How to Get Grease Off Laminate Flooring

Laminate flooring is one of the most versatile and popular materials for flooring. Because it is durable, affordable and easy to clean, laminate is often used for high-traffic areas like kitchens, bathrooms, laundry rooms and mudrooms.

As durable as laminate is, though, it's also a material that collects a lot of grease and buildup over the years, especially when it's in constant use. Fortunately, there are cheap and affordable ways to clean it up when your laminate floor feels greasy.

People often wonder "What's the best way to clean the kitchen floor?" Cleaning a laminate floor is fairly simple. Most of the time, laminate floors are cleaned easily with water, dish soap or an all-purpose cleaner. Cleaning laminate floors daily is recommended, and you should tackle spills as soon as they occur so that you avoid the risk of sticky substances building up.

Before using any wet cleanser on your laminate floor, take a soft-bristle broom and sweep up any dust, debris, crumbs, sediment or other particles that may have made their way into the corners or under cabinets. Getting the surface of the laminate floor clear is the first step towards getting it fully clean.

Once you've swept away any hard debris, wipe the floor down with a microfiber cloth before using any sort of laminate floor cleaner. The microfiber cloth will pick up dust particles, dirt and hair that may have escaped your broom, allowing the laminate floor cleaner to do its job more effectively.

Sometimes, you may realize that your laminate floor feels greasy. Usually, this is because you haven't noticed the buildup that had accumulated on the surface of the floor over the months, if not years. Oil, grease, dirt, dust and other grime can pile onto the linoleum somewhat invisibly at first.

Often, laminate floor cleaner is good at imparting a sheen or a shine to the floor's surface, but it doesn't necessarily cut through the grime that's the reason behind why your laminate floor feels greasy. Cleansers need to have a certain amount of acid to remove the kind of grease that can build up on your laminate floor.

Once you've swept and wiped with a microfiber cloth, you can take a mop and dip it into a solution of 2 parts hot water and 1 part white vinegar. Take care to wring the mop out so it isn't saturating the floor. Laminate itself is water-resistence, but water can sneak between the laminate and the subfloor, causing the laminate to peel or curl away from the floor.

After running the damp mop over the floor several times, rinse it in cool, clear water, then repeat the process. The white vinegar will also disinfect and deodorize the floor, in addition to removing any greasy patches. You may need to repeat the process several times to get the floor as clean as you desire. Vinegar's acidity cuts through layers of grease and restores your floor to its original sheen.

If the white vinegar solution doesn't cut through all of the grease, you can always purchase a commercial-grade laminate cleaner. These laminate cleaners are more expensive, but will likely get the job done. For tough greasy patches, you may need to use a scrub brush or a sponge with a scrub pad attached.

Once finished, run the mop over the floor again with a coat of vinegar before wiping the perimeter dry with a cloth. Doing this last step will prevent water from seeping underneath the seams.