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Protecting Your Floors from the Christmas Tree

October 21, 2020 / 47 Comments

The holidays are here! My favorite time of year. Has anyone else been binge watching Holiday Baking Championships on the Food Network? It’s the default channel in my house during this time of year. My kids love it and ask me to (attempt) to bake the desserts.

I love when the tree comes out and we start decorating it. One year we got a real tree, and I promised myself, never again. The mess it made was disastrous, I was finding pine needles until the next Christmas, we failed to measure my ceiling and bought a tree about 2 feet too tall, it scratched my ceiling- it is a funny story now, but then I wasn’t laughing 🙂 LOL! I said that I’ll just get a Pine Scented Yankee Candle! LOL Luckily, we managed to not damage our hardwood-that year anyway.

With the proper protection, you too can avoid damaging your floor from your Christmas tree. Typically, I would specify hardwood flooring being susceptible to Christmas tree damage, but many types of flooring can become damaged from your tree. Unfortunately, last year I scratched my marble floor tile while adjusting my 12 ft, VERY HEAVY, faux Christmas tree. Needless to say, I wasn’t pleased and want to pass along some preventive measures I should have used last year and definitely will this year.

Avoid Over filling with water.

It is extremely important to keep your real Christmas tree hydrated and a dry tree can become a huge fire hazard. Make sure to not over water the tree causing spillage. Water will warp and buckle your hardwood. It may even discolor it and cause the finish to peel and chip away. If some overwatering happens, wipe it up ASAP.  

Sliding the Tree

Do not slide to adjust the tree stand unless there is some type of soft protection barrier – even with a soft protection, there may be unseen debris on the floor which may risk scratching. This is what caused my floor scratches last Christmas. I slide the tree and we didn’t see the scratches until after it was taken down. If you have hardwood you may have the ability to sand and refinish (insert link) your hardwood floors, but it is a project and will probably be a project you weren’t planning for.

Put the stand on a protective barrier between the stand and floor

You can use a soft mat, towels or a waterproof pan typical of one you would use under your washer. A protective barrier can create an eyesore under a beautifully decorated Christmas tree and if that is the case, Christmas tree skirts will do the trick in hiding anything you do not want seen.

Felt pads

Felt pads may or may not work for your Christmas tree. It depends on the stand it will come with. However, if you can use felt pads, it’s highly recommended. Felt is soft and will avoid scratching and denting.

Take Measurements

So this item will be for your ceilings. Make sure your tree will fit in your home to avoid any ceiling damage. This point probably sounds super obvious, but trust me, one year we eyeballed the tree height and lo and behold, my ceiling had a 12 ft long scratch after the tree was brought in. Also, make sure your tree width will fit in the area you are planning on setting it. Many times the branches, whether faux or real, end up scratching the walls.

These are a few key points on protecting your floors from your Christmas tree. Oh, always make sure you clean and wipe down your floors PRIOR to setting up the tree. This will ensure no debris will be under your protective floor barrier. Debris can cause some scratching so please make sure you wipe up that area.

I hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Season. As always, please reach out to info@theflooringblog.com or theflooringblog@gmail.com for any questions or concerns you may have.

*Lisa

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