The key to lasting beauty of your timber flooring investment is proper maintenance for the life of your floor. Today hardwood floors can be cared for with minimal effort and in many cases, a little preventative maintenance will keep your floor looking beautiful for years to come.

No matter what kind of floor you have, or what type of finish used, there are certain steps that must be taken to maintain the beauty of the timber floor. Regular or daily maintenance requires little more than sweeping with a soft bristle broom, or vacuuming with a soft floor attachment. The floor surface should be cleaned regularly with a timber floor cleaning product recommended by Synteko (see below).

Synteko also recommends that floors finished with the Synteko Classic finish even though they dry fast take at least 60-90 days to cure. Therefore treating you newly coated floor finish with a little love  and care in the early stages will minimize premature scratching and scuff marks.

There are other general steps that can be taken to minimise maintenance and prolong the life of the timber floor finish. They are:

1. Every floor must be dust mopped as often as possible to remove grit and dust from the surface. Walking on dusty or dirty floors is the fastest way to damage a finish.
2. Do not use sheet vinyl or tile floor care products on wood floors. Self-polishing acrylic waxes cause wood to become slippery and appear dull quickly.
3. Use throw rugs both inside and outside doorways to help prevent grit, dirt and other debris from being tracked onto your wood floors. This will prevent scratching.
4. Do not wet-mop a wood floor. Standing water can dull the finish, damage the wood and leave a discolouring residue. Wipe up spills immediately with a slightly dampened towel.
5. Do not wash your newly coated floor for approximately six weeks, allowing ample time for the floor finish to cure and harden.
6. Do not over-wax a wood floor. If the floor dulls, try buffing instead. Avoid wax buildup under furniture and other light traffic areas by applying wax in these spots every other waxing session.
7. Fit felt floor protector pads under the legs of furniture to prevent scuffing and scratching.
8. Avoid walking on your wood floors with cleats, sports shoes and high heels. A 60kg woman walking in high heels has an impact of 900kg sq cm. An exposed heel nail can exert up to 3,500kg sq cm. This kind of impact can dent any floor surface.
9. When moving heavy furniture, do not slide it on wood flooring. It is best to pick up the furniture completely to protect the wood floor.
10. For wood flooring in the kitchen, place an area rug in front of the kitchen sink.
11. Use a humidifier throughout the winter months to keep wood movement and shrinkage to a minimum.
12. Avoid placing rugs on finished surfaces for seven days.

Choosing the right maintenance product for your wood floor is important to maintaining its beauty and protecting its finish. The type of finish will dictate the products needed for regular maintenance and cleaning.

Surface Finish

Timber floors finished with Synteko Best, Extra, Pro, Classic and Urethane are easy to keep clean. Vacuum regularly and when necessary, damp mop with Synteko Super Clean 1697 diluted in warm water. Marks from rubber heels, shoe polish, lipstick, ink, hot cooking fat etc. should be removed immediately with Synteko Remover 1692. Avoid scrubbing with a coarse brush or strong detergents.

Periodic use of Synteko NewShine 1696 applied thinly in high traffic areas will help protect the floor. Synteko NewShine can also be used to eliminate light scratch marks.

In order to restore the sheen to its original lustre, recoat the floor with the original surface finish. The frequency of re-coating will depend on the amount of traffic over the floor.

Penetrating Oil Seals

Synteko Solid is a penetrating oil that soaks into the wood and hardens to form a protective penetrating seal. The maintenance of this floor finish is detailed below.

New floor
Assuming that the floor has been handed over after finishing the timber surface in Synteko Solid oil. The floor can be used for very light traffic after oil has cured for 24-48 hours. Avoid dirt for the first week and water spillage for the first four - five weeks.

Daily maintenance:
Once a day or as often as possible the entire area should be swept with an electrostatic sweep mop. The removal of dust and grit from the floor is an important part of good floor maintenance. It is important that the sweep mop is kept clean. When necessary spot mop any spillage with 1:20 dilution of Synteko Soap 1617 in warm water, using a well wrung cloth. Use Synteko Remover 1692 diluted with warm water or Synteko Recover 1620 for stubborn stains preceded by Synteko Soap.

Weekly maintenance:
Once a week, dry-damp mops the floor with Synteko Soap 1617 diluted with warm water 1:20 and allowed to dry thoroughly. Ensure the applicator or mop is clean and not used for any other purpose. After use, rinse the mop thoroughly in clean water. If necessary, only for badly worn surfaces, treat with Synteko Recover 1620. Apply Synteko Recover 1620 with an oil-moistened cloth on the end of a wide broom head and buff in the Re-cover or lightly buff the floor with the cloth.

Monthly maintenance:
Periodically the floor should be cleaned using a dry damp mop with Synteko Remover 1692 in a dilution of warm water 1:100, and allowed to completely dry and then recoated with a cloth moistened with Synteko Recover 1620 buffed in with a polishing machine using a red pad (new, non-saturated cloths will always absorb a reasonable amount of oil). Let the surface dry for 20 minutes and polish with a dry, non-flocculent cloth or white pad. On heavy traffic areas, it may be necessary to apply extra Recover 1620. Buff with a clean white pad whereby footprints are removed and surface is restored.

On especially dirty floors, use buffing machine and brown pad. Use as little water as possible, and wipe floor immediately with a clean cloth. Wait until the floor is completely dry before polishing or treating with Synteko Recover 1620. If the floor looks grey polishing with Synteko Solid 1612 or Synteko Recover 1620 is necessary.

The maintenance and frequency of the above steps, especially the latter, will depend on the traffic and soilage of the floor, but can be reduced gradually from once a month to once every three or four months.

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