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Hardwood Floor Tips for an Ontario House: Keeping a Wood Floor Flat, Unscratched and Unfaded Through Twenty Winters
Warranty and maintenance Flooring From a builder
Hardwood Floor Tips for an Ontario House: Keeping a Wood Floor Flat, Unscratched and Unfaded Through Twenty Winters
Every call I get about a hardwood floor is one of four things: it gapped in February, it cupped in August, the dog scratched it, or the sun faded a rectangle where the rug was. All four are preventable and none of them is the floor’s fault.
Short version: Hold the house between 35 and 50 percent relative humidity all year; that single habit prevents the winter gaps and the summer cupping that cause most hardwood complaints in Ontario. Then keep grit off it (mats at every door, shoes off, a soft-head vacuum), wipe water at once, lift furniture, trim the dog’s nails, rotate rugs and use UV-filtering glass or blinds on the south side, clean with a damp microfibre and the finish maker’s cleaner (no steam mops, no vinegar, no oil soap on a polyurethane finish), and fix scratches with a colour-matched filler or a screen-and-recoat before they become a sanding. Solid floors can be sanded four or five times; engineered once or twice; both last the life of the house if the humidity is right.
The one rule that matters
Wood moves with moisture. At 15 percent relative humidity in a February house, boards shrink and gaps open; at 65 percent in August, they swell and cup. A hygrometer costs $20; a whole-house humidifier and the HRV set correctly keep the house at 35 to 50 percent, and the floor stays where the installer left it. The flooring warranty requires it, and it is the first thing a manufacturer’s inspector measures when a claim comes in. Humidity in a new home explains the mechanics and the first-winter trap; flooring over radiant heat adds the floor-temperature rule for heated slabs.
Daily and weekly
- Grit is sandpaper. Mats outside and inside every door, shoes off, and a vacuum with a bare-floor head (no beater bar) or a microfibre dust mop, weekly or more with a dog.
- Water: wipe spills at once; a dripping plant pot or a wet boot tray on a hardwood floor is a black stain in a week.
- Cleaning: a barely damp microfibre and the cleaner the finish maker recommends. No steam mops (they drive water into the joints), no vinegar or ammonia (they dull polyurethane), no oil soap or wax on a urethane finish (nothing will stick to it again).
- Felt pads under every chair and table leg, replaced when they wear; lift furniture, never drag it.
- Rugs with a breathable pad, rotated every season so the floor fades evenly.
Sun, pets and the other slow damage
- Sun: a south window fades a floor in one summer, and the rug leaves a dark rectangle. Low-e glass with UV coating from the start, or UV film and blinds after; rotate the rugs.
- Pets: trimmed nails, a mat under the water bowl, and a species hard enough for the dog (maple, hickory, white oak) with a matte finish that hides what happens anyway.
- Rolling chairs: a mat under the desk chair; the wheels are the worst thing in the house for a floor.
- High heels and hockey skates: the dents are permanent in softer species. Take them off at the door.
Fixing what happens anyway
- Light scratches in the finish: a touch-up marker or a colour-matched filler, then a drop of finish; or a screen-and-recoat of the whole room (a light abrasion and a new topcoat, no sanding to bare wood) every 7 to 10 years, which is cheap and makes the floor new again.
- Deeper scratches and dents: filler, or replace the board; a good installer keeps a few boards from the original lot in the basement for this reason, so ask for them.
- Gaps that do not close in summer: the house was too dry for too long; fix the humidity first, then fill the worst ones with a flexible filler in winter when they are widest.
- Cupping: the house or the subfloor was too wet; find the moisture (a leak, a wet basement, a slab without a vapour barrier), fix it, and wait a season before sanding, because a cupped floor sanded flat will crown when it dries.
- Full refinish: sanding to bare wood and three coats; a solid 3/4-inch floor takes four or five of these over its life, an engineered floor with a 2 to 4 mm wear layer one or two. Choosing hardwood flooring covers that choice before it is made.
In a new house
The first winter is the test. The slab and framing are still drying out in the fall (humidity reads high), then the heat comes on and it crashes. Watch the hygrometer weekly, run the humidifier from November, and expect a little seasonal movement the first year that settles down after. Keep the leftover boards, the finish maker’s name and the lot number; you will want all three in year nine. First-year maintenance has the rest of the first-winter list, and the flooring buying guide covers the materials.
Related guides on this site
NEW: Hardwood and engineered flooring, priced and explained
The tips still hold. The new hardwood section adds the 2026 costs, the wear layer rule, nail vs glue vs float, acclimation, and what cupping and gaps mean when they show up.
Hardwood and engineered flooring hub · Engineered vs solid hardwood · Cupping and gaps
Sources and further reading
Questions people ask
Can I put hardwood over radiant floor heating?
Engineered hardwood rated for radiant, in boards up to about 5 to 7 inches wide, installed to the maker's spec and kept under about 27 degrees C at the surface, works well. Wide solid planks are a mistake; narrow quartersawn solid boards work with strict temperature and humidity control.
Solid or engineered hardwood in Ontario?
Engineered for most new houses: a cross-ply core that moves far less with our humidity swings, fine over slabs and radiant, refinishable once or twice with a thick wear layer. Solid 3/4-inch where you want a floor that can be sanded many times and you will hold the humidity.
Why is my new hardwood floor gapping in winter?
The house is too dry. Below about 30 percent relative humidity, boards shrink across the grain and gaps open; they close again in summer. A humidifier and a lower HRV setting in winter hold the house at 35 to 50 percent and the gaps stop.
How do you clean hardwood floors?
A vacuum with a bare-floor head or a microfibre dust mop for grit, then a barely damp microfibre with the finish maker's cleaner. No steam, no vinegar, no oil soap or wax on a polyurethane finish.
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Reviewed and updated October 2026. Costs are Ontario ranges, not quotes; code references are to the Ontario Building Code in force at that date.
