Keeping your hardwood floors in good shape can actually keep YOU in good shape. Yep, that’s right—your family’s health can actually benefit from maintaining and regularly cleaning your hardwood floors.
My priority with these articles and the consultations we give to families here in the Belleville, Shiloh and Caseyville area is to provide you with valuable and actionable information. You deserve to have the evidence and access to the insights to know how your home can be as comfortable and safe as possible.
That’s why I’m here, now, ready to tell you HOW your hardwood floors can have a positive impact on the health of everyone in your household.
What’s the primary factor in play, here?
We can all agree that hardwood floors add warmth and a high-end feel to any home. They can also have an impact to the indoor air quality you and your family breathe in every day.
Families in the U.S. have been educating themselves more and more lately on how to make their home as safe an environment as it can be. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reminds us that we spend 90% of our time indoors on a regular basis, and 65% of that time is in our homes.
Did you know that organic pollutants can be 2-5 times higher inside a home than outside?
Maybe that sounds counter-intuitive, but when you think about those doors and windows, you realize that you are literally trapped in a box of dust and accruing contaminants.
Floors actually make up the largest surface area in your home, so it’s crucial we talk about them. Floors can also trap dust and allergens, the most common contaminants in a home. Hardwood flooring makes it more difficult for the dust and other pollutants to penetrate and cling to a floor or subfloor, which is where the health benefits start to become evident.
Other flooring alternatives can more easily foster mold, pollen and dander accumulation than wood floors. But, how about hardwood when it’s not maintained properly?
I have some good news and bad news on that. First, the bad news is, realistically, installing hardwood won’t improve your air quality over time if you don’t regularly clean and maintain it. ANY flooring solution will require regular cleaning to keep your family safe, because not only does it make up the biggest surface area in your home, it is also subjected to the most exposure to germs, dust and the rest—all thanks to passing feet.
The good news, on the other hand, is that hardwood flooring is notoriously easy to clean. You can dust mop your floors daily with any microfiber material, and weekly you can clean wood floors with a pH-neutral and non-toxic cleaning formula.
And once a year, you can call me for a professional cleaning, getting the most out of your hardwood floors—for the safety of your family. Questions? Comments? Get started with a call to us today.
