Can Fleas Live On Hardwood Floors? Everything You Need to Know About Keeping Your Hardwood Flooring Pest-Free This Summer

Summer brings sunny skies, warm temperatures, and typically more open windows and doors than the colder, rainier months. It’s a great time to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine and to get active after a long winter and holiday season spent indoors.

While summer is a wonderful season to spend outside, it also carries a higher chance of pest infestation. Hardwood floors are most susceptible to damage from insects during the summer. Still, even non-damaging pests can be unwelcome guests in the summer months. Keep reading for a look at some summertime visitors you might be less than thrilled to see.

Hardwood Flooring and Fleas

If you’re wondering, “Can fleas live on hardwood floors?” there’s good and bad news. Fleas are small, wingless insects that feed on the blood of humans and animals. Though their bites can be painful and transmit diseases, fleas are generally more annoying than harmful. However, you’ll still want to take care of the nasty little biters before they can become a more significant problem.

While fleas are most commonly found on pets, they can infest furniture, carpets, and (unfortunately) hardwood floors. Fleas can burrow deep into the spaces between floorboards and feed on dust and debris that might linger there.

Thankfully, prevention is pretty straightforward. To prevent flea infestations on hardwood floors, keep pets clean and free of fleas with regular treatments. Regularly vacuuming and steam-cleaning carpets and furniture can also help reduce the risk of a flea infestation. You’ll also want to use a high-quality wood cleaner like Rubio Monocoat Soap to clean your hardwood floors regularly, which can help eliminate anything the little invaders might be able to use to get more comfortable inside your home.

Be sure to incorporate a regular visit from pest control professionals. They can spray baseboards, corners, behind appliances, and other problem areas of your home to discourage potential pests from finding their way into your home.

Termites and Your Hardwood Floors

Termites are never something any homeowner wants to see. These tiny insects devour wood and can severely damage or destroy flooring, furniture, and even the structural supports inside your walls. Termites undermine flooring and other wooden structures by consuming cellulose, which can cause structural damage. If not stopped as soon as they’re detected, termites can be responsible for extensive damage throughout a home.

Avoid termites destroying your hardwood floors by keeping your flooring clean and dry. You can also do a lot to discourage termites from invading your home by keeping wood piles, leaves, and other organic materials away from the structure. If you spot termites in or around your home, you’ll want to consult with a professional exterminator as soon as possible.

Can Ants Be A Problem for Hardwood Flooring?

Tiny as they are, ants are highly social creatures that can live in nests that contain hundreds of thousands of individuals. In these kinds of numbers, they can do significant harm to your hardwood flooring if they choose to infest your home.

Cleaning up any kind of spill is essential to the upkeep of your flooring, but any food or sticky, sugary drinks that might end up on your floor should be cleaned up at once to avoid attracting ants. Keeping the area around doors and windows especially clean and free of food sources can discourage ants from setting up camp.

In some climates, a yearly incursion of the little pests may be inevitable, but the presence of ants can be mitigated by maintaining a clean home. A high-quality wood cleaner and a good tool for proper application are essential, as a clean floor will help prevent the infestation of ants and other pests.

Enjoying Your Hardwood Floor Year-Round

To reduce the risk of infestation and protect your floors, keeping your floors clean and free of debris and moisture, especially during the summer, is essential. For more tips on how to care for your wooden flooring, furniture, and other surfaces around the home at any time of year, check out the other articles on our blog, or reach out to us with any questions you might have about caring for your wood flooring or furniture.