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.
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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 nylon 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. I’m starting to regret getting it simply because it never stays clean! I’ll sweep then mop but as soon as I’m done all of our foot print mark are there on the floor. any tips on how I can maintain the floor clean and keep 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. You 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 didn’t 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 it and you get foot marks on the floor in a matter of minutes. It looks like you hadn’t even cleaned it. We’ve tried shoes-off, shoes-on nothing keeps the footprints off. The 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 conclusions:
Use laminated floor cleaner only on specific spots/areas or eventually it will build up.
Use water/vinegar/splash of alcohol solution in a spray bottle – a light spray/quick mop of this is all that is necessary but once a month or two – use a steam mop with the 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.
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 through 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 through 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 Bruce’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 through 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.
Save your money.
Everyone here is wasting their time with special cleaners, ideas, and 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 – it 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 formaldehyde.
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?
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.
Cleaning Laminate Flooring
I had read to use a little baby shampoo with a very slightly damp mop and then dry, as needed. It seems to work for me. I use a broom and dry swifter for daily use.
Laminate Floors
We installed a high end laminate floor in our living room in July 2009 and have had no problems with. We have hard wood floors in our bedrooms, and to me they are basically the same as far as keeping them clean. We purchased the Bona cleaning system when we purchased he flooring which consists of a microfiber cleaning pad, a polyester dusting mop, and a spray bottle of bona floor cleaner. Just spray and clean. Takes 5 minutes. no footprints, no problems with stains, just a happy customer. You can purchase this stuff online or at dept. stores like Kohl’s. Good luck.
Finally found THE solution to cleaning laminates.
I’d tried everything- the special cleaners for the Mannington brand, Bruce, Bona, etc. Vinegar and water, various other mixtures, Windex, mop dampened with plain water, etc. ALL leave a hazy film that shows tracks and streaks. It’s necessary to vigorously buff off the film (regardless of what you use to clean with) and you can’t really do that with any mop, but on your hands and knees. This was working me to death in our new 1750 sq. ft. retirement home that I made the huge mistake in believing “low maintenance” laminate flooring. I had to go on Prozac. (Well, almost.) But I finally figured it out. I put a microfiber cloth (from the dollar store) on my swiffer. I filled a micro-mister bottle (the one that formerly contained $12 worth of Bona) with 70% rubbing alcohol. Lightly spray a small area and with a few swipes, your floor is clean. The alcohol evaporates quickly, so you can get a clean shine without a film. If you have stubborn spots like something sticky or dog slobber, you may need to saturate the stain a little more and wait briefly before buffing with the mop. This absolutely does not leave any dull film and will not build up. I figured if you can put nail polish remover and other strong chemicals on these floors, alcohol shouldn’t damage them. I also use alcohol on my ceramic tile floor in the bathroom because it dissolves sticky hairspray residue better than anything else. In the past, I’ve used alcohol on vinyl floors in the bathroom as well. Our dealer and installer both said do not use steam mops – you don’t know if too much moisture is getting in the unsealed seams until it’s too late. Do not use Orange Glo. It will make the floors dangerously slick and over time, you’ll get a waxy build-up. And I can’t imagine trying to clean my whole house (muddy dog tracks and kitchen spatters) with a dry Magic Eraser, although they’re great for spot cleaning. Now, if anyone says don’t use alcohol, I’m not going to pay any attention. It’s the ONLY thing that works.
I just had my entire first floor done with high gloss Laminate flooring. Love it but is there anything you can do about the footprints, you can only see at an angle but ugh. I have a dry erase mop will try it on these floors.
I am so tired of scrubbing floors and seeing no reward an hour later. I have a two year old, a five year old and a lab, oh and a husband. So you can guess my laminate floors have high traffic. I tried with laminate floor cleaner and water and vinegar but same result, dull floors. Thanks to all the helpful hints but the one that worked best for me was the water and alcohol. My beautiful floors that we installed ourselves are back!
There are a lot of opinions on laminates. I find Mr. Clean heavily diluted in very warm water is the only thing that works- the hot water and the alcohol-based cleaner with just a little bit of grease-cut make for a gorgeous floor. The only times I have had a problem is if the dilution isn’t enough.
I need the water for movement on those floors. If the traffic areas are heavy, I go over them with a warm (very wrung out) mop first. Then final clean after that.
Buffing dry works, too.
If you use a cleaner of water, vinegar and alcohol, what proportions do you use?
I hate the laminate floors also. We installed them in our mobile home instead of carpet.
sure wish we would have purchased the carpet. our cat hates them also. ( he can’t run and play like he did on the carpet at our apartment.) Tried every cleaner and nothing works. Still have the foot prints and they always feel dirty under your feet no matter how much your sweep and do the vinegar and water cleaner. I don’t recommend them for anyone.
I have laminate flooring in about 50% of my 2000 square foot house and I would NEVER get it again. Hardwood is the only way to go and I wish I had spent the extra and got a floor I could actually take a mop to … this has been a nightmare. I’ve got the streaks and the smeary footprints and the constant worry about water and liquid spilling on the floor. Like a complete idiot, I had the stuff put in my kitchen and in a bathroom. Can anyone claim to be dumber than that … I highly doubt it. I’m going to try the alcohol thing and if that doesn’t work, I may just start drinking alcohol. At least I now see there are many others like me who’ve made the same mistake … I feel a little better having read all these comments.
I had Columbia laminate at my old house, which I absolutely loved. It cleaned up beautifully with the Bruce laminate floor cleaner. At our new house we installed SPI laminate flooring. I hate it. If I could afford to take it out and re-do it I would. I’ve tried every concoction to clean it and nothing seems to work. It’s always dull and streaky looking. I’ve even contacted SPI to ask them how to clean the floor. They told me to use vinegar and water, which is what I’m using. They also told me the color I chose is a known problem and has recently been discontinued. Great. I’d would definitely by laminate again, but only the Columbia brand.
Wow….similar story here….looked great at first but as the weeks went on the footprints drove me nuts. The store sold us Bona WOOD cleaner and my mom, who cleans homes, insisted that’s why…we needed the Bona for Laminate…because duh, it’s a laminate floor. So I went back to the store and the guy acted like I didn’t know what kind of floor I had. I said we just bought it from you 3 months ago…it’s not hardwood…it’s laminate, you know, 1/4 of the price of hardwood…he then says maybe I’m wrong and it’s engineered wood…um, no sir, it’s laminate…please give me the laminate cleaner (it was behind the counter) then he insisted I needed to try the vinegar and water treatment once a month to cut grime and the I need the WOOD cleaner…have mercy….tried the water and vinegar…now it’s footprints and streaky. Moving to alcohol next…we only did one room and the entry, before deciding on doing the whole first floor…it’s not looking promising.
I have high gloss laminate hardwood, and they are so hard to keep clean. Many people in the hardware stores suggested using a steam mop. Is that safe to do overtime. The boxes say safe for laminate but Im worried about the heat lifting them with moisture.
I only wish that I had read all the comments here before putting laminate throughout my entire house. I thought that with kids and pets, that having laminate would be so much easier to clean than carpet. Boy was I wrong. I had no idea that it would be so hard to keep clean. I’ve tried everything to keep my floors clean, and nothing seems to work, except to not walk on it. Now I have foot prints and stains that seem to be permanent and even after trying to rub them off over and over again, they are still there. Big mistake putting in a dark cherry color too. My cats love to put their paws in their water dish and guess what….they walk on the floor and leave paw prints all over the laminate, which makes me crazy because if you don’t wipe them up immediately, they leave marks that you have to buff off. I’m trying the water and vinegar solution again. Already tried Windex. I guess next I’ll try the vinegar, alcohol and water mixture. Couldn’t hurt. Cleaning this floor every week is driving me crazy, and my family is tired of me being such a maniac about keeping it clean. I only wish the salesperson would have told me the truth about laminate. I would have spent the extra money on something I could have mopped and steamed.
We just had our 90% of our floors done in laminate. Approx. 2,000 sq. ft. Sure wish I had found this forum before hand. There are more “don’t do’s” than anything. So much for low-maintenance. I’d do anything to have my carpet back!
I finally threw in the towel and hired someone to help me keep my house clean. She tried Bona on my Mannington laminate, which was OK the first few times. The last time, it was like an ice rink in my dining room and kitchen. My son wiped out too many times. I asked her to use something else – too slippery. This time the vinegar and water combo was even worse! She also tried my Pergo spray cleaner and the Mannington spray cleaner, neither of which helped. She is stumped! It’s like the finish is slick now that the floors are wet-cleaned regularly, whereas for the past 3 years, I have been using a Swiffer vac and Mannington spray as needed. Maybe we just aren’t used to clean floors at our house…
I just had a new floor put in yesterday. It looked great until they cleaned it with BONA. All it did was streak and leave footprints. My husband is using a walker and every move he made left a mark. I got out the old vinegar water, a damp cloth and started scrubbing in the direction of the grain and doing a section about 3 feet wide from one end to the other. I’d wipe it off with a paper towel again in the direction of the grain as I was working my way from one end to the other. Now my floor has its natural
sheen and no streaks or marks. My husband’s shoes and walker do not leave any marks and I’m walking barefoot with no prints. I love my new floor now. Yeah for old fashion Vinegar!