Spring Cleaning – 5 Tips for Caring for a Wooden Table Top
Whether you’ve just received your first table kit that you’re planning to finish yourself, or your table has been passed down your family for two or three generations, you’re going to want to do everything you can to keep your table in the best shape possible. In our second blog post in our spring cleaning series, we’re touching on 5 different ways to care for your dining table.
1. Clean your table regularly
Thankfully, caring for wood furniture is easy. You don’t need any harsh chemicals. A soft cloth, such as a cotton dish rag, and water, a mild dish detergent, or a wood-specific cleaner will handle most every cleaning job you’ll encounter. Once you wipe down your table with a damp cloth, be sure to wipe up any remaining moisture with a dry cloth afterward.
Related: 5 Reasons Wood is the Ideal Eco-Friendly Building Material
2. Use coasters, placemats, pot holders, and/or a table cloth
When using cups and plates and placing hot dishes on your table, be sure to use coasters, place mats, and pot holders. These will help protect your table top from scratches, as well as preventing prolonged exposure to hot and cold that could potentially damage your finish, or even the wood itself.
Additionally, using a table cloth in addition to these will provide further protection in the event that food is spilled on your table. Using a table cloth even when you’re not dining at your table is also a good preventative measure, as it can prevent discoloration from sunlight, extraneous damage from household pets, etc.
3. Keep your dining table away from heating/cooling vents
If possible, keep your dining table away from your heater, fire place, A/C vents, moisture sources like humidifiers, and direct sunlight. Wood will swell or contract depending on the moisture content in the air around it, and sunlight can also dry it out. While products like table bases and V bar stabilizers can help to stabilize your table top when the moisture content fluctuates, prolonged exposure can do more damage than those products can prevent, such as fading your finish and creating cracks.
If you live in a dry climate, you may need a humidifier, whereas a humid climate may require a dehumidifier to help stabilize the moisture content and protect your table.
4. Fixing minor scratches & dents
No matter how hard you work to maintain your table, minor scratches and dents will still happen. There are a few different ways to fix those. Plenty of products are out there for filling dents, such as wood putty and, for older products, wood restoration kits. For minor scratches, you can also use wood repair pens in the same stain color as your table.
Related: Get Ready for the Holidays with a Table to Seat Everyone
5. Replacing your table top
Sometimes, your damage just can’t be fixed. Whether your pet chewed off a corner or your table top was dropped and broke in half, you can always replace it. We offer a few stock table top options, as well as the option to have a table top custom made to fit your needs. You can choose from a large variety of wood types, design your new table top to be a near-perfect replica of your old one, and since our products are delivered unfinished, you can have your new top finished however you’d like.
Please note: there are some limitations to our custom table top abilities. We cannot do tops over 106″ long or 1 3/4″ thick in house, nor can we do oval tops. Additionally, table tops over 64″ long are required to ship freight, which can range from $300-$500 in shipping fees alone. Please contact a customer service representative at 800.849.8876 for more information.
