It is common to have continuous rainy weather for days or even weeks in winter and spring in the West Coast of Canada. The warm and humid weather brings comfort for the residents, while the high moisture level also creates challenges for the maintainance of wooden floors, which are widely used in local housings. Here are a few tips for wooden floor maintainance during rainy seasons.

1. Avoid leaving water on the floor. During rainy seasons, with already high humidity, it is best to avoid using wet mop to clean the floor to bring any excessive moisture. It is also recommended to turn on air ventilation regularly to take some moisture away from the house. If there is accidental water spill on the wooden floor, make sure to wipe the water completely right away before it percolates into gaps of the floor to cause deformation or mould.
2. Avoid letting raindrops getting inside. During rainy seasons, the weather can be unpredictable, and heavy rain could come with little indication. Before leaving the house, it is recommended to tightly close all windows and doors to prevent the rain from leaking inside. If such incident happens, use cloth fabrics to absorb the water immediately. Do not use electric heaters to dry off the moisture or leave the floor exposed to direct sunlight as it might lead to deformations and cracks.
3. Reuglarly wax the floor. Waxing is one of the most important methods of the maintainance of wooden floor. Wax can not only keep the floor look bright and shiny, but also help the floor repel water and extended its service life.
4. Choose trusted wooden floors with high quality. Damp proof capability is a crucial index of wooden floors. The floor must endure, on top of erosion of moisture, continuous heating from below for months, which combined can easily cause the wood to shrink or expand. However, wooden floors with high quality are made of materials with high density and water resistance. After absorbing water, they expand at a much smaller scale than average, significantly decreasing the risk of deformation.

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It’s always a big project to move large furnitures, whether in or out, and the last thing people wish to happen is seeing the floor scratched and damaged during the process. After all, it’s not easy to move large and heavy furnitures around and just “be careful”. However, there are  few useful tips that might help you avoid leaving marks on your shining floor.

1. Plan ahead. Before moving in or out, it’s a good idea to make a detailed plan with a list of furnitures, especially heavy ones, and where they would be located. Doing so can help you move things around by appropriate orders and avoid chaos when some objects need to be moved repeatedly and potentially damage the floor.
2. Put a floor mat at the gate. On rainy days, the floor mat can absorb sand, water, and mud on people’s shoes and prevent them from touching the floor to cause scratches. If the floor gets wet, not only may the moisture cause deformation of the wood, more importantly, it can be slippery and dangerous for people moving furnitures.
3. Wear shoe covers. Even with a floor mat, it’s still not enough to keep the dirt and dust away. If furnitures are put on top of dirty floors, it would be extremely difficult and inconivient to clean up. It is recommened that everyone who’s part of the moving procedure wears disposable shoe covers to help keep the floor clean.
4. Wrap up sharp metal objects. The sharp metal edges may damage not only other furnitures but also your floor. It is best to wrap up those metals with bubble wraps or fabrics such as old unwanted clothes, and then seal with tape. Avoid materials such as paper boards that can easily break.
5. Do not drag furnitures. Avoid dragging objects on the floor regardless of the weight, as it could damage both the furnitures and the floor. If certain furnitures are too heavy, get others to help or use a cart to move it. Choose a cart with rubber wheels so that they won’t scratch the floor.

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Solid wood floor has various advantages such as moisture insulation, sould insulation, heat preservation, and strong elasticity, but there are also some shortcomings in daily use. It is common to see deformation and expansion of wood floor. What are the main reasons for this, and how can people prevent it from happening?

What causes wood floors to deform?

In places with rainy and humid climate, or in areas with frequent water use such as kitchens and bathrooms, it is possible that the moisture in the space is heavy and cannot be dissipated for a long time, and penetrates into the wooden floor. At the same time, an empty floor that has been idle for too long and has not been ventilated for a long time may also expand and deform due to absorbing moisture in the stucco layer or the unsealed base concrete.

Inappropriate expansion gap reserve room

Wood floors made of natural solid wood as the base material has a certain level of moisture content, and appropriate expansion gaps need to be reserved to allow the wooden floor to expand and contract freely under different temperatures throughout the year. If the expansion gap is too small, it may cause the floor to fail to stretch, resulting in arching and other types of deformation.

Inappropriate cleaning and maintaining

Wrong daily cleaning methods might also lead to deformation of wood floors. If you often use wet mop for cleaning, the long-term water infiltration will slowly lead to expansion of the wood. However, it doesn’t mean you should not clean the floor. If dust and debris gradually flow into the expansion gaps, it may also cause deformation of the floor since the gaps have been filled.

How can we prevent the deformation?

1. Thourough floor cleaning. Before and after the installation of wood floors, it is necessary to keep the floor clean and away from dust and debris.
2. Reserve suitable expansion gaps. Based on the different types and sizes of wooden floors, appropriate expansion gaps should be reserved, and the gaps should not be blocked by wooden debris during the installation of the floor.
3. Proper floor maintainance. For daily floor cleaning, use a relatively dry mop to clean up dust and stains. If water stains are spilled on the ground, use a dry mop to absorb it as soon as possible. At the same time, keep the indoor ventilation smooth, so that the humidity in the house is within the idea range.

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Bathroom floor tiles are an important piece of home finishing and decoration. It is required to take special considerations while choosing these tiles, and the environment in bathrooms are quite different from other parts of the house. Often covered in water and moisture, floor tiles in bathrooms would need special characteristics to endure the environment for a long service life. Here are a few tips for choosing the right floor tiles for your bathroom.

1. Pick one with low water absorption rate. Generally, floor tiles with high quality have low water absorption rate and can dry out very fast. If the tiles have high water absorption rate, the shape and size might be altered as the temperature changes to lead to cracks or even tiles peeling off. This is especially important in areas with high temperature variations throughout the year. If the water absorption rate is not specified, you can use tea or water droplets on the back of the tile. After a few minutes, check the degree of diffusion of the water droplets. The less water it absorbs, the lower the water absorption rate and the better the quality.
2. Choose tiles with high texture density. When purchasing ceramic tiles, you can observe from the side whether the tile surface is flat and whether there are pinholes with uneven thickness. At the same time, you can tap the tiles to hear whether the sound is crisp. The crisper the sound, the higher the texture density and the better the hardness of the tile.
3. Go for a non-slip texture. Bathroom floor tiles should always have surfaces with a non-slip texture. Customers are always recommended with ones matte or rugged surfaces to make sure the bathroom floor is not slippery while being wet, which probably occurs very often.
4. Avoid large-sized floor tiles. The bathroom floor tiles are generally made of whole body bricks, which have good anti-skid and wear resistance. Even if the bathroom is spacious, it still is generally much smaller than other rooms and has lots of coners where floor tiles need to be cut or re-shaped. Large tiles will lead to incovinience while installing and waste caused by the cutting required.

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There are 3 mainstream types of wood floors in Canada: solid hardwood, engineered hardwood, and hard laminate.

Solid Hardwood Flooring

Solid wood floors are a traditional type of flooring, usually 0.75 inches thick, made from a solid piece of natural solid wood, most of which could have a durable service life of more than 30 years. Even if the surface is damaged, it can return to its original luster simply from sanding and repainting or oiling. Because they are made of natural hard wood logs, this type of floors are generally the most expensive while also being difficult to install since they require nail-fixing. The most common wood flooring materials in Canada include red maple, maple, and cherry. Floors made from Burmese or African teak have even higher price tags.

Engineered Hardwood Flooring

Laminate floors are made of a variety of solid woods (hardwood, cork, plywood, fiberboard) with a hardwood surface. This type of floors can be further divided into three-layer solid wood composite floor, multi-layer solid wood composite floor, and new solid wood composite floor based on different manufacturing methods. Although it is composite, the solid wood surface still provides a decent look. At the same time, the price is more affordable than solid wood floors because of the cheaper materials. In addition, the installation process is much simpler without the need of nails.

Laminate Flooring

The laminate floor is composed of three layers of materials: the middle layer is high density fiber, the bottom layer is a balance layer, and the surface layer is made of wear-resistant decorative paper with paint. It is bonded together by glue and high pressure through multiple processes, and after cutting, it becomes our common composite floor. The reason why we usually see many styles of laminate floors is that the decorative stickers in the middle are really just specially treated “printing paper”. Because of its low price, easy installation, and high wear-resistance, laminate floors are used in many public or crowded places. However, it should be noted that a lot of chemical components are used in the production process of composite wood, making it not an ideal option for families with children.

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Tile floors are easy to maintain, durable and versatile, making them a very good choice of hard floor for your hosue. As with wood floors, keeping tile floors in top condition requires only a small amount of maintenance. Plus, tile floors are also waterproof, making them ideal for kitchens and bathrooms.

Learning to clean tile floors properly will save you a lot of unnecessary hassle in the future, because good cleaning is the best protection for any type of floor. Here are some tips for cleaning tile floors.

Routine maintenance

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