Heavy, muddy winter boots. An overly zealous Golden Retriever with nails that are due for a trimming. Years of exposure to the setting sun from your kitchen’s west windows. Countless dropped ceramic mugs, and a toddler with a habit of chucking toys off the dining table. If you lead a busy life with an active family, all of these occurrences probably sound like a recipe for very tired looking floors. If your home’s high traffic areas have a less than formidable kind of flooring, you are probably groaning inwardly at the thought of replacing the old with the new again. However, there is a solution that will be an investment in your floors without upsetting the daily life for a remodel and breaking the bank: floor protection overlay. Here are the reasons why a small financial dedication to floor protection overlay would be worth it in the long run.
Protection will guard your floors against daily wear and tear. If your floors are of a material that tends to show off its dings and scrapes right away, such as genuine hardwood, cork, bamboo, and some softer tiles, equipping the floor with protection paper will act as a shield to minimize your floors cuts and bruises. If you want your hardwood to look as unblemished as possible before laying the protection, you can consider hiring a professional to sand off a fine layer off the surface of the wood to remove the more shallow scars.
Protection can act as the sunscreen for your floor. Some floor protection overlay manufacturers make papers that have a sun protection factor. While a room with lots of windows is beautiful and full of light, those sunny days will add up to an aged and faded floor, especially if you have colorful linoleum, vinyl, or stained genuine hardwood. If you chose your flooring for its beautiful display of color, keep its hues stunning over time with a protective overlay.
Replacing carpet with protected flooring is much more sanitary. Did you know that even regularly vacuumed carpet can hold up to a pound of dirt per square yard? Household vacuums and steam cleaners simply are not powerful enough to remove all of the dirt, debris, and toxins that end up trapped in carpet fibers over time. Unless you regularly rent a commercial carpet steam cleaner, your carpet will always be harboring that dirt. Switching to a hard floor that is protected with an overlay will prove to be much healthier, remove the need to pay for a steam cleaner, especially for a household that has pets and totting toddlers. You’d find that many odor problems you have in your home would disappear with the carpet and steam cleaning systems, too.
You will slash your floor maintenance costs. Floor protection overlay does not last forever. Depending on the brand you buy and the installation, the paper can last for anywhere between one and ten years. However, the cost of maintaining a protective overlay is monumentally smaller than repeatedly replacing used and abused flooring. Keeping your floors protected and in pristine condition will help your home resell value, too; no one wants to see peeling, sun faded vinyl or deeply marred hardwood flooring.
Your floors are not the only thing that can be protected by transparent overlays. Your windows, door jambs, molding, and trim can all be shielded so that they can withstand the test of time and the enthusiasm of your family.