How to Protect and Preserve Hardwood Floors
Do you have hardwood floors in your home? Wood floors are a major investment that adds value and beauty to your home. It doesn’t matter if you installed it a month ago or if it’s been there for years, you need to protect it to keep it looking good as long as possible.
The sun is the biggest enemy of your hardwood floor. Every time the sun shines on your floor there’s a little bit of sun damage. You might not notice it at first. The damage is slow and subtle. Then one day you move a piece of furniture or flip back a rug and there it is, sun damage, fading, and discoloration.
Unfortunately, the damage is permanent. No amount of waxing, polishing or oil will restore your floor’s original luster and good looks. The best approach is to prevent and minimize the damage from happening in the first place.
How to Protect Your Hardwood Floors
Hardwood floors require maintenance. Just how much depends on the type of wood as well as any protective coating you might have applied. Normal maintenance involves regular cleaning, oiling and protecting the floor from scratches and other physical damage.
The next most important thing is to protect the floor from the sun.
No wood is safe from the ravaging effects of sunlight, even with protective coatings such as polyurethane. Coating performance varies widely and is rarely effective at stopping damage to the wood. Oftentimes these coating fail over time as well, turning yellow, or flaking off. They can benefit from the protection provided by window film as well.
Sunlight can fade and bleach your hardwood floors
Even those floors which age well in the sun will look damaged and faded unless they get uniform exposure to the sun. To keep this from happening it’s recommended that you regularly move your furniture and/or rugs to create more even sun exposure throughout every room. But who wants to do this? Talk about a hassle. And unless you have servants let’s face it, this simply isn’t going to happen.
The best solution is one that’s easy to implement, requires no maintenance and doesn’t involve moving the furniture and carpets around on a regular basis. Oh, and it’s a solution that has proven effective for decades.
The easy way to do this is with window film. Window film extends the life and preserves the beauty of hardwood floors by reducing and eliminating the primary causes of sun damage and fading.
The Four Primary Causes of Sun Damage
There are four ways sunlight damages and fades your hardwood floors – Visible light, UV Light, Solar Heat and Miscellaneous (things like colorfastness, natural degradation, and type of wood).
The four primary causes of sun damage to your Hardwood floors.
The biggest contributor to fading your hardwood floor is ultraviolet light (UV). The UV light is that part of the solar spectrum ranging from 310 to 390 nanometers. Invisible to the naked eye, its effects can be seen over time in sun damage, fading and cracking not only to your floor but your furniture, window treatments, and artwork as well.
Because it also causes skin damage and premature aging it’s something you want to keep out of your home as much as possible.
The good news is UV light is the easiest thing to control and get rid of – Window films block up to 99.9% of UV light so it never has the chance to reach your floors, your furniture or your skin.
(Fun fact – Low E windows are not nearly as effective at reducing UV light damage. Most Low-e windows stop less than 85% of the UV light)
Solar heat also contributes to fading and sun damage. You can reduce solar heat by targeting the infrared (IR) part of the solar spectrum. When IR light strikes your floors and furnishings it heats up the surface. This accelerates the damage and decay.
Spectrally Select window films target IR light and, by eliminating up to 98% of it, they reduce the solar heat damage significantly. (It’s also a great way to make your home more comfortable and lower your energy costs).
Finally, there’s visible light. This is the light you want. It’s what makes our homes bright and cheery, lifts our mood and beautifies a room. It also contributes up to 25% of damage.
Reducing the amount of visible light striking your floors will make them last longer and look better. Luckily window film reduces the amount of visible light coming through your glass. How much? That’s entirely up to you. You have a choice of visible light transmissions ranging from the virtually clear 3M Exterior Prestige 90 to extremely dark 5% light transmission films.
Window film controls the type and amount of light coming through your windows. It’s the easy, no-brainer way to protect and preserve your hardwood floors.
Choosing the best window film to protect your home
Choosing the best window film for your home is somewhat of a personal decision. You want as much protection as possible and you also want a certain look to the glass. This is where Metro Tint can help. Our knowledgable window film advisors will walk you through the different options available. We can help you select the best film for you, one that protects your floors, looks like you want it to look and that meets your budget.
Some window film companies give you a cookie-cutter solution or give you a choice from a limited selection of products from a single manufacturer. We don’t do that. With access to a wide variety of window film products, we have the exact best fit for your situation.
So there you have it. How you can protect your hardwood floors from the damaging effects of the sun – solar control window film. Quality window film is a one-time investment that will protect and preserve all the valuable things in your home or office.
It really is as simple as that.
And it’s not just your floors that are damaged. Furniture, carpets, and artwork are also faded, discolored and damaged by the sun. As you know, extended exposure to the UV light in sunlight will also hurt people.
You’ve invested a lot into your home and the things in it. Don’t let UV light destroy or damage it.
Call us at 214-347-4363 or go to www.MetroTintTX.com and schedule a completely free consultation.
