Hardwood floors take a beating this time of, people coming in and out of the home, and there's rain and snow and ice, and salt and ice melters being drug in, so a couple of tips here. Number one, make sure you have a nice piece of floor covering both on the inside and outside of the home, hoping someone wipes their feet. I would get something like this on the outside. It's actually got ridges in there which will again collect some of the small particles of you know, gravel, sand, some of the ice melter. We'll put that on the outside, maybe something a little more decorative on the inside. Now keeping the residue off of the hardwood floor is very, very important also. I would recommend using something like a shop vac to pick up the residue. Not a regular vacuum cleaner, because the beater bar can actually do damage to wood. And when it comes to cleaning it, I would stay away from some of your like Murphy's Oil Soaps, vinegar, because that will dull the urethane finish that's on the floor. I'd recommend a MinWax wood cleaner, something that is designed specifically for urethane floors. One other thing, controlling the humidity inside the home, very, very important. This time of year, depending on how energy efficient your home is, your home could be too moist, or it could be too dry. What you're looking for is a relative humidity inside your home around forty percent, when the outdoor temperature is thirty-two degrees. You can pick up a little device like this that will tell you what they indoor humidity really is, probably under ten dollars. It's a good idea to work to try to keep that humidity around 40 percent.
