| It’s wonderful to have a good amount of natural light coming into the house. Many home shoppers specifically seek out homes that are positioned to receive a good amount of sun to help keep spirits up. But much like laying out on the beach for too long and coming home looking like a lobster, a hardwood floor can be damaged and have discoloration when exposed to direct sunlight for a long amount of time. Photo-sensitivity has nothing to do with not wanting your picture taken and everything to do with how a certain material reacts to sunlight. UV light from the Sun wears down the protective urethane finish and exposes the hardwood floor to scratches etc as well as moisture damage. Not good, right? It also drastically changes the tone of the wood. Put down an area rug in a room that gets lots of sun then move that rug after a couple years and you’ll see the surrounding floor has faded while the flooring underneath the rug has been well preserved. |
So many grand foyers purposefully high-light the sun with skylights and highly positioned windows. The fading that results from direct sunlight can really take away the richness and warmth hardwood offers and make a house look older than it is.
What to do??
I highly recommend UV protection for the windows. Not only will it protect the hardwood floors (furniture too), it will also help save on energy costs as the treatment will absorb the heat. Win/Win?
My Mom’s house gets a ton of light coming into her kitchen. It drove her crazy that the sun-faded hardwood floors never looked clean because of the discoloration! Then she drove me crazy mentioning it so I refinished her floors and got her the UV treatment for the windows. She still drives me crazy but that’s something that will never fade..
| Meanwhile, different species of hardwood react differently to sunlight. Much like me turning red and peeling away when I’m in the sun and my wife getting a nice even bronze tone when she’s in it, Oak/Maple/Hickory will fade to a lighter tone while the tannins in popular Brazilian species will actually cause those floors to darken. The Brazilian species will also change in tone much quicker than our domestic woods. Once a floor has faded it will need to be refinished to be brought back to its former glory. I know of a company that can do it…. |