The most common problem relating to the use of those thin, waffle-shaped rug pads is that they can leave marks on the floor due to their design. Several people have told me that they needed to have their floors refinished due to the damage that was caused to their floors by the inexpensive rug pad that was used under their rug or rugs. It may be possible to remove any rug pad marks from a floor at home before calling a flooring company.
A recent customer of mine reported that her floor was marked. The customer used WD-40, a popular lubricant. It was suggested that the marked area be covered with WD-40 and then scrubbed with a rag. The following steps are meant to help you remove rug pad marks or stains from hardwood and other hard floors.
- Spray WD-40 on the stained area. Make sure you let the WD-40 sit for a few minutes to allow the stain to penetrate.
- Start rubbing the stain with a rag. It may be necessary to rub quite hard and for quite a while, depending on the staining strength. The rag should be changed frequently.
- Get a dry rag and wipe away any excess WD-40 from the floor as soon as it seems you have removed all the stains or as much as can be removed.
- Then clean your floor with Murphy’s Oil Soap. This is a great floor cleaner that adds shine and odor-removing properties to the floor to get rid of any residual WD-40 odor.
I got much success with this process from the customer who tried it and advised me on it. It is not possible to guarantee that every damaged floor will have the same result however it would not hurt to try this first before investing in a more expensive fix.
Be sure to buy a solid felt or felt and rubber rug pad when the flooring is as you wish it to be. Hard floors are not damaged by rubber and are safe to walk on. It is the rubbery, waffle-like rug pads that can mark your floor because they are usually sprayed with an adhesive that adheres to the floor.
