Scuff marks on your floor can take away from the beauty of the hardwood surface. If you haven’t been very careful with your furniture and how you removed it and placed it, then you may end up with hardwood floor scuff marks. How do you get rid of those marks and make your floors look beautiful again?
We have a few methods you can use to repair your hardwood floors. At Furnishing Dignity, we understand how important it is to take care of what you have and to protect your limited resources. Here are our best methods for removing scuff marks caused by furniture and other factors.
Deal with Scuff Marks Fast
Scuff marks get worse over time, becoming more entrenched and harder to remove. You can get rid of them more easily if you attack them as soon as you notice them. Wait too long, and they could become impossible to remove, even by professional home cleaners.
This is why our recommendation is that you check your floors for scuff marks regularly. If you do that, you can catch them early on and deal with them appropriately before they become impossible to get rid of.
What helps is to clean your floors often or have someone else clean them for you, but just make sure that they are cleaned on a regular basis. This will get rid of some scuff marks, as they will come up at least partially through routine cleaning. You can also sight the marks at an early stage with regular cleaning. If you clean infrequently, scuff marks can go undetected for a while.
Water and Sponge Method
The first method we want to share with you for removing scuff marks on your floor is to go at them with some water and a sponge. There is no need to use fancy, expensive cleaning tools or complicated cleaning methods. Most scuff marks can be easily removed or at least partially diminished by using this simplest of cleaning combinations.
This method works best on newer scuff marks, as it gets rid of them pretty easily. It will not work quite as well on older scuff marks or ones that are particularly stubborn. You can use warm water and a sponge that is designed for scrubbing dishes with. Don’t use a steel wool scrubbing pad or something else that is metallic or very abrasive. Just a regular dishwashing sponge will do.
Dip it into warm water and scrub at the scuff marks until they come up. You may only be partially successful with this method, but it can make a difference. Be sure to dry up the water when you are done, since water can damage wooden floors. When scrubbing your floor, only use as much force as necessary. Scrubbing too hard can clear away varnish, paint, and even the surface of the wood.
The Baking Soda Method
Baking soda is good for cleaning up almost any kind of mess in your home, and it works on scuff marks on the floor as well. Whether those are made with shoes or furniture, you can use baking soda to get rid of the scuff marks pretty quickly and simply.
Our method for using baking soda on the floor is to mix warm water with two tablespoons of baking soda. This should make a paste that isn’t dripping wet. Then, apply that onto the floor where the scuff marks are and rub at it with a soft cloth. That should get rid of the scuff marks fast, and you just need to use a dry cloth to wipe the paste away and see the effect your baking soda paste has had on the floor.
Prevent Scuff Marks
We want to leave you with a list of preventive measures that will keep your floors from becoming scuffed. These can be helpful when you are worried about how much scuffing your floor is experiencing and how much work it is to get rid of those marks. Keep in mind that removing scuff marks will still probably leave you with damaged floors, but they won’t look as bad as they did before.
It is better to prevent scuffing on your floors entirely, and our tips can help you to do that.
Start by placing pads on the bottom of your furniture. These will prevent scuffing as your furniture rests on the floor. Even furniture that is never moved can cause scuff marks, particularly couches and chairs. As extra weight is placed on these, they may move slightly and create minor scuff marks.
You also want to clean your floor often so that you get rid of dirt and debris on the floor. Doing that keeps scuff marks from forming as easily and reduces friction on your floor.
It also helps to polish your floor and use a polish that acts as a sealant. This prevents damage to the floor, working like an extra protective layer on top of the wood and helping minimize scuff marks. Be sure to refresh the polish as needed, following the directions on the packaging for the polish. That will protect your floor very well and give you fewer scuff marks to get rid of.
You can also request that family members and guests in your home remove their shoes before coming inside the house. Place a shoe rack by the door for them to place their shoes in and see if that doesn’t cut down on some of the scuffing. Some shoes are much harder on floors than others, particularly boots and high-heeled shoes. These scuff more easily, and you can avoid a lot of problems with scuffing by simply putting a rule in place that all shoes be taken off at the door.
Your floors are worth protecting, and getting rid of scuff marks as well as preventing them will help you keep your floors in great shape for longer. Use the tips we have given you in this article to get more life from your floors.