If you have laminate floors in your home, it’s important to know how to care for them. Follow our expert guidelines below and you won’t have to worry about damaging or prematurely wearing out your laminate flooring.
Avoid Excessive Moisture
Steam cleaners, wet mops, and standing water can cause irreparable damage to laminate floors. Water causes swelling, warping, and separation — which can even void your warranty! It’s important to wipe up all spills as soon as they happen. We also recommend that all pet dishes have a waterproof mat underneath to prevent spillage.
Spot Clean
Laminate flooring is low maintenance. It doesn’t require a heavy-duty cleaning if you tend to wipe up small messes and stains as soon as possible. For stains such as oil, paint, markers, lipstick or ink, use acetone on a clean cloth. Then wipe the area down with a damp cloth to remove any leftover residue.
Avoid Anything Abrasive
Steel wool and strong cleaners with harsh chemicals can scratch and damage laminate flooring, so it’s best just to stick to soft cloth materials when cleaning. If you need to scrape away a stain, like candle wax or chewing gum, try a plastic credit card and gently scrape with care.
Remove Your Shoes
It’s not advised to wear your shoes inside, especially on laminate flooring as shoes can leave scratches and create the need for more frequent cleaning. Another great tip is to keep your pets’ nails short and put pads on the bottom of your furniture to help protect your floor.
Use Gentle Cleaning Products
We recommend that you use a gentle cleaner like the Shaw Floors cleaner for hard surfaces. You can spray this cleaner directly onto your floor and lightly wipe it away with a terry cloth mop or soft cloth.
We understand that it may be tempting to create a DIY household cleaner using products like baking soda, lemon, or essential oils, but we deter all of our homeowners from doing that in order to prolong the life of their laminate floors.
Repair Kits Can Work
Scratches are likely to happen over time in a busy household. If you need to repair a small scratch, you can pick up a repair kit at your local home centre, like Home Hardware or Canadian Tire. Repair kits will work well and are available in a range of colours.
At Sinclair Homes, we build our homes as if they were our own. Our homes include high-end materials like laminate flooring, stone counters, and added sound-proofing. If you are in the market for a new home, take a look at our current communities or reach out to us here.
