How to Care for Laminate Floors

Laminate flooring is appropriate for any room in the house. It's durable, attractive and easy to care for. Even though laminate floors have a tough coating, saturating the floor with water, will cause the water to seep into the floors and cause delamination.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Broom
• dust mop
• Vinegar
• Windex
• Felt pads

1. 

   Sweep the floor regularly. Use a dust mop lightly sprayed with a furniture spray such as Pledge or Endust, in areas that are prone to collecting dust balls. You could also use a mop with a microfiber padding to reduce the frequency of cleaning.

2. 

   Wash the floor with a Swiffer-type mopping system. Use a solution of ¼ cup vinegar in a gallon of water, undiluted Windex or a cleaner specially designed for laminate floors. Rinse well to prevent streaks or cloudy spots.

3. 

   Clean up spills immediately with paper towels or a soft cloth.

4. Use rugs in high traffic areas and in places what might be subject to exposure to water, like near kitchen sinks or bathtubs.

5. 

   Place felt pads under the legs of heavy furniture that might dent the floor.

6. Take steps to maintain a constant level of humidity in rooms that are subject to extremes in humidity. Humidifiers can be used.

Tips & Warnings

• Replace badly damaged planks or tiles. Hire a professional to do this if you have any hesitation about doing the job properly.
• Don't use abrasive cleaners on laminate floors. Some manufacturers make a regular cleaning regime a stipulation of the floor warranty.

Resources

• Laminate Floor Manufacturing and Maintenance Tips
• Laminate Floor Installation and Care
• Choosing the Right Laminate Floor

[rodnette]

on 6/19/2009 If you want to slip and bust your head open, go ahead with step 1, you'll make an ice rink out of your floor really quick by adding pledge or endust.(bad advice). Laminate floor is easy to clean initially, but after a while it gets hard to keep it looking good, plus you always have footprints. I've been in flooring for 12 years, and their is finally a solution to the laminate floor maintenance / footprints on clean floors / issue. Use LamanatorPlus on the floor www.lamanatorplus.com . It's a hardwood and laminate floor sealer / restoration system, and includes in the kit an after the fact cleaner. It will hide some minor scratch's etc. and make your floor look like you spent a heck of a lot more on it. Unlike other cleaning and so called restoration products that will attract and hold dirt, this is a hard polymer surface that will seal the floor and make it easier to clean. th...