4 Ways to Prevent Furniture Scratches on Wood Floors

Taking care of your wood floors is a never-ending responsibility that begins with preventing those ugly scratches caused by moving furniture around on it. This means you’ll have to take steps to prevent the legs of your furniture digging in and damaging the flooring surface. Here are some ways to make sure your furniture won’t be scratching your wood floors.

Lift Furniture While Moving It

Many furniture items are too heavy for one person to lift, so they end up getting pushed or dragged across the floor. This is when flooring scratches often occur. Next time you’re rearranging a room or redecorating, make sure you have another person present when it’s time to move furniture around in order to lift it safely off the ground. Your floors will thank you!

Set Furniture on Area Rugs

An easy way to avoid scratches on your wood floor is to make sure your furniture rests atop an area rug. Area rugs can add color and vibrancy to a room and can “really tie the room together.” To make sure your rug doesn’t slide or move around, consider adding a rug pad underneath the rug for additional protection.

Repair Imperfections on Furniture Feet

Older furniture is likely to have worn or rough edges on or around its feet, so inspect the feet of your furniture before placing it down on your hardwood floor. If you notice any sharp or worn edges that might damage the floor, take the time to replace the feet or sand down the feet to make them smooth before resting on your wood floor.

Install Furniture Pads

Entire furniture pad product lines have been launched with the aim of preventing scuffs on your wood floors. These rubber, felt and cork pads rest underneath your furniture feet so that only a soft surface makes contact with the floor. Here are a few different types of furniture pads you can buy or make yourself.

Tap-on/Nail-on Pads

These pads are affixed to the furniture feet by a small nail or screw and are the most secure solution over time. You’ll want to make sure to install them correctly, or you might have an exposed nail or screw that could damage the floor and defeat the purpose of having the pad installed.

Adhesive Pads

Adhesive furniture pads simply peel and stick to the bottoms of your furniture feet with a felt or rubber surface contacting the floor. The only downside is that the adhesive will lose its bonding power over time and will need to be replaced.

Slip-on Pads

Slip-on pads fit over your furniture legs and are usually made of soft plastic or rubber. They are a good solution that won’t eventually fall off like adhesive pads or damage the floor like an improperly-installed or worn nail-on pad.

DIY Furniture Pads

If you’re a little crafty, you can also make your own furniture pads out of common items around the house. People have used things like blankets, old clothes or any soft material to use as makeshift furniture pads. Sometimes these are worth making because you can reuse and remove them if you only need them for a short amount of time. Here are some other materials you can use for DIY furniture pads.

  • Carpet – find and cut an old scrap of carpet and glue pieces to furniture feet with the soft side touching the floor.
  • Felt – cut and glue your own thick pieces of felt to fit your furniture feet.
  • Velcro – the soft side of an adhesive piece of Velcro will also work.
  • Towels – you can also find an old towel in your collection that could make usable pads.

 

If you make your own pads, just remember to install them so that the furniture remains level. If your furniture isn’t level, you could still be doing damage to the floor. Also remember to keep your floors as clean as possible. Furniture pads can’t protect your floors if they’re sliding around on dirt and grime. If you have any questions about caring for wood floors, call Jabara’s today to speak with one of our flooring experts.