A lot of our customers have pets. It's a common thing in the United States. We even have pets ourselves! Unfortunately, pets and hardwood floors don't necessarily mix well. To be more specific, we're talking about urine stains from pets. It doesn't seem like it would be a huge deal, but it could wreak havoc on your hardwood floors. Read after the break to see why.

It's not uncommon to see a pet become a member of the family. Our customers love their pets that much. We're here to tell you that you're going to have to be careful if you have a pet, but it's completely doable. Follow these simple instructions to make sure that your beautiful hardwood floors stay beautiful.

Keep that floor clean!

Pets can have accidents that aren't brought to your attention right away. Try to take care of the accident as soon as possible. Time is going to be of the essence here. Clean up whatever you can with a paper towel and then crack out the vinegar and baking soda. These will help with and residual urine and also help with the smell. 

Time is going to be the most important factor here. If you can get to it quickly, you're going to have a chance to fixing those floors. If the accident sits too long, you're going to have a decision to make. Pet stains are acidic and will soak into the wood for eternity. No amount of cleaning solution is going to help you. Believe us. Sanding it down won't even help. You're always going to see it. In these cases, you have to replace the individual planks and then sand down the entire floor.

As a little side note, lots of our customers have carpet covering their hardwood floors. We're usually asked to come in and remove the carpet and refinish the old hardwood floors. We can't even tell you how many times we pull up the carpet to see a completely ruined floor.

A carpet will not stop pet urine and it will soak through to the hardwood. It's also going to leave a nasty smell, but that's another story. 

We hope these tips help you with your hardwood floor maintenance. Cats and dogs are awesome, but you're going to have to be a little vigilant with them if you want to have pristine hardwood floors in the same home.