Dirt and grit lead to excess wear and scratching of your floor. Use dirt trapping mats at all exterior doors to help minimise the amount of dirt, sand and grit that makes it onto your floor. Small rugs and hall runners are also helpful for collecting the dirt that can scratch your floor. A regular sweep of all traffic areas is recommended.
Moving furniture over your floor can lead to surface damage. Fit protective pads to the legs of chairs and tables so that they can be moved easily without the risk of ‘scuffing’ the floor. If you have furniture with castors, it is preferable that the latter be of the barrel type as ball castors can cause
damage.
Strong light, particularly direct sunlight, can cause a chemical reaction in wood, causing it to change colour (ageing or weathering); so move your rugs occasionally and protect the floor from direct sunlight by means of curtains or blinds.
In areas where extremes of temperature or moisture variation are common, cracks may appear in the floor. Adding moisture to the air with a humidifier may be the answer. Air conditioners are rarely humidity-corrected and can, particularly in winter, create an extremely dry atmosphere which can cause shrinkage and cracking of the floor.