government studies, no more than a third of  the region's forest was covered with oldgrowth trees at any time.  Natural wildfires, and fires set by native Americans, routinely cleared vast swaths of old forests.

MYTH:Congress authorized salvage logging on federal lands of dead and dying timber that ignores environmental safeguards.
FACT:Salvage logging cannot proceed without an approved Environment Assessment as required under the National Environmental Policy Act and a Biological Evaluation as required under the Endangered Species Act.  Moreover, a salvage sale can be stopped at any time  by a district ranger up to the Secretary  until the point that the sale is advertised. 

MYTH:We're running out of trees.
FACT:We have more trees today than we had in 1970, on the first Earth Day  even more than we had 70 years ago.  In the middle of the last century, for example, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut were about 35% forested; today they are 59%.

MYTH:We're cutting more than we're growing for future generations.
FACT:Forest growth has exceeded harvests since the 1940s.

MYTH:We're running out of old growth trees in our ancient forests.
FACT:In the U.S. today there are 13.2 million acres of old growth, i.e. large trees 200 years of age or older.  The vast majority of these trees  comprising an area the size of New Jersey and Massachusetts combined  will remain in their natural condition and will never be harvested due to legal and regulatory prohibitions on logging, road building and even fire fighting.

MYTH:We're running out of wilderness.
FACT:The U.S. has permanently protected 104 million acres of land, much of  it forested, in the Wilderness Preservation System.  It's part of a larger total of 270 million acres that is off limits to all commercial activity, including logging, mining and grazing. 

MYTH:Clear cutting, the practice of harvesting most trees in a given area, destroys the forest.
FACT:Clear cutting is a sound practice that benefits future forests.  By mimicking natural wildfires, clear cutting is widely recognized by forest scientists and even by conservation groups such as the Environmental Defense Fund, American Forests, the Society of American Foresters as an ecologically sound technique for reforesting many softwood species.  That's because, for their survival, conifer seedlings typically require direct sunlight and cannot survive in shade.

MYTH:A natural forest supports more ecological diversity than a managed forest.
FACT:Managed forests, even those with some clearcutting, often produce more biodiversity than completely natural forests, according to U.S. Forest Service studies in the Lake States and New England.  Even tree farm plantations contain a rich mosaic of plant and animal life.

MYTH:Forest management harms fragile wetlands.
FACT:In fact, good forest management is the environmentally preferred land use for wetlands, as confirmed by the National Wetlands Policy Forum sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

MYTH:Forest management harms all wildlife.
FACT:Forest management can help wildlife.  Forest management creates openings that stimulate the growth of food sources which is the prime reason why forest species such as elk, deer, turkey and antelope are far more plentiful today than earlier in the century. Sustainable Forestry guidelines promulgated by the American Forest & Paper Association require the promotion of habitat diversity and the conservation of plant and animal populations on members' forest land.

MYTH:More paper recycling will prevent the use of "virgin" wood from harvested trees.
FACT:Even if we could recycle 100% of our used paper, we would still need "virgin" fiber to replace wornout recycled fiber and meet the increasing demand for paper products.  Recycling extends the use of virgin fiber, but it will not replace it.  Even so, today well over half of all fiber used in paper products comes from recycled paper and from wood waste from sawmills.  Recycled wood is another promising source of fiber.

The New Way to Add A Finish...

Good Morning, I hope everyone is enjoying the week so far!  The last time I actually wrote a blog, (I totally cheated yesterday!), I had mentioned how we could put a finish on your wood floor by chemically bonding it to the floor.  Well today, we will go a little deeper into that concept.

I was out doing some marketing last week, and I spoke with a gentleman at a flooring company.  Like I had mentioned in previous blogs, I really enjoy educating people on our processes because not only is it a new concept, but it just makes sense!  When I spoke with the gentleman and told him what our company does, he was so excited!  He told me he had been reading for months about the "New & Improved" way to add a finish to a wood floor.  As soon as I mentioned that our company doesn't sand wood floors down to prep them for a finish coat, he jumped right in and exclaimed, "You chemically bond it to the floor don't you!"

I have to admit, I was a bit surprised that he knew right off hand how we did it.  He was the first person who had been educated on the way to prep floors without a machine sanding them down.  He didn't quite understand the process, but he knew that this new way meant WAY less mess, stress, and time.  He told me that he had been reading about it for months, and that all the big wood floor magazines are calling this the new break through for the wood floor world!  Hearing this made me very excited to hear how others are getting excited about what we are doing.

Okay, enough story telling, lets get down to the nuts and bolts!  There are 2 ways to prep a wood floor for the process of adding a finish.  Mechanically or chemically.  When you really think about it, it just makes sense.  If you are about to paint a piece of wood, what are the two main choices you have?  You can either sand it, or prime it right?  Well the same goes for floors and  finish.  If you like how the wood looks and it has great characteristics you don't want to sand all of that away.  Simply by adding a bonding agent to the floor, (remember just like primer), a finish coat can then be added to the floor for protection.

Now if the floor is in poor shape and really needs a face lift, sanding is definitely the way to go!  Sanding the floors will give you the new surface on your floors you might need.  Just keep in mind, not all floors need to be sanded down just to add a finish coat!  We had a customer just this week who had received 2 bids from the same company within 2 years.  She said the price of sanding her floors went up $1,500!  The funny part about the whole thing is that her floors aren't even in bad condition!  The company told her she will need a complete re-sand of her floors before they can add a finish to her floors to improve them any.

That is where we are hoping to fill a void in the wood floor industry.  We understand that some floors need to be sanded down, we have had to refer several customers to a floor sanding company because the floors were in such bad shape.  However, we believe not only can we help maintain wood floors to a better standard and  make the finish coat last longer, but that we can help those homeowners who don't need their floors to be sanded just to get that shine back.

As always, if you have any questions please don't be afraid to get in contact with us.  I love speaking to people about their floors.  You can call us at 316.747.4066, or visit our website at: www.WichitaWoodFloorCleaning.com    Also, if you know anyone who might be interested in our services you can go to our website and refer them.  When doing this, you will get a coupon printed out automatically for any future business you might have with us!  This is our way to say Thank You!

Taking a Little Break...

I am going to be a little lazy today and not write an entire blog like I normally do.  Instead, I am going to paste our newspaper article that we appeared in this week!  We are excited about how great it turned out, and I figured why not let someone else do the writing today!  :)  I hope you enjoy it!