Home Flooring Guide

When the installation of your beautiful laminate floor is done, your pride of ownership is well deserved.  That flooring will grace your home, impress your guests and improve the value of your home for years to come.  But there is another step to assuring that your laminate floor stays as attractive as it looks when it is new. That is learning to take good care of that floor including learning the tips that experts know about cleaning laminate flooring.

Dry Mop Only and Dry Mop Often

A dry mop is a good substitute for a wet mop or a broom.  Many manufacturers including "Swifter" have popularized  these mops.  That popularity may be an outcome of how quickly laminate floors have caught on.  They are an ideal way to keep your laminated floor cleaned up because the soft head will not cause scratches.  And because dry mops, obviously, do not use moisture,  you prevent the possibility of allowing moisture to leak down into the infrastructure of the flooring which can create more problems.

The laminate floor will have a natural seam to it which is the direction you should religiously sweep the floor each time you perform routine maintenance.  That is because if you mop against the natural seams of the flooring, you may miss any dust, grime or dirt that is buried in the grain of the laminate or that are "hiding" in natural valleys in the laminate installation.

Dealing With Spills

It is a fact of life that there will be spills even on your beautiful laminate flooring.  Now, you can reduce the possibility that those spills will be a catastrophe by imposing rules on what kinds of food or drink may be taken into a living room or game room where the laminate has been installed.  But along with good rules of behavior, you should have the materials needed to clean up spills and a plan for responding quickly when spills occur so you cant take action to minimize any permanent damage a spill might cause to your floor.

The first order of business is to get the moisture up from the flooring before it has a chance to leak down between the slats of the laminate flooring.  That moisture could eventually cause the planks of your flooring to warp if unattended to.  So keep rags and sponges handy to quickly clean up even a water spill as quickly as possible.   

For fluids that might cause staining to the laminate surface, there are cleansers specifically designed for laminate floors that you should use exclusively.  Except for perhaps Windex, avoid commercial cleansers as they could damage the finish of the flooring.  This is a good reason to patronize the supplier or installer of your flooring who will know what kind of cleansers to sell you.  You can no doubt find a good lower cost supply of that cleanser on the internet as well.

What NOT to Do

As we mentioned earlier, it is wise to avoid wood cleaning products like Pledge that you can get at the grocery store.  Your laminate flooring has been carefully manufactured and finished to perform well.  Commercial products that may do well for wood furniture are not designed to protect the kinds of finishes that are used in the production and installation of laminate floors.  

Also avoid using any kind of harsh cleansing agents like bleach or ammonia for the same reason.  If you don’t have a cleaners that was made for laminate floors on hand when a spill occurs, you can create a substitute by mixing vinegar with water in a four to one ratio.  This is a mild cleanser that will not damage your flooring.  By taking this kind of care and keeping your laminate flooring mopped and dry day in and day out, you are insuring that your floor will be just as beautiful next year and for years to come as it was the day it was installed.