If you choose site-finished products and service. Floor stain color is best decided on after the first sanding of you existing or new installation project. ProSand can sit mix any of  our 50 colors to match personal or existing home design subtle needs. This process begins with looking over our wood swatch samples and then narrowing your choices then applying the stain color to (raw-sanded) floors this will insure our customers “see what they get” exactly. This extra step insures the desired color is perfect, just like you want it. Every time site-finish is truly custom your shine choice also can be customized from flat matte to satin – semi gloss, to perfectly compliment stain color.

Cleaning regularly by vacuuming or sweeping dirty sand and small rocks off your surfaces will remove a major cause of wear. Walking over these kind of substances will cause them to act like sand paper wearing premature wear patterns into your surfaces. Cleaner and scheduling maintenance should be followed as recommended by manufacturer, this also will insure the warranty is not compromised.

Carpet and wood floors are the most challenging flooring surfaces to keep looking like new. Moisture and water combine to damage these kinds of flooring. Daily maintenance such as vacuuming and cleaning and scotch guarding in the case of carpet is a must to offset discoloration and wear. A knock off matt is also great to catch snow – rain – salt and all other forms of derby brought in during the course of daily business. When designing for new spaces keep these tips and floor types in mind when choosing your next floor. Do not forget regular maintenance and care go along way to insure great looking floors.

Contact ProSand for our buff and re-coat maintenance package’s, these package’s are affordable and a quick step to new looking floors. Most jobs can be completed in 3-4 hours. All our hardwood finished surfaces are dust free and warranted. Bring your solid, pre-finished or engineered floors back to life afford ably with ProSand’s buff and re-coat system.

Your hardwood floor cleaning schedule will depend on what type of flooring you have, whether it is factory finished or site finished is important to know for proper cleaning. For instance it is difficult to clean a wax floor with a water based cleaner. Liquid or paste wax should be buffed on with a buffer or by hand with a hand towel for the best looking shine. Pre-finished floors have the new ceramic coating which should be cleaned with water based cleaners. Site finished floors with polyurethane or oil based finishes should be maintained with water base cleaners. Older floors that have significant wear and not properly maintained require murphy’s oil type cleaner or acrylic based enhancer’s. This will help blend the high traffic areas and reduce the appearance of wear. The enhanced conditioning properties of the cleaner will blend and keep the floors color and shine uniform.

Protecting

Good well-maintained entrance matting can dramatically reduce the need for cleaning. For commercial or residential buildings about 80 to 90% of the dirt is tracked in from outside. By placing a rubber matte at the entrance of your home or business this will catch most of the debris and dirt attached to the bottom of your shoe’s. A rubber matte will make it possibly to capture moisture that may collect from rain or snow. Please remember to shake and clean your mattes regularly, this will keep the home free from outside contaminants.

Pet’s owner’s know how difficult it can be on hardwood floors. There are a few tips to help prevent damage to your hardwood floors. The first and most difficult to implement is to place booties on your pets feet. Although many people complain that their pets usually pull them off right away, this can help. If your lucky enough to have a pet that it doesn’t bother them, then having booties on all the time will prevent wood flooring damage. You can find these booties and pet sock’s at your local pet supply store. Another option is nail covering’s. Most pets are less annoyed by these and it can be very effective when trying to prevent flooring damage. But the overall best solution is to keep your pets nails trimmed and buffed as often as possible, even the little pets. Although bigger dog’s do more damage, the little dog’s can damage your wood floors also. Another great preventive measure is to place rug’s down near door opening’s; especially in winter and put rubber mat’s under their food and water bowls.

1. Keep your carpet clean. Sand and dirt act little razor blades that cut carpet fibers. Damaged carpet stains more easily, and it’s harder to remove the stains from it as well. Vacuum often to remove dirt, and your carpet will last longer.

2. Use rugs. Put rugs outside and inside the front door, and any other entrances. They can catch much of the dirt that people bring in on their feet. That means less vacuuming and longer carpet life.

3. Remove shoes. This is a sure way to make carpet last longer. If you have a nice home with nice carpet, people usually aren’t offended by this policy.

4. Clean stains quickly and properly. If using a cleaning solvent other than water, apply it to a cloth first, and work it in from the outside of the stain to the center, so you don’t spread the spot. Apply the cleaner, extract (blot), rinse, extract, and repeat until you can’t get more of the stain out. Extract solvents completely, and dry the carpet quickly when you’re done. If there is any stain remaining deeper down in the carpet, quick drying prevents it from wicking up to the surface.

5. A shop-vac. is a great help when cleaning stains. You can’t just suck out the stain, but you can repeatedly wash and rinse the area, and suck the solution out each time. It’s more effective than blotting up the water with cloth, mostly because you won’t have the patience to wash, rinse and extract enough times if you’re using paper towels or cloth.

6. Vacuum before cleaning. If you use a portable machine, at least get the water as hot as you can, and dry the carpet quickly, using fans to move the air around. You won’t match the results of a good truck-mount hot water extraction unit. However, if you want to save money, doing your own cleaning can lengthen the time between expensive professional cleanings.

ProSand receives’ numerous calls every week from customers concerning sunlight damage. Discoloration to hardwood floors are a common problem with large window openings. Customers generally notice discoloration when a rug or large piece of furniture is moved. Yellowing or amber colors are common flooring problems whether pre-finished or site finished.  Once the damage has occurred, the only solution is to sand the floors. A preventive measure is to filter out harsh sunlight  by using a clear protective UV film on the windows. Surprisingly this is a very economical and affordable solution.

When steam cleaning, vapors can and do recombine to form liquid water that sit on and wick into wood. With water wood floors naturally expand and contract. This expansion and contraction result in two major forms of wood deformation: “cupping” and “crowding.”

Cupping (The concave deformation of wood floor) and Crowding (the convex deformation of wood floors) are common issues that develop with high humidity. Both problems occur across the width of the flooring material.

Cupping is when the edges of a board are high and its center is lower. This occurs after water spills onto the floor and is absorbed by the wood. If the wood expands significantly, compression set can result as the boards are crushed together, deforming the boards at the edges.

Cupping is caused by a moisture imbalance through the thickness of the wood: The wood is wetter on the bottom of the board than on the top. Conversely, crowding occurs when the wood is wetter on the top of the board.

The first step in repairing a cupped floor is to identify and eliminate the moisture source. In the kitchen, it may be a leak from the dishwasher or ice maker. From outdoors, it might be the terrain of the lot, with rain and runoff not moving away from the house and foundation. Indoors, the humidity may need to be controlled, or a plumbing leak may be causing excess moisture in the basement, which migrates up into the subfloor and from there into the wood flooring.

Once the source of the moisture is controlled, cupping can usually be cured. The floor may improve on its own as it dries out over time. Other times, fans may be needed to speed the drying process. Once the moisture content has stabilized, the floor can be reassessed. Choices may be to do nothing at all, to recoat the floor, or to sand and refinish the floor.

It should be noted that some slight cupping and crowning may occur naturally, and should be tolerated. The bark side of lumber shrinks and swells more than the side closest to the center of the tree. Largely seasonal in occurrence, it’s common in wider planks. Its appearance can be minimized by using a beveled-edge flooring product with a satin finish, rather than square-edge flooring with a high gloss finish.

For more information on getting your floors fixed, ask your ProSand Flooring specialist.