Hardwood Floor Cleaning in Evans, GA
The dull patch under the dining table in a family house is usually not wear. It is a chemical burn, applied a drop at a time, mostly by children.
Orange juice, tomato sauce, vinegar dressing, cola, and anything with citrus in it are all acidic enough to attack a floor finish given contact time. In a house where people eat three meals a day at the same table, the contact time adds up.
The pattern gives it away. It is a rough oval under and around the table, worse on the side where the youngest child sits, with no relationship to where anybody walks.
Etching Versus Soil
Soil sits on a finish and it comes off. Etching is a change to the finish itself: the acid softens the top layer, it dries rough, and it stays rough. A cloth over an etched patch does nothing at all, which is the frustrating part, because the floor looks dirty and cleans up as though it is not.
What Fixes It
A maintenance coat, which fills and levels the roughened surface and restores an even reflection across the room. This is one of the cases where the coat is doing the actual repair and not simply standing guard. Where the acid has been at work long enough to get through the finish entirely and start on the wood, the improvement is partial and we will say so before we start.
The Rug Question
A rug under the dining table solves this completely and creates a different problem, which is grit trapped under the backing and a color line at the edge after a few years. If you use one, choose felt or natural backing over rubber, take it up and shake it monthly, and accept that the floor under it will stay a shade lighter than the floor around it.
Not sure whether your floor needs cleaning or refinishing? There are three tests you can run yourself in about a minute, and they will tell you which one you are dealing with before anyone quotes you.
Hardwood problems we handle in Evans
Book on the site or call 803-310-3848, and the first cleaning is $50 off. Point us at the dining room when we arrive.
Areas we cover around Evans
Neighborhoods: Riverwood Plantation, Jones Creek, Bartram Trail, West Lake, Hardy Pointe, Knob Hill, Eagle Landing, Chimney Hill, Blue Ridge Crossing, River Island, Deerwood Estates
Zip codes: 30809
Hardwood questions from Evans homeowners
How fast does a spill have to be wiped?
Minutes rather than hours for anything acidic. A juice spill left through a meal is enough to start the process on a factory finish, and citrus is the worst of the common offenders.
The patch is not dark, just dull. Is that good news?
Generally yes. Dull with no color change means the damage is still in the finish, which is the repairable case. Darkening means liquid has reached the wood.
Would a harder finish have prevented it?
Somewhat. Factory aluminum oxide finishes resist acids better than site-applied ones, and none of them is immune. It is a matter of how long the spill sits, more than what is under it.
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Schedule your Evans hardwood floor cleaning
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