How To Care For The Laminate Hardwood Floor in Your Home
Even though laminate floors are much easier to care for than real wood floors or engineered floors, they do require a bit of upkeep to make sure they still look stellar. It doesn’t take much to keep these floors clean, just a bit of elbow grease and a gentle cleaner. Check out these tips and tricks to clean and care for how to make your laminate floor shine.
Make Stains and Spills Go Away Quickly
Clean any spills from your laminate floors as soon as they happen. This will cut down on damage to the surface your laminate floors. If you do miss the spill, then use a warm, moist cloth to clean the stained spot. If the spot is stubborn and won’t go away after a few treatments, then you’ll need to bring the big guns out. Don’t worry though, it doesn’t take a lot to deal with stubborn stains. Use ice to harden the stain, and then gently scrape it off with a plastic scraper. Be careful not to damage your floor’s finish when doing this in your home.
Regular Upkeep Will Make Your Laminate Flooring Happy
Use a soft cloth to sweep dirt and dust off your laminate flooring, or a soft bristled broom would work too. You can even use a vacuum if you want to, but make sure it doesn’t have a beater bar. Even if you can turn the beater bar off, it will still be in the way and can damage your floor in your house. When it comes to cleaning your laminate floors, use a gentle cleaner or cleaners specifically made for laminate floors. This will be somewhere on the label of the cleaner, so just make sure to double check before you use it.
Avoid Using Steam Cleaners on Laminate Floors
Steam and water can damage your laminate flooring. Even though it may seem like a good idea and easier to do than mopping, the high temperatures can damage your laminate floor. Check with the manufacturer to see if your new laminate floors can be cleaned with a steam mop. A usual good rule of thumb is just to use the gentle cleaners and a soft mop head to clean your floors. It may take a bit longer to mop than it would to clean with steam, but it will be better for your floors in the end.
Use The Correct Floor Cleaner On Your Floor's Surface
Too much laminate flooring is cleaned with the wrong floor cleaner, and we get to hear about it frequently. Somehow it is my fault that your sister told you to use oil soap on your laminate wood floors. Or that all you had was Joy dish soap so you used that. Nothing with take away the shine from your floor faster than using oil or soap to clean your floor. Actually, it doesn't take it away. Instead it just covers it up. The way it does that is by leaving a residue on your floor because your damp mop simply cannot rinse all of the soap off. The good news? It is reversible!
To clean the residue (plus the gunk and junk that are stuck to it) from your laminate floors, pick up a bottle of Armstrong's New Beginning floor cleaner. It will take a little elbow grease but in no time your floor should shine like it did when it was installed.
Then, going forward, no more soaps should be used when cleaning your laminate floors. Your floors should only be cleaned with a no-rinse floor cleaner like Armstrong Once N Done, or one of the great cleaning solutions from Bona. Or even a vinegar and water floor cleaner that you can buy on the cheap from your local grocery store. But no soaps! And drying your laminate floor with a clean cloth or microfiber mop will help.
Rugs Cut Down on Damage From Foot Traffic
Rugs at the entrances to your home or to the room with your laminate floor will help cut down on dirt that will get tracked in and will also help cut down on wear and tear that floors will just naturally get from foot traffic. At any of your openings to the outdoor you should invest in a walk off mat. These mats trap the dirt and water from your shoes and keep it off of your laminate flooring. This will help keep your laminate floor from showing a change in appearance due to abrasive wear.
Change Your Traffic Patterns
Another way to keep the shine on your laminate floor is to change the traffic patterns in your house. Just moving your furniture around a little will force everyone to walk on different areas of the floor. As silly as that sounds, changing your walk patterns will have a long-term effect on your laminate flooring.
Best Place to Get Laminate Wood Floors
We have a great selection of laminate floors for you to look through. We strive to provide quality floors at a fair price. Since a lot of our floors are made locally, you get them at a cheaper cost because we don’t have to spend as much money transporting the wood.
Reach out to us with any questions you may have about floor covering, or stop by either of our two locations to ask us in person!
