Are your floors properly protected from your Christmas tree? With so much going on during the holidays, it’s easy to let a few details slip. But when it comes to setting up a Christmas tree, failing to protect your San Diego home’s flooring can cause unsightly damage that will stick around even once the holidays are done — and could be a costly hassle to repair.
Whether you opt for the traditional, fresh-cut live Christmas tree, or for the pre-lit artificial kind that’s easily stored in a box, here are some tips from SD Flooring to keep your Christmas tree from damaging your floors.
Keep Artificial Trees from Damaging Wood Floors
“Fake” trees may be the better choice for homeowners who are worried about their floors, as they provide Christmas cheer without the need to worry about watering or vacuuming up pine needles. Still, San Diego homeowners can take some steps to protect their floors from artificial trees and the damage they can cause.
Avoid Scratches from Tree Stands
Make sure your hardwood floors are protected from the legs or stand of your artificial tree. This can easily be done by laying down some batting or felt before setting up the tree, or by placing self-adhesive felt pads (which can be found in most store’s home solutions sections) on the bottom of the stand’s legs. This will protect the floor from scratches, dings or marks that the tree’s stand could make in the process of setting up the tree or later taking it down.
Protect Carpet & Hardwood from Live Christmas Trees
A live Christmas tree brings an undeniable yuletide air to a home. But it also brings (and sheds) pin needles, runs the risk of leaking water, and be alluing to small children and pets. Here’s how to protect your flooring from live Christmas tree hazards.
Guard Against Water Damage
Keeping your tree properly watered is the number one tip for making sure it doesn’t turn into a fire hazard. But that same watering can mean bad news for your floors. Whether you have carpet or hardwood floors, water from the tree stand can leak and cause water damage — especially when it’s hidden beneath the tree where you’d be unlikely to see a pool of water. Water that is left standing, even for a few hours, can stain carpet and damage the padding beneath, and can cause hardwood floors to warp.
- To protect carpet and hardwood, place a sheet of waterproof plastic on the floor beneath your tree. This can be as simple as using a trash-bag cut to the right shape. Cover the plastic with a tree skirt, and no one will know about your secret weapon against potential water damage.
- Avoid over watering, which can lead to overflowing and spills.
- Check regularly for spills and clean them up right away.
Clean Up Sap & Pine Needles
Sap, pine needles and the like are particularly dangerous for carpet, as it can get rubbed in and create sticky stains that attract dirt and can be hard to remove. Again, the protective layer described above of a layer of plastic combined with a tree skirt will guard the floor from most sap drippings or pine needle droppings. You should also regularly clean up fallen pine needles to avoid them getting walked on and ground into the carpet.
Supervise Young Children
Seems like nobody gets excited by the newness of a Christmas tree quite like a young child! It can be so much fun to allow small children to experience a live Christmas tree: the way it feels and smells, and the fun of decorating it.
Children shouldn’t be left alone with the Christmas tree without supervision, however. Not only will this help you avoid flooring-cleanup annoyances like water spills or pine needles ground into the carpet, it will also keep the child safe from bigger dangers like electrocution from lights, or the tree tipping over.
Keep Curious Pets Away from a Live Christmas Tree
Pets should also not be left unsupervised where they can get to the Christmas tree. The new and exciting piece of nature in the home may create an urge in cats and dogs alike to mark their territory — an urge that’s never good news for your floors, whether they are carpet, hardwood or tile!
To keep pets away from the tree, consider installing a temporary safety gate (often called baby gates) in the doorway to the room where the Christmas tree is located.This can be used whenever pet owners are unable to supervise their pets.