How to clean and maintain laminate floors
If your floors could talk, they might very well cry out for a thorough cleaning. Laminate and wood flooring is often able to conceal dirt so it isn’t visible—how disgusting! Now is the time to once and for all figure out how to clean, maintain, protect, and restore your floors the right way.
HOW DIRTY YOUR FLOORS REALLY ARE
The ugly truth with both laminate and wood floors is they can look perfectly clean, despite actually being filthy. Try this simple trick of grabbing a white paper towel or dish rag, wetting it slightly (with an emphasis on the word slightly because moisture is terrible for craftsman wood). Wipe the damp cloth across the floor and see how dark the white area has become. Bacteria tends to grow like crazy on neglected surfaces, with germs seeping into the crevices. Trust us, your floors are typically much dirtier—and less sanitary—than you think.
WHAT NOT TO DO TO CLEAN & MAINTAIN FLOORS
Knowing what to do in order to properly clean and maintain floors is tough. More importantly, consider what not to do. If going the DIY route, it’s very important you don’t use steam cleaners on the wooden floors in your home. Steam cleaners are great for tile or even vinyl, but when water soaks into the wood grain, it causes discoloration and expansion in the wood. However, using a damp mop is fine, but the use of vinegar is strongly discouraged, as this will significantly dull the finish over time.
The most important thing you can do is sweep or vacuum your wood floors on a regular basis, since this is a great way to get rid of dust.
How to clean laminate flooring
To clean laminate floors simply wipe, vacuum or sweep them with a soft broom or microfiber mop on a daily basis. Once a week, use a damp mop or cloth with warm water and a mild cleaner for a more intense clean. Make sure that you don’t use a wet mop, as large amounts of water can damage your laminate and cause it to warp over time. If you’ve just purchased new laminate floors, you should follow the manufacturer’s instructions on how to clean them.
Tips for cleaning stains on your laminate flooring
- Mop up spills as they occur. Liquids left to stand on laminate floors can cause stains and more severe damage.
- Remove stains by rubbing them with a dry cloth moistened with a gentle cleaning agent. Never spray a cleaning product directly onto the floor.
- Remove rubber, plastic and heel marks by rubbing with a dry cloth and acetone.
- Remove shoe polish, paint and ink with a cloth soaked in acetone, paint thinner or vinegar essence.
- Remove candle wax and chewing-gum, once hardened, with a blunt plastic scraper.
How to maintain?
Apart from the cleanliness of the laminated floor, maintenance is also one of the important things to make your floor new and adorable.
- To remove the spillage such as tar, oil paint and various others from the floor, you can use nail polish remover. By removing the spillage from the homemade natural cleaners, your floor will get damage.
- If there is any stubborn present on your floor, then it can also be removed with the help of a nail polish remover.
- To remove the harsh substances such as wax or chewing gum, then you can use ice. After removing them with the help of ice, do not leave it as ice is made up of water, so it can wet your laminated flooring. To avoid this, scrape your flooring with a plastic scarper including an expired credit card. But be careful while scraping that your surface will not get any scratch.
- Ignore too much cleaner, clean your floor with the help of soft cloths or dry mop of various other things that we have mentioned above.
- Do not use soap on your floor because soap will dull the finish and shine of your floor. So ignore the using of soap.
Restoring Laminate Floors, And Making It Look Great
For a laminate floor to restore its amazing and shiny look, you’ll need to sacrifice a few minutes and buff it dry. This is where you make use of an absorbent mopping head. A perfect example is a cloth diaper or a microfiber cleaning cloth. They make the best buffing rags. Protect the laminate floor from UV rays, which may bring about fading of the floor. All you need to do is install protective window coverings. Also, rearrange your furniture and rugs in a periodic manner. This lets your laminate floor age evenly. Invest in guest rags, which should be placed at the front door. This encourages guests to wipe their feet off, thus reducing chances of walking across the laminate floor with damaging and corrosive small substances. You can make it a habit of using rubber stoppers and runners at the bottom of the furniture. This helps prevent the laminate floor from scratches.
How To Make Laminate Floor Shine
Eventually, you’ll have your floors looking great, but you’ll want to give them a great little shine too.
In order to make this happen, you’ll want to put away your lightweight vacuum and reach for your cloth mop! You will also want to grab some vinegar and mop-on floor wax.
You’ll first want to begin by removing the dirt and dust from your floors. Once you’ve gotten them free of debris, you’ll want to begin removing any residue that has attached itself to your laminate floors.
You will want to do this, by using the vinegar. Through repeated cleaning with the vinegar, you will eventually be able to uncover the shine that has been hidden, by dirt and residue.
Once you’ve gotten this completed, you will want to top it off, with the mop and wax. Make sure that you take your time and generously spread the wax thoroughly on your floors. This will help to make your laminate floors shine bright, as if they’re brand new!