How to Clean Strand Bamboo Floors
Keeping your strand woven bamboo flooring clean is important for the long term maintenance and protection of your investment. Regular cleaning is important and should be done on a schedule at least once a week for regular maintenance and as soon as possible for those accidents and mishaps that happen. Cleaning your floor is a fairly simple and straight forward process and is very similar to the process of maintaining hardwood floors.
Tools You Need to Clean Strand Bamboo Floors:
Dust Mop – A dust mop is the best choice for regular sweeping. It is best that the dust mop only be used indoors and on your bamboo flooring. This way you can keep as much dirt and grit away as possible as it will mar or potentially scratch the surface of bamboo floors.
Soft Bristle Broom – This is another option in place of a dust mop for regular sweeping. You will want to avoid stiff bristles as these can scratch the floor. Again make sure that the broom isn’t used outdoors and clean out the bristles regularly to keep dirt and grit away from the floor.
Soft Cloths or Mop – Bamboo floors need to be kept dry at all times or they are susceptible to warping. Keep some soft rags or a mop on hand to clean up any spills as soon as possible. Don’t let any type of liquid, even floor cleaners, lie on the floor for any length of time. Doing so will cause all kinds of problems including staining, and possibly swelling or warping of the bamboo. This can lead to costly repairs.
Vacuum with Soft Brush Attachment – Only use a soft brush attachment when vacuuming bamboo floors. Vacuums are not the best cleaning method, but they can be a necessity in today’s busy family life. If you must go electric, use the soft attachment. Using the vacuum by itself can lead to scratches in the floor through dragging around grit or from the beater bars on the vacuum cleaner itself.
Wet Mopping and Bamboo Floor Cleaner – When it’s time to give your strand bamboo a more thorough cleaning, a microfiber wet mop is the best choice. Whatever type of mop that you choose, insure it doesn’t have any abrasive surfaces – like those dual sponge mops that have a green “scrubby” side. Whenever possible choose a floor cleaner that is specifically formulated for bamboo floors. If none are available, use a water-soluble Hardwood Floor Cleaner
Things to Avoid When Cleaning Strand Bamboo Floors
Avoid Wax and Abrasive Cleaners – Wax will build up over time and has a tendency to trap sharp particles. Waxed wood floors are also extremely slippery and can be a hazard for children, the elderly, and those of us who like to go around in socks. Abrasive cleaners will destroy the surface of your floor and scratch up the bamboo. Use of abrasive cleaners will also potentially void any manufacturer’s warranty you may have on the floor.
Avoid Stiff Bristles and Brooms or Mops Used Outdoors or in the Garage – Stiff bristle brooms have a much higher likelihood of scratching the surface of the bamboo floor. Tools that you use in other areas such as garages, entry ways, or outdoors will pick up grit, sand, and dirt which will scratch the surface of your floors as well.
Strand Bamboo and Pets
When shopping for a new floor, one of the most often questions asked by homeowners is – will this floor stand up to the wear and tear of my pet? If you are looking for a pet-friendly bamboo flooring, than strand bamboo is your best option.
While there is no such thing as a natural floor – wood or bamboo – that is truly pet proof, strand bamboo flooring is one of the most resilient floors that you can purchase today. The strand woven process insures a much stronger, denser material than any other process used in manufacturing bamboo flooring. Most manufacturers include a final scratch resistant layer on bamboo flooring as well. Even so, any floor will show wear given enough pressure repeated long enough.
One of the best ways to protect your strand bamboo with pets is to make sure that you clip their nails regularly. This can be done at home or at the dog groomer. If you aren’t comfortable clipping your pet’s nails yourself, you can ask the vet or groomer to show you how to do it properly. In addition to clipping, many pet stores also care vinyl caps that you can place over the pet’s nails for further protection.
One thing many pet owners don’t consider when thinking about purchasing strand woven bamboo is whether or not the flooring is good for the pet. Usually we just consider how the pet may potentially damage the floor and if we will have to repair scratches. If you have an older dog with arthritis, or even a younger one whose breed may be prone to arthritis, you may want to consider whether or not any hard type of flooring is your best option. Pets who suffer from arthritis will need slip-free flooring in order to maintain their balance. Hardwood and tile floors can make it difficult for them to move around comfortable and even to lay down comfortably without a soft bed. Of course you can use area rugs and runners over strand bamboo though the spots your dog travels. This will both protect your pet as well as your flooring.
Strand Bamboo Flooring – Repair Scratches
Strand woven bamboo flooring is the most durable and dense of any type of bamboo flooring available on the market today. Even so, life happens – we drop things, forget to add furniture pads before moving that table, or drag in a bunch of sand from the beach that makes scratches and nicks on the floor boards. Luckily these are all types of repairs that are fairly simple for the average person to complete simply by using products and tools from your local home center or the flooring center where you purchased the bamboo to begin with.
Small shallow scratches are the most common type of damage that you will need to repair. For the most part, these scratches generally only penetrate the top layer of the finish on your floor and don’t go all the way down to the bamboo itself. Before beginning to repair scratches on your floor, take stock of the damage and make sure there aren’t any deep gouges that you will need to take care off.
Generally you have three options for dealing with scratches in your bamboo floor – these are the so called “miracle scratch remover” products that you see frequently at home improvement centers and even the grocery store. Second is to purchase a scratch repair kit from the floor manufacturer you purchased the materials from. Third is to use common wood floor fixers like stain pens or fillers like wood putty.
“Miracle scratch removers” are generally considered useless by most reputable home construction specialists. Its best to avoid these types of products all together. It is highly likely that the product with contain harmful chemicals that will stain the strand bamboo flooring – repairing scratches will be the least of your concerns.
Scratch repair kits – sometimes referred to as bamboo floor scratch remover – made by the bamboo manufacturer are the best method to use as they are designed specifically for your type of flooring. They will not stain or bleach out the bamboo. Depending on where you obtained the flooring from – whether it was local or via the Internet – it may be relatively more or less difficult to obtain one of these kits.
Probably the cheapest way to repair scratches on strand bamboo is to use a stain pen or putty. You can generally easily find a color match at the local home store. If the scratch is very shallow, a stain pen will work nicely. If its a little more deep, the filler is generally the way to go. After applying a filler you will need to buff up the surface to match the rest of your finish. If the scratch is just a little too deep, you can also wet-sand the area and then apply the filler. If you do sand, though, you will need to go ahead and seal the area up with another coat of polyurethane. Not doing so can leave that area of your bamboo flooring much more vulnerable to liquids.
DIY home improvement is another excellent resource for information regarding floor repair and home improvements in general.
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