Laminate floors are a very interesting choice for flooring. They are as beautiful as hardwood floors, but they are slightly more sensitive. They need quite a bit of attention to keep them this radiant. A lot of people don’t find out how to take care of their laminate flooring until it’s too late and it’s already been scratched. Luckily, the process isn’t all that difficult and you should be able to handle the job just fine. Here are some of the most important things you should take into consideration when taking care of your laminate floor.
Don’t use too much water
Using a traditional mop for these types of floors might not be the best idea. If you use too much water, it can seep through the seams and cause it to rot from the inside. This can manifest itself on the surface with cracks and mould. This can cause the tiles to separate and lose their elasticity. Instead, you should keep it simple and use a damp towel for smaller spills. If you have a bigger mess on your hands, start with a dry mop and dampen it from time to time to avoid using a lot of water at once.Sweep dirt away regularly
Dirt and dust accumulate on any and all horizontal surfaces. It’s inevitable. Laminate flooring is a little bit more sensitive to solid particles. If you have tiny pieces of solid material on your laminate floor, walking over it could cause scratching and damage. These small scratches aren’t immediately noticeable, but they can pile up and make the floor look shabby. If it loses its protective sheen, further damage is going to be exacerbated rather quickly. Luckily, all it needs is a thorough sweep and it’s going to be fine. Take a broom and clean away any sand or dirt that might be present and you shouldn’t have to worry about any scratches being present. The frequency of sweeping depends on how often you use the room and whether or not you take your shoes off.Use an entrance mat at your door
The best way to prevent dirt and grime from entering your home is to stop it at the door. This is exactly why we use mats at the entrances of our houses and apartments. It’s a lot easier to clean things up when you have a lot less to clean. The shape of your mat is important, as is its pattern. You want it to take up a minimum amount of space while also being effective at preventing dirt build up. With a herringbone pattern mat, you can scrape most of the dirt off of your shoe no matter which direction you’re walking in. Any oil from the road would be absorbed by the entrance mat long before it gets into the rest of your home.
Consider steam cleaning
Floors need cleaning and laminate flooring is no exception. One of the many benefits of having a laminate floor is that it is relatively easy to clean. There are no grout lines that dirt and bacteria can cling to. Usually, people will clean it much like any other floor, but sometimes you want it to give it a thorough cleaning. If you have small children, you want to get some of the bacteria off of it because kids like to crawl around floors. Steam mops are a great way to combine cleaning with a little bit of disinfection. They offer you a chemical-free way to clean your floor and you don’t have to worry about microscopic bugs roaming free. They are especially useful if you or your family members have any sort of allergies to harsh cleaning chemicals. A steam mop can be a bit more on the expensive side, but you should know that it’s well worth the trouble to get one for your laminate flooring.Move heavy objects with care
Heavy furniture is the bane of every kind of floor. No matter what material it’s made out of, it can be scratched by the legs of most furniture. It’s inevitable that you’ll want to move items in your home every now and then, but you should take great care when you do so. Laminate flooring is especially sensitive to scratching, which is why you should avoid having the furniture in direct contact with the floor. You don’t have to break your back by lifting the heavy objects, instead, you could put down a towel below their legs so that they can’t scratch the surface of the laminate. If it’s too heavy for that, you can always use a sheet of plywood or other material that won’t scratch anything underneath it. A little bit of know-how will easily protect your floor.Take care of spills and spots
Spilling things is on your floor is inevitable. Liquids have nowhere to go but down. We’ve all had situations in which we spilled a couple of drops of wine on the floor. This shouldn’t be cause for alarm, but you shouldn’t take it easy either. Certain liquids can stain a laminate floor quite easily. Things like wine and paint won’t be easy to wash off once they set in the material. You don’t want your floor to have unsightly spots all over it, so try to clean it as quickly as possible.
Don’t forget about water, either. Its transparency on laminate flooring can make it a serious risk for slipping. You won’t notice the water until it’s too late. There’s no reason to delay when cleaning a spill if it’s going to pose a threat later on.
Go easy on the candle wax
Candles are a great way to set the mood and introduce some nice aromas to your home, but they can also be a nuisance. If you accidentally spill some candle wax on your floor, taking care of it can pose a problem. You can’t scratch away at it too rough or else you risk damaging the floor beneath it. Try some common household methods to clean up tougher stains like this. It’s recommended that you put some ice in a plastic bag and put it over the candle wax to help it cool. This allows it to harden quickly so that it is easier to remove. After that, cleaning it becomes a breeze. Laminate floors are quite smooth and flat which means you can use just about anything to take the wax off as long as it isn’t too rough. A credit card should do the trick just fine.Get yourself a carpet
Laminate floors are beautiful on their own, but they lack an interesting texture that would give them some personality. Luckily, many kinds of carpets go perfectly well with laminate flooring. The colour palette is pretty simple, which allows you to get as creative as you want to get with your choice of carpet colour. If you get a carpet, remember to clean it regularly.
A carpet or rug would also provide some slight protection to the floor from any sources. You wouldn’t cover every inch of the laminate floor with carpet, because that would defeat the purpose of this beautiful floor material. Instead, you could add carpets in the most highly trafficked areas of your home. However, you should avoid putting one in the kitchen, for reasons that needn’t be mentioned.