Protecting Your Floor’s Warranty

Floor Coverings International’s advice is to follow maintenance guidelines to keep your warranty valid.

While floor coverings are becoming more and more durable each year, there are still times when defects emerge over years of use. The better manufacturers recognize this and offer a variety of both lifetime and limited warranties.

However, there are cleaning and maintenance guidelines that must be followed for the warranties to remain in effect. We’ll talk about two floor coverings in this blog post: carpet and hardwood. We picked these two because consumers often don’t understand or are unaware of the warranty conditions.

We’ll start with carpet. Maintenance requirements mostly center around how often carpet needs to be professionally cleaned. Cleaning frequency varies with the amount of traffic a carpeted area receives. Frequency can be as often as every six months or as little as once every two years.

You should use a professional cleaner. However, you need to be careful with what the cleaner uses. In most cases, only hot water extraction can be used. Use of non-approved cleaning products will void the warranty.  Many major carpet manufacturers recommend cleaning products, equipment, and systems certified through the Carpet and Rug Institute’s Seal of Approval Program.

Depending on the material, several different types of warranties are may apply. Carpet warranties can cover:

• Texture retention
• Abrasive wear
• Quality assurance
• Stain resistance
• Pet urine stain resistance
• Soil resistance

When shopping for carpet, it’s important to review the warranty information because better-quality carpets carry better warranties.

Hardwood is another floor covering that has some particular conditions that need to be met in order to maintain valid warranties. For example, one major manufacturer requires the following:

• 35%-50% air humidity must be maintained in the home
• regular sweeping or vacuuming (no beater bar)
• prompt wiping up of stains with a soft cloth
• pads must be placed on the legs of all furniture
• no wet or damp mopping
• no use of water or unauthorized products to clean the floor
• no use of oil-based soaps
• no use of steam cleaners or hardwood-floor cleaning machines
• no use of liquid or paste wax products
• no use of citrus oils, lemon oil, tung oil, silicon, or ammonia
• no use of two-in-one cleaners that may include urethane or acrylic polish

Not covered by warranty are dents, scratches, or the dulling of the finish.

So what can you clean your hardwood floor with? Each manufacturer has its own recommended cleaner.

For hardwood, there are a variety of warranties offered. One manufacturer offers a lifetime structural warranty, but only for engineered hardwood, not for solid hardwood. For pre-finished wood, there can be a limited warranty for residential finish wear.

So, when shopping for carpet or hardwood, pay attention to the warranties offered because they can indicate the quality of the product. And, once you’ve had the floor covering installed, be sure to follow the directions for care and maintenance in order to keep those warranties valid.

Have any questions? Just contact us at Floor Coverings International for our expert advice. And, if you’re in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area, contact Floor Coverings International, Cincinnati East, for all of your flooring needs.

Katie Fitzgerald, president

Floor Coverings International, Cincinnati East