Shoe wearers track dirt, germs, and scratches onto hardwood floors. Enforcing a shoes-off policy, combined with gentle routine cleaning and maintenance, can help keep flooring damage to a minimum.
Stiletto heels concentrate a lot of pressure on a small area, creating marks and dents that are difficult to remove. Tennis shoes with rubber soles also mark wood floors but can be less damaging than spike heels.
High Heels
Stiletto heels concentrate a woman’s weight onto one small point, and the pressure this exerts on a wooden floor has been compared to that of an elephant crushing concrete. This is enough to cause dents and scrapes on wood floors. It can even fracture ceramic tile and etch or dent bare or perforated vinyl flooring.
The good news is that not all high heel shoes damage wood floors. The difference is in the shape of the heel, how wide it is, and how much surface area it covers. A rounded or block-heeled shoe is less damaging to floors than a thin, needle-point stiletto heel. Also, some hardwood floors are tougher and can withstand more wear and tear than others.
While you may love the look of a stiletto, the best way to protect your wood floors is to kick off your heels when you enter your home. This will reduce the amount of dirt and debris that comes into contact with your floorboards, and you’ll find that it requires less frequent cleaning.
In addition, kicking your shoes off will prevent water damage to your floorboards from puddles and snow that are tracked in through the door. This will prolong the life of your hardwood floors and save you time and money in sanding and refinishing them.
If you must go to a party where ladies will be wearing high heels, have them wear slippers or bare feet instead of shoes. If you can’t get guests to ditch their heels, stick to casual parties where everyone can wear athletic shoes or sandals.
If you have a formal event to attend but must wear heels, try to take breaks between dance moves. This will allow you to keep your balance and give your feet a chance to dry out. Having an extra pair of flats in your purse is also a smart idea, as you can use them to replace your heels when your feet start hurting. You should also give your feet micro-breaks throughout the day. This will help prevent overuse injuries like plantar fasciitis and allow them to relax between heels.
Shoes Indoors
The soles of shoes pick up a lot of dirt and grime. Then, when you wear them inside, the bacteria and grit stick to the bottom of your feet and get carried into your home, where they can contaminate carpets and hardwood floors. This dirt can contain harmful bacteria like E coli that can cause intestinal and urinary tract infections, meningitis, and diarrhea. It can also contain dangerous chemicals like gasoline that leak from car tires, coal tar, and other substances found on roads and sidewalks.
Leaving shoes at the door reduces the amount of contaminant tracked into the house. Sweeping, vacuuming, and mopping will become less frequent, and your wood flooring will last longer.
While most shoes don’t harbor dangerous bacteria, they do carry dirt. Shoes can pick up mud, sand, and other types of grit that end up on your beautiful wood floor. As shoes walk across the abrasive material, it dulls and scratches your wood flooring. Every box, chair, or other piece of furniture slid across the floor adds another scratch to your pristine finish and brings you closer to needing to refinish or resand the floors again.
Shoes can leave black scuff marks on floors. High heels ding and dent wooden flooring as they’re worn, while sneakers, boots, and work shoes can leave unsightly scratches. Shoe protectors can help prevent these abrasions, but asking guests and family members to remove their shoes when they enter your home is a good idea.
Many cultures around the world have shoe-free homes for religious and health reasons. You can try this at your home by putting a pair of comfy slippers by the front door or simply asking everyone to leave their shoes at the door. If your family and friends aren’t used to wearing shoes indoors, it may take some time for them to remove their footwear. However, once they do, your beautiful floors will last longer, and you’ll be safer from contaminating germs and toxins.
Shoes Outdoors
A well-made pair of outdoor shoes will be stiff enough to provide stable footing on a range of surfaces. It will also have a sole with spaced lugs designed to grip the ground and prevent slipping on slick surfaces like ice. A good shoe will also feature a high heel that provides firm support and prevents sprains.
The downside to footwear is the amount of dirt and debris they can track onto your wood floors. Small particles of grit that stick in the tread of your shoes or the paws of your dog or cat act like sandpaper, wearing down your floor’s topcoat and creating scratches and scuff marks.
Removing outside shoes at the door and replacing them with slippers keeps your floors cleaner and longer lasting. It also makes cleaning them easier and quicker since you’ll have a lot less to sweep or mop. In addition, kicking shoes off at the door allows you to avoid tracking in harmful toxins from fertilizers or pesticides that can seep into the nooks and crannies of your hardwood flooring.
If you have a hard time enforcing the “no shoes in the house” rule, try placing a welcome mat at any entryway to your home or garage where people can wipe their feet before entering. You can also place mats in any areas where water spills could occur, especially if your floors are exposed to the elements.
Another way that shoes damage your floors is by leaking body oil through the soles and into the cracks of the wood. This oil can cause a dulling effect on the finish of your wood flooring over time. To minimize this, be sure to keep your shoe aeration system properly tuned and use only wood-safe cleaners for your wood floors. Cleaners that contain vinegar, ammonia, or other acidic compounds can dull your floors or even strip the finish completely. You can purchase specially formulated wood-safe cleaners from any major home improvement store or online.
Leg Protectors
The beauty of wood flooring is a big reason many homeowners invest in the material. To protect this investment and extend the time before your floors need refinishing, make sure to avoid things that can damage the surface. While scuff marks and scratches can be corrected with rugs or doormats, dents, and other permanent damage require special attention.
High heels are a major culprit when it comes to dents on wood floors. Often the protective rubber on the bottoms of these shoes wears off, leaving the shoes prone to making dents in hard surfaces.
Even if you have no intention of wearing high heels in your home, you can help protect your wood floors from the dents caused by other types of shoes by requiring visitors to remove their shoes at the door. Placing a bench and shoe rack near the front door makes it easy for visitors to kick off their shoes.
Shoe-free homes are a tradition in many cultures around the world. Families who embrace this practice are able to keep dirt, germs, and grit away from carpeted rooms and hardwood floorboards. If you can’t stop guests from wearing shoes indoors, ask them to leave their footwear outside the door and change into socks or clean rubber-soled slippers for inside the house.
The bottoms of shoes can contain a lot of bacteria that are harmful to your family’s health. Shoes can also pick up toxic substances from the outdoors, such as coal tar or gasoline, that have leaked onto the road or sidewalk. When these chemicals seep into nooks and crannies on your shoes, they can stick to your skin and cause a variety of health problems, from minor rashes to serious diseases such as cancer.
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