Wood You Like - Natural Wooden Flooring

Moving home is stressful enough without additional floor covering problems to solve!

The last thing you want when finally getting the key of your new home is long lasting floor problems. You already have so many other things on your mind and on your ever growing "to-do-list":

• packing,
• scheduling the home-movers,
• contacting all utility suppliers,
• informing every organisation of your new address etc etc etc.
  

And it feels as if everything needs to be done right now, this minute!

Discovering stains on the carpet, a dull looking wooden floor or even getting a suspicion there might be carpet moths on the lose is then something you can definitely do without. Some problems do need solving immediately before your own furniture moves in, others can wait a bit longer. Perhaps you even discovered an original parquet/mosaic wooden floor underneath the carpets, and are wondering how to bring back its old luster?

Below you can find some first-aid tips on how to tackle the most common problems

How to find out if your wooden floor is varnished or oiled

Before treating stains on a wooden floor you need to know what type of finish has been used to prevent further damage by using the wrong products or methods:

If you are not sure what type of finish is originally used you can try to determine this as follows: in an inconspicuous area, corner or behind a door, apply two drops of water. If, within ten minutes white spots appear under the drops of water, the floor has a wax/oil finish. (To remove the white spots, gently rub the spots with 000 steel wool dampened with wax.) If the finish does not flake from scratching with a coin and white spots do not appear from the drops of water, the floor has a surface (lacquered/varnished) finish.

How to treat old stains in carpets/rugs, the green way

Chemicals can be very effective to remove stains from carpets, but they can also really damage the environment. There are however more eco-friendly ways to remove stains:

Lemon juice is fantastic at bleaching, it’s a mild acid and so it dissolves grease and has a bleaching effect – like it will remove berry juice stains really effectively. It even deodorises for you. If you want it to work a bit harder, you can combine it with salt to shift all sorts of stains from fabrics.
The best thing is that it is completely safe to use, both for the family’s health and the environment.

White vinegar is another wonderful natural stain remover. Again, it’s a mild acid and so very effective on solid stains – even things like lime scale – so great to use for cleaning around the house. It’s great for stubborn mildew stains too and for sweat stains in clothing, as well as cleaning pet urine stains from the carpet.

Baking soda, also known as bicarbonate soda. This works wonders on tea and coffee stains – and even helps to remove crayon marks from the walls. You could also mix it with lemon juice or vinegar to make an extra powerful but natural and safe stain remover paste.
(Source: StainExperts)

Discovering an original parquet/mosaic floor underneath old carpets,
what to do next?

What is a nicer surprise than to remove the carpet from a room in your home and to discover a valuable original parquet floor is hiding beneath it! Especially when you consider that installing a brand new parquet floor costs around £ 125.00 - £ 145.00 per sq m. And that’s just for a simple herringbone or basket weave pattern.

Your new discovery will at least need some TLC to bring back its grand lustre it had before it was ‘covered-up’. Follow our “3 easy steps" here and you will start enjoying your valuable, easy to clean and anti-allergic original parquet floor in no time at all.

How to spot carpet moth

While moths do not pose a health risk, they are a pest in homes because of the severe damage their larvae cause to clothes, fabrics, furs, leather and carpets.

This damage may continue for many weeks after moth caterpillars have hatched.  Serious harm may have been done before numbers of flying moths are seen and so prevention of a moth problem is important.

While a minor infestation of moths can be dealt with using DIY products, an established moth problem is likely to require professional assistance.

Signs of a Moth Problem

Often the first sign of a moth problem will be damage to fabrics but there will usually be other indicators:

• adult moths (often crawling rather than flying)
• maggot-like larvae (moth caterpillars)
• the silken tubes or cases in which moth larvae live
• pupae (silk cocoons) in which larvae turn into moths

DIY Pest Control Products for Moths

Moth balls containing naphthalene were the traditional preventative treatment for moths.  However, we do not endorse using these products because of the chemicals used and the residual odours they produce.

Instead, there is a range of Rentokil DIY moth products for amateur use to get rid of moths quickly and efficiently. The range includes sprays and moth repellents.

Moth Killer Strips are a highly effective but odourless product to protect stored clothes and other fabrics.

Moths flying in the home can be controlled using Rentokil Fly & Wasp Killer or Insectrol Moth Killer sprays.

As with all pest control products, please read the instructions carefully before use.
Pest control products from Rentokil are available to buy from all leading supermarkets, DIY stores, garden centres and hardware stores.
(Source: Rentokil)

Email this guide to a friend.

The content contained on this webpage is provided for general information only, any advice or information received through this page or its content should not be relied upon as being correct or accurate . It is your obligation to verify independently such matters from primary sources of information and by taking specific professional advice. You must not rely on the content or associated service of this page to do this for you.