Laminate flooring is a popular choice for those seeking the look of hardwood, but also wishing to avoid the higher level of maintenance. It is much easier to maintain than real wood.
Table of Contents:
Laminate Floor Maintenance Cleaning
What you will need:
- Broom
- Vacuum with soft brush attachment
- Laminate Floor Cleaner (sold at home improvement stores and large grocery chains)
- Sponge Mop
- Bucket of clean hot water
Instructions:
- Sweep floors to remove loose dust/debris
- Using the soft brush attachment, vacuum floor, making sure to pay special attention to corners where dust and pet hair accumulate
- Following the directions on the Floor Cleaner, apply to small section of the floor (5’ x 5’).
- Dampen sponge mop, being sure to wring out excess water, and run over area of floor cleaner* going with the grain of the wood with smooth, even strokes.
- Rinse mop in clean water and repeat steps 3 & 4 on next section of floor.
- There is no need to rinse unless the directions on the cleaner suggest that you do so.
*Be careful if the mop has metal edges as these may scratch the floor.
Laminate Floor Stain Removal
Although laminate floors are generally stain resistant, some stubborn stains may require special treatment. Here are some of the more common trouble makers:
- Blood: Spray stain with window cleaner and wipe with a damp cloth.
- Liquor: Dampen a cloth with warm water and detergent and rub spot. If that fails, try using a cloth dampened with denatured alcohol.
- Grease: Apply an ice pack (a package of frozen vegetables will do in a pinch) until grease hardens, then gently scrape with plastic spoon or butter knife. Remaining residue should wipe away with a couple of squirts of window cleaner.
- Crayon marks: Rub with a soft cloth dampened with mineral spirits. If that doesn’t work, apply toothpaste and rub with a dry cloth.
- Nail polish: Use a small amount of scouring powder, warm water, and a plastic mesh pad. Work the scouring powder into a paste and apply, be careful no to rub too aggressively as it may scratch the finish.
- Ink: Wet a rag with warm water and detergent and rub. If that doesn’t work, try a commercial ink remover.
- Heel Marks and Scuffs: Rub the marks with a pencil eraser. Mr. Clean magic erasers are great for this.
- Chewing gum: Remove excess gum with plastic knife and rub residue with soft clothe dampened with mineral spirits.
Keep Your Laminate Floors Looking New
Although laminate floors are low maintenance and scratch resistant, that doesn’t mean they are indestructible or scratch proof. Taking these simple precautions will keep your floors looking new and scratch-free.
- Keep a broom and/or dust mop handy for daily quick sweeps to avoid accumulation of dirt, dust and pet hair. Swiffer makes a product perfect for this task, such as Swiffer Sweeper® and Swiffer Sweeper Vac.
- Regular floor cleaners, such as the pine scented kind are not recommended for use on laminate as they can leave a dull, soapy residue.
- Murphy’s Oil Soap is not recommended for use on laminate as it can leave it looking streaky.
- For quite clean-up of spots and spills, spray with window cleaner and wipe with a soft cloth. However, do NOT overuse window cleaners that contain ammonia as excess ammonia can strip away the protective sealant on laminate floors.
- Wipe up water and other spills promptly as excess water or other liquid can damage floors and cause warping.
- Laminate floors DO NOT require waxing and applying floor wax of any kind can result in a dull build-up.
- Consider using carpet runners or area rugs (being sure to use non skid pads under either) especially for high-traffic areas.
- Try to avoid wearing heavy-soled shoes or high heels on wood floors. In fact, barefoot is best!
- NEVER drag furniture or other items across the hardwood floor.
- Use furniture pads on the bottoms and legs of furniture (available at any home improvement or supercenters stores).
- If you have pets, keep their nails trimmed to avoid nicks and scratches.
Cleaners for the Environmentally Conscious
With the popularity of laminate flooring, commercial cleaners can be found at most of the larger grocery stores, supercenters or home improvement stores. However, if you are “thinking green” you can find environmentally friendly versions online. Admittedly though, these “friendlier” versions may not be as friendly to your wallet. For a less expensive and environmentally safe alternative, try mixing 1/2 cup of distilled white vinegar with 1 gallon of water. This mixture should cut through most dirt and grime and leave your floors looking clean and streak-free.
{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
while waxing my kitchen floor, the wax sprayed up onto a painted cabinet, i didn’t notice until it was dry and when i tried to remove it, i was removing the paint as well. any suggestions on how i can get the wax off of the painted cabinet?
When removing heel marks and scuffs from my laminated flooring I use a knee high nylong stocking, I put it on my foot and rub the marks away quickly.
My laminate floor always ended up with spots until I started using a steam mop. Fast clean and no spots. My floors look new all the time.
Hey everyone, well they just installed laminate floor in my house about a month ago. im starting to regret getting it simply because it never stays clean! ill sweep then mop but as soon as im done all of our foot print mark on the floor. any tips on how i can maintain the floor clean and keeping this from happening?
We have tried and love the results of a two step, easy to use system that deep cleans and restores laminate flooring. It is used by floor cleaning professionals around the country, but is easy enough and packaged for the homeowner to use. It’s called LamanatorPlus.
Don’t ever steam clean your laminate because within a year, it will begin to peak at the edges and you would have to replace boards at that time.
This LamanatorPlus product will help seal, protect and shine your laminate. It will conceal footprints, pet prints, etc…And we use their Buff Dry Cleaner to maintain our floors. Wow, incredibly good stuff.
We recommend it to everyone we know with great success. Our friends constantly thank us for the info…
Good luck, Bob
I have just put up a laminated floor and i do not know what my daughter split on the floor and now the floor is stain with a white make. Please explain to me how to removed the stain.
Whatever you do, Do Not use furniture polish !!
The people we bought our house from said to use this and when I did, it made the floor so slippery you couldn’t even walk on it bare foot without falling. It took it a while for the polish to wear down.
I work for a flooring store you do not use a sponge mop on your laminate flooring and you should not be dunking the mop into water. U need laminate floor cleaner and a microfiber mop head you spray directly on to the microfiber mop and clean the floor.
I don’t have a tip. I have a laminate floor problem. When furniture movers came, they dragged a rubber-tipped sofa wheel that was locked across the floor and there is a long streak there now. How can I remove it without having the floors redone? I tried toothpaste, Goo-B-Gone, erasers, and gentle cleaners. No luck. Help!
I use laundry detergent with hot water and then ring the mop out as much as I can so it is just damp…. Leaves the floor streak free every time!!
HATE my floor
I have three small dogs and I HATE my laminate flooring. They leave little footprints all over it and I end up on my hands and knees buffing and mopping. I have it on about 2500 square feet and will not put it in my new house I am building.
Saliva stains
I have a new home with laminate wood floors in three rooms. My dog sometimes drools and leaves dried saliva stains on the flooring. How can I remove these stains ? I have tried Wood Floor Cleaner for the Swiffer Wet Jet but it did’nt work.
floors never seem clean
we bought laminate floorboards thinking it would be heaps easier to keep clean than our cream carpet i want my carpet back. Sure you clean and mop and yeah it looks good for about 5 minutes until you walk on in and you get foot marks on the floor in a matter of minutes and it looks like you hadn’t even cleaned it we’ve tried shoes off shoes on nothing keeps the footprints off floor always looks dirty.
My ah-ha moment
I put in laminated floors thinking they would be easier to keep clean than carpet. They are but here my learnings:
Use laminated floor cleaner only on specific spots/areas or eventually it will build up. Use water/vinegar/splash of alchohol solution in a spray bottle – a light spray/quick mop of this is all that is necessary but once a month or two – use steam mop with same solution. Experience with steam mop – I recently purchased a steam mop thinking it would make it so much easier – but it left major streaks, footprints collected like never before. I was about to send the steam mop back but decided to keep trying. I am embarrassed to say the streaking was caused by all the dirt that the steam was loosening up. My floors were just installed about six months ago, have no kids, etc. so I was quite surprised. I think what it is that each board had a thin plastic covering when it was all packaged up by the manufacturer & probably this had a little bit of sticky residue even though I couldn’t see it. Over the past several months, I think dust just started collecting & adhering to that faint residue & my once a week/casual sweep/mop wasn’t getting it all. I have now thoroughly steamed sections of my floor – sometimes several times over & finally, I don’t have any streaks, footprints aren’t left, etc. I do my casual sweep/mop & I am really pleased with the results. Hope this helps someone.
dog spit
The floor around my rug for my large dogs water dish is a mess with his spit. It is so difficult to remove the spots! Any ideas? Thanks
scratches
I just had a laminate floor put down and I already have scratches on it. What can I do to get rid of them, if anything. I thought laminate was supposed to be durable. I also have a shark steam cleaner and am scared to use it on the floor. Is it too much water>
Buffing Machine
I have a build up of the cleaner I use on the floor. It is the cleaner made by the manufacturer of the floor. I cannot see why buffing it with my electric buffing machine would not shine it up. It is the high gloss floor as it is in a formal dining room. Any ideas? Would never install laminate again. I find it impossible to keep clean.
I hated my floors until I did this....
Just want to share this with all of you that are suffering and ashamed of your Pergo floors. I went thru the same problem, proud of them in the beginning then ended up hating them now I love them again even more. I cleaned them with the water & vinegar solution which just left them dull and streaky. Brought the Bruce’s floor care cleaner and restorer that worked once and only once. Got work done to my house and the work crew had to travel thru my kitchen to get to the area of the home that work was getting done to so I put down a runner to avoid them coming in contact (boots & dust) with my floor which worked. After the work was completed I felt I couldn’t neglect cleaning the Pergo floors any longer so I did what I had done before and that was not working so I kept trying to find solutions to the horrible Pergo floors I came to dislike quickly. I cleaned with the water & vinegar solution and did the Bruces’s routine a couple of times and still all I got was a very very dull floor and prints everywhere. I came to hate the floors so I was searching for something that I already had in my cabinet and ran across Orange Glo. I tried it with one of those microfiber mops and it looked as if it wanted to work but just didn’t do it enough for me. I needed to see that shine I had when I first purchased them so I tried a Viva paper towel and what do you know it was a shine in that one area. So I got six or seven sheets and saturated it in the Orange Glo and did a nice big area in circular motion and the shine kept coming thru so I thought I’d let it dry and see what happens. Let it dry and left the kitchen for a few moments to see if I could find the spot I had just did and when I returned oh what a beautiful site. So I got on my hands and knees and did the complete kitchen and I just love my floors now. They look even better than when I first purchased them. I get so many compliments on how beautiful they look. I really can’t say if the Viva paper towels helped but I didn’t use anything else to find out if it did or not. So here is what I did cleaned the floor with the water & vinegar solution (sprayed on) let dry and then applied the Orange Glow Floor Refinisher with Viva paper towels (several times). Good Luck to anyone who is going to try this. I hope I helped someone out.
Remove paint from my laminate floors
After painting, I realized paint had splattered on my laminate floors. How can I remove the paint.
Paint marks all over laminates
Some paint dropped on my laminate floors and my maid went to clean it with a mop and the outcome was a disaster! The paint was literally ‘dragged’ across the floors leaving ugly white marks which could not be cleaned off. I need serious help & advise here! Thanks!
Pearl-paint
Get a new maid. One that know’s how to clean up paint……………….
Mr. Clean Safe
Does anyone know if it is safe for me to mop with Mr. Clean on my laminate floors. My husband and I go round after round. He says it is probably hurting the finish. Looks good and smells good to me!
Save your money.
Everyone here is waisting their time with special cleaners, ideas, guessing games…
This is how you keep your laminate or Pergo floors spotless.
Wipe them with a DRY Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.
Your floors will be absolutely beautiful.
I am a cleaning expert and was called just yesterday to inspect a Pergo floor that had “Mysterious spots” that the weekly housekeepers could not get off.
They used the traditional mop methods.
Upon arrival I saw the only mystery was why they still had a job because those floors were nothing more than filthy from build up.
I hand cleaned the entire floor with the dry magic eraser and it shined.
You can also get the Magic Eraser mop. But keep it DRY!
Dry Magic Eraser
Just used the Dry Magic Eraser on some dried dog saliva spots on my Pergo floors- worked great (still had to give it a little elbow grease). Thanks Chrissy! One question- will the Magic Eraser strip off the protective finish on the floors? I know that the Magic Eraser can remove paint if used vigorously (found out the hard way).
Hey! I did an entire Pergo floor that had build up. I never got the impression it would strip the finish. I hope it doesn’t! It works so well. I am actually going to order some melamine which is what a magic eraser is minus the fameldihyde. (Sp)
It may be gentler. Will let you know!
Laminate floors
Wow!!! I had laminate put in about 4 months ago and I HATE HATE HATE IT!!!! Just like everyone I have tried everything, water, vinegar, recommended cleaners and they all STINK!!! Why in the world would they sell these floors when they won’t stay clean or free of smudge marks, foot prints. If someone would have told me the TRUTH I would have spent the extra money….Any ideas?
Melissa!
Use a dry magic eraser. Trust me.
super clean laminate floors
I have tried everything on my 1000 sq ft of flooring and nothing does it like Melaleuca Sol U-mel
Clean and shiny like no other product
smells good too
Non slip rug Underlay
Just had new laminate floors put down.We have a big area rug that we can lay in the family room. My husbnad purchased the Non- Slip Rug Underlay.
The package reads will not discolor floor.
Has anyone used this on their lamiate flooring?