You may love tile, hardwood, or laminate: we love them all! And yet, sometimes your furniture doesn’t. Couches and tables, bookshelves and chairs can scratch, dent, and chip your beautiful floor; but never fear, there are remedies and rescues for every type of flooring!
Carpet
Nobody wants dents or tears in their carpet! Here are a few ways to avoid carpetastrophe or repair the damage already done.
Prevention:
- Use carpet coasters or caster cups to spread out the weight of your furniture in order to avoid dents in your beautiful new carpet!
- Place rugs underneath furniture to form a barrier between the carpet and the pressure points of chair, couch and table feet.
- Vacuum once a week to lift carpet fibers.
- Move furniture once a month. Even a few inches can save the threads of your covering.
- Pick up furniture when moving it. Get a partner to help you so that you aren’t potentially tearing at the carpet fibers as you push your movables around.
Repair:
If you find that you still have dents in your carpet, try wetting or placing an ice cube in the divot. Once the area is completely saturated or the ice cube is melted, gently brush the fibers back into place as you dry the spot with a blow dryer.
Hardwood
Everyone admires the timeless beauty of a well cared for hardwood floor. In fact, we all secretly dream that if we pried up our aging carpet, we’d find a pristine hardwood underneath. Whether you’ve discovered the hardwood treasure or had it installed, be sure to keep it from getting damaged by, of all things, your furniture!
Prevention
- Lay down an area rug, with a pad underneath, to keep furniture from sliding and scratching at your precious wood floors. Avoid rubber pads as they can discolor your wood.
- Apply felt, adhesive pads to the feet of chairs and other furniture that is often moved.
- Slip on furniture cups are even easier to adhere than adhesive pads and they last longer. They come in glass, plastic, rubber, etc. Be sure to pick the material that is right for the movability you wish for your furniture.
- Use larger, non-slip furniture grippers for couch or hutch legs to distribute weight and keep your movables from sliding.
- Check your furniture protectors regularly to ensure they haven’t worn or slipped and replace accordingly.
- Dust your floor regularly to avoid further slipping. Dust can also inhibit the usefulness of non-slip furniture protection.
DIY It
For furniture surfaces that don’t quite match the premade pads or for those of you that just love a project, there are many DIY options for furniture/flooring protection. Use an old rug, towel, or clothing, a tennis ball, sponge, heavy-duty felt, or even leather to cut and glue your own furniture pad.
Laminate
Laminate flooring is a more affordable option to hardwood that comes in many gorgeous styles. It is easy to install and maintain, but it can still be damaged by your movables if you don’t take a few simple precautions.
Prevention
- Have we mentioned rugs? Use them! They can add a pop of color and fun to your room while protecting your flooring from furniture.
- Use felt pads for lighter furniture and plastic disc sliders for heavier furniture in order to avoid scratches and scrapes.
- Always lift furniture when moving it across the floor so that the sharp legs and corners don’t damage the laminate.
- If you’re using a caster office chair in a room with laminate flooring, make sure to put a protective mat underneath. The rolling casters will definitely wear and score the surface of your floor.
Helpful Hint
To keep your furniture from unwanted sliding (and scraping) on your new smooth floors, use non-slip or rubber pads underneath the feet/corners of your movables. These pads will gently keep all your furniture in place!
Vinyl
After your gorgeous vinyl flooring is installed, you might want to run in and appreciate it immediately, but hold on a minute—or more like 48 hours. You need to wait a full two days until your vinyl flooring has settled before walking on it or moving furniture in. When it is time to place your movables, make sure to protect that vinyl.
Prevention
- Rugs, rugs, rugs! Area rugs are always helpful when protecting your flooring, especially when it is something that could be scratched or dented by heavy furniture. Take care to check that the underside of the rug is not latex or rubber!
- Self-adhesive felt pads are easy to apply and terrific for the legs of chairs and tables. They come in pre-cut rounds of many sizes or you can measure and cut them yourself.
- Tap-in felt furniture glides are going to last longer because they adhere to the foot of your furniture with a metal rivet. However, they will only work with wooden furniture. Made of plastic or cloth, these are terrific for furniture that is moved across the floor often.
- Make sure to check your furniture protection apparatuses often as they will slowly wear down and attract dust and dirt.
Warning
Furniture protectors made of rubber or latex can stain vinyl flooring; opt for felt, plastic, or cloth.
Tile
Strength, longevity, and durability make tile flooring a terrific option for your floor. Even a low maintenance beauty like tile, however, can get chips and scratches.
Prevention
- Don’t ever slide furniture across the tile. Lift and move with the aid of a partner because inconsistencies between the height of the grout and top of the tile can cause furniture legs to catch and chip the tile.
- Help to distribute the weight of heavier movables to avoid cracking tile. Use rugs or large, round disc sliders to avoid a build up of weight on focused points.
Helpful Hint
On hard floors, felt and rubber furniture pads work best. The felt allows a bit of movement for things like dining room/kitchen chairs, while the rubber will help the movables stay in place.
Now that you know how to protect your floors from your furniture, why not get a free consultation from your Loveland and Fort Collins flooring specialists?
And be sure to take a look at our other blogs on caring for your floors—4 Tips to Care for Laminate Flooring and Caring for Hardwood Flooring.
Resources and References:
https://nydreeflooring.com/blog/hardwood-flooring-tips-how-to-stop-furniture-from-sliding
Carpet
https://www.wikihow.com/Prevent-Carpet-Dents
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