How To Get Permanent Marker Off Wood Floor

If you have children at home, then the floors of your house will tell stories of them being played by your children crawling and walking, but it is not always rainbows and unicorns. You will surely know how difficult it is to keep small children from scribbling on your newly laid wood floors and freshly painted walls.

Have you accidentally done some art on your floor with a permanent marker? You have to make the right choice of material when it comes to your flooring. Let me help you decide on a perfect wood floor option for parents and also provide small tips like how to get permanent markers off of wood floors.

What Kind Of Wood Flooring Is Best When You Have Children?

By a children-friendly floor, we mean a floor that is durable and is easy to clean. Although the below-mentioned woods are durable, we still need to be careful and maintain them properly, or else they are prone to scratches and dents.


Choose A Wood With Stronger Graining


The stronger the graining is, the difficult it is to dent the wood floor. It also helps to hide the dents and scratches easily. Woods like “red oak, white oak, and hickory” are some kinds of wood that have a stronger graining and are also commonly grown in the USA.


Choose Light Coloured Hardwood Flooring


Light-colored flooring does not show scratches as much. Usually, when a wooden flooring gets scratched, the top layer gets damaged, revealing the color of the wood originally. Hence using light-colored wood like maple wood would be advantageous because even if they get damaged, the color of the wood is the same as the original shade underneath.

Although this may be helpful if you pet animals, you will still have to be careful because lighter colors tend to show pen marks and other dark stains, and children often tend to spill their food, which may lead to staining.


Choose Woods With Good Quality Of Polyurethane


A coat of good quality on the floor can help it from getting damaged. If you are refurbishing your floor, then make sure to get enough coats of it on your floor to avoid damage. According to experts, “you are better off using either a high grade of oil-based polyurethane (e.g. Duraseal) or a high-grade waterborne poly.”

Flooring experts also suggest you make sure to get a minimum of three coatings, and if you are a household with many children or pets, then it is best recommended to give four layers to be on the safer side.


Choose Matte Or Satin Finish For Your Flooring


The shinier your flooring is, the more the scratches and dents will be shown. Choose a dull finish for your floors. Do not misunderstand that by choosing dull or matte flooring, your house will not look good. A nice matte finish gives your home a nice classy and rustic look.


Choose Harder Wood Floors


Exotic woods like “Brazilian Cherry, Brazilian Walnut or Brazilian Teak” are harder, but they also come with their own disadvantages.

Exotic woods like Brazillian Teak tend to be darker and have weaker grains. As already discussed, this means that they will show scratches and dents more despite them being hard.

Although Maple gives you a nice blonde look with lighter colored flooring, it is a costly wood to use. In the long term, it will cost even more to renovate and refurbish it to maintain its lovely color.

As per theflooringgirl.com, the most common choices by families with children and pets are hickory and oak as they are budget-friendly, long-lasting, and also do not show off any scratches or dents. Even though they are not in light colors like maple woods, hickory and oak woods are the most practical and stylish choices.

Tips To Maintain Wood Flooring

- If something spills on the floor, then make sure to clean the floors immediately. If you leave it for longer, it may damage or stain the floor, and it will be a difficult process to remove the stain.


- Vacuum it regularly. Experts suggest that wood floors need to be vacuumed at least once a week to maintain the shine and look of the floor.


- Use furniture pads to avoid scratches. These pads are small and cheap items that can be bought online to make sure your floor looks like it is brand new; it is absolutely worth the effort of purchasing and using them.


- Wipe your floor every once in a while using a mixture of one part vinegar and two parts water. This will help clean your floor thoroughly and make it less slippery. However, make sure to wring out the mop thoroughly before wiping, as excessive water can also damage the wood.


- Use specialized products made for cleaning wooden flooring. This will help maintain the quality and looks of your floor for many years. You do not have to do this every day. You can simply use these products every once in a few months. Hence, you do not need to worry about spending a lot of money on cleaning products.


- Always make sure to keep your floor dry because some woods tend to grow mold or other pathogens when they are exposed to moisture. Some woods also tend to swell up whenever they are in a moist surrounding.


- Refurbish or redo your flooring every once in three-five years to make sure they look spic and span.

Products To Remove Permanent Marker Off The Wood Floor

There is no need to worry if there was a minor mishap on the floor. You can easily remove marker stains off the floor by following simple steps.

*Before using any of these techniques on the stain, first, test it a little in a place where it is not evidently visible to see how your flooring reacts to the products. Each wood is different and hence may react in a wrong way. Also, remember to wear safety gloves in case your hand is sensitive to alcohol or other chemical products.*


Using Alcohol




Take a piece of cloth, dip it in some rubbing alcohol or isopropyl alcohol, and dab the place with the stain until the color starts to lift! Be careful not to rub the alcohol on the stain. This is a very cheap and easy method to follow.


Baking Soda




Baking soda is a very common multipurpose household ingredient. In a bowl, mix a few spoons of baking powder and add some water until it makes a paste. Take a cloth, dip it into the mixture, and gently rub on the stain in a circular motion. Wipe off the baking soda mixture after a few minutes using a damp rag and clean the surface.


Toothpaste




If you do not have baking soda, then toothpaste is a common alternative. Do not use the gel kinds.

Take some toothpaste on a cloth, and just like in the previous solution, gently rub it on the floor where the stain is, in a circular motion. After some time, wipe off the toothpaste using a wet rag and clean the surface until no more toothpaste is left on the floor.


Nail polish remover with acetone




Another great product to remove stains is nail polish removers with acetone. Although acetone can be harmful to our nails, they are really good for removing stains on your floor. Just like how you would use the rubbing alcohol, dip a cloth in some nail polish remover and gently dab it on the stain until the marker color lifts off.


Hair Spray


Hair spray is another product that will come to your rescue. Simply spray some hair spray onto a surface and wipe off the residue with a damp cloth. Hair sprays are known for removing all sorts of stains, so this will help you too.


Melamine foams or magic erasers




Use melamine foams or magic erasers. These are available on many e-commerce websites like Amazon. Melamine foams are used as a spot treatment on woods to remove spots and other stains of wood flooring.

Make sure to use it only on the place with the stain and use it very gently; if you use too much or rub it too hard into the surface, then there is a chance that it will damage the finish of the wood.

Conclusion

After reading all this, you may feel like it is a lot of work to maintain wooden flooring, but they are relatively simple to clean and use. No matter what type of floor you have, it will come with its own set of rules and regulations to maintain it.

These tips about how to get permanent markers off of the wood floor are just general things that you will have to do for any kind of floor. To get stains on the floor is really common, and do not feel overwhelmed about choosing wooden flooring.
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