Consumers have the choice between beveled edges and square edges on hardwood flooring. Besides the price difference and installation concerns, many homeowners wonder whether beveled edge hardwood floor is difficult to clean and what type of special cleaning equipment is required to keep the flooring neat and attractive.
Take a closer look at the reasoning behind this flooring design and find out how you can maintain a beautifully clean surface with minimal effort.
What Are Beveled Edges?
Hardwood flooring planks are milled piece by piece, and that process naturally results in a slightly eased edge or corner. Put those planks together on your floor and this type of plank design creates tiny grooves between the flooring planks, often measuring a fraction of an inch in width and depth.
Benefits of Installing Planks With Beveled Edges
Square edged hardwood flooring planks require high-end high precision machinery to mill therefore come at a higher price to the consumer. You may also need to spend time and money leveling the subfloor, as square-edged planks are less forgiving of subfloor imperfections, while beveled edged products a small buffer built in.
But we wanted to talk about cleaning and examine the myth about keeping beveled edges clean and free from dirt and debris. It may surprise you to learn that those tiny grooves could actually help your hardwood look better longer, since dust and debris naturally fall into the gaps. Dirt that collects in these spaces is not sitting on the plank surface waiting to scratch and dull the finish.
Removing the dirt lodged in the grooves can be challenging. With the right plan of attack, cleaning beveled edge hardwood planks can be quick and painless. A broom works well for square edge hardwood. Micro-fiber or flat swiper-style brooms are popular for picking up dust and dirt with minimal effort. Although a broom with long, firm fibers can reach into the gaps on beveled edge hardwood, the flat swiper-style brooms (such as a Swifter) are not the ideal choice.
Because they merely wipe the surface, micro-fiber or flat brooms are ineffectual on beveled edge flooring. A vacuum works best to remove any build up in the grooves, but make sure to use a hardwood flooring safe vacuum to avoid damage. Those with a brush or buffer on the end work best.
How to Handle Spills
Plan to clean up spills immediately, no matter what type of hardwood flooring profile you choose. Beveled edge hardwood does create a gap for the liquid to run into, and it can be more difficult to remove sticky substances from those grooves. However, if you wipe up any liquid spills immediately and use an approved cleaner on the hardwood to combat stickiness, the gaps created by beveled edges make very little difference to the cleanliness.
People often mistakenly think square edge floors leave no gaps between planks. This is a common misconception. Both square edge and bevel edge floors will react to seasonal changes which will cause the planks to shrink and expand as need. The best way to prevent plank separation is to introduce humidity.
Personal preference dictates the ideal choice between flat edge and beveled edge hardwood floors. Beveled edges are easy to clean with a vacuum or coarse broom, and those gaps may actually help to preserve the attractive finish on your hardwood.
Since 2003, Unique Wood Floors has served home and business owners in the Minneapolis / St. Paul area. Contact our company online or by phone, or visit one of our two Twin Cities showrooms in Bloomington & Hopkins. We are looking forward to hearing from you!