Service 04 / 04
Cleaning and maintenance, with nothing in it you would not want a toddler sitting in.
pH-neutral, low-VOC cleaning that leaves no film, no fragrance and no residue — safe for the dog, the crawling baby and the finish itself. This is a service, not a shelf of bottles we are trying to sell you.
Image slot · svc-clean-hero · 1600×2000 · Microfibre pass on a matte hardwax floor, morning light — Port Ludlow
- Chemistry
- pH-neutral, low-VOC
- Residue
- None — no film, no fragrance
- Safe to re-enter
- Immediately, once dry
- Programme
- Annual or twice yearly
Almost every ruined finish we sand off was ruined by cleaning. Not by dogs, not by children, not by furniture — by a bottle of something under the sink that promised shine and delivered a film, or by a steam mop that pushed water through a seam for two years.
What we use, and why it matters
Our cleaning solution is pH-neutral and low-VOC. It contains no ammonia, no bleach, no wax, no oil soap and no added fragrance. It leaves no film, which is the entire point: a floor cleaned properly can be recoated in five years without a chemical strip first.
The practical upshot for a household is simple. There is nothing in the room to air out. Children can be back on the floor as soon as it is dry, and a dog that licks the boards is fine.
The things that quietly destroy a floor
- Steam mops. The most common cause of premature refinishing we see. Heat plus water plus seams.
- Vinegar and any acid. Etches waterborne and oil finishes alike, and dulls faster the more you use it.
- Oil soaps and wax. They look wonderful for a fortnight and then make a recoat impossible. After that the only option is a full sand.
- Acrylic “restorers”. A plastic layer that yellows, scuffs white, and has to be chemically stripped.
- Grit. Unglamorous and undefeated. Mats at every exterior door, felt pads under everything with a leg.
Humidity, which matters more here than almost anywhere
Wood moves with the moisture in the air, and the Olympic Peninsula is not one climate but several. Sequim sits in a rain shadow at around seventeen inches a year and its floors shrink in winter; Port Angeles takes twenty-five or more and its floors cup in summer. A waterfront house on Bainbridge with a vented crawlspace can run 60% relative humidity in August while the living room reads 45%.
Keep the house between 35 and 55% and almost nothing goes wrong. We take readings on every maintenance visit and note them, so a trend is visible before a board is.
The annual programme
One visit a year, or two for a busy household. We deep clean, take moisture and humidity readings room by room, photograph the wear pattern in the traffic lanes, check felt pads and entry mats, and leave a one-page note saying what we found and roughly when the recoat is due. If the answer is “nothing needed, see you next year”, that is what it says.
We are not a product retailer. If you would rather do the maintenance yourself, ask and we will tell you exactly what to buy and what to avoid — the list above is most of it.
What good maintenance looks like
01
Dry first
Grit is sandpaper underfoot. A dust mop, or a vacuum with the beater bar off, every few days in the entry rooms does more for a finish than any product in a bottle.
02
Damp, never wet
A barely-damp microfibre pad and a pH-neutral solution. No mop bucket, no standing water, and never a steam mop — steam drives moisture straight through the finish into the seams.
03
Nothing that films
No wax, no oil soap, no acrylic “restorer”, no vinegar, no ammonia, no bleach. Each of those either etches the finish or leaves a layer that blocks the next recoat.
04
Control the air
Hold the house between 35 and 55% relative humidity. On this coast that means a dehumidifier in a vented crawlspace in July, and some humidity added in January when the woodstove is running.
Where we do this work
Maintenance visits, scheduled by area.
We run maintenance rounds by geography — a Bainbridge week, a Sequim week — so the drive is shared and the visit stays affordable. Clients on the annual programme get first call on recoat scheduling.
Next step
Put the floor on a schedule.
One visit a year: clean it, meter it, photograph the wear, and tell you the year the recoat is due. It is the cheapest line item in owning a wood floor, and it postpones the most expensive one.
We walk the floor, take moisture readings, and send a written scope with a fixed number. No pressure, no same-day discount.