The flooring industry in Canada is a huge one with a size of over $3 billion and more than 1500 businesses. Of all the floor types that make the industry that large, laminate flooring is the one enjoying growing popularity. Laminate flooring isn’t just solid and durable, it also comes at an affordable cost.
One area homeowners have to pay special attention to is their flooring maintenance approach. That’s why questions like can you mop laminate flooring are quite popular.
Laminate floors are not hardwood, but they share similar physical characteristics. Therefore, it’s easy to assume you can clean a laminate floor with the same materials and cleansers you use for hardwood flooring. Contrarily, it doesn’t work that way.
But that’s not an excuse to leave your laminate floors dirt. Laminate floors are attractive while neat, so you need to figure out the best way to clean laminate flooring. Do you want to mop the laminate flooring, or are you planning to use scrubs? You have to decide on your best cleaning method to keep your laminate floors neat.
That’s why you need to learn how to clean laminate flooring. Here, we’ll answer whether you can mop laminate flooring and provide a step-by-step to the best cleaning method.
Can You Clean Laminate Flooring with a Mop?
To answer the question directly, yes, you can mop laminate flooring. What matters most is the type of mop you’re using and how you intend to clean the floor. Another consideration point is the frequency at which you mop the laminate flooring.
For instance, let’s assume you have bread crumbs sitting on your laminate floors. Using a vacuum or a broom will do the trick. In this scenario, you don’t necessarily need to mop your laminate flooring.
In another scenario where a liquid like oil spills on the floor, the story changes direction. It’s impossible to sweep liquid off the floor. In most cases, you’ll need a mop to remove the oil stain.
You can mop laminate flooring in two major ways; the dry mop and the damp mop. Whether you’re using damp mopping or dry mopping methods, you should use a microfiber mop. You don’t want to choose a regular mop that’ll scratch your floor’s surface.
Dry Mopping
Dry mopping, as the name suggests, means you’re mopping the floor with no drop of water. Basically, this type of mopping is excellent at removing droplets and dust from your laminate floor. You can dry mop laminate flooring in your home as frequently as you wish.
As long as you’re using a dry mop, this mopping method won’t affect your laminate floors negatively. The microfiber mop will have a gentle feel on the laminate flooring, ensuring its quality.
There are microfiber mops that have replaceable heads. We strongly recommend them because you can always take time to wash the head and reuse it.
While dry or damp mopping, you have to find the best spot to start. As a rule of thumb, you should start from behind the room and mop in multiple directions, toward the door. That way, you won’t have to walk across the newly mopped floor.
Damp Mopping
Dry mopping laminate flooring removes most of the dirt on its surface. But, stains will develop on laminate flooring in the long run. Many times, it becomes impossible to remove these stains with a dry mop.
Damp mopping involves using a bit of water and organic cleaners alongside your mop. Laminate flooring doesn’t have hardwood flooring’s resilience and durability. In fact, pouring water directly on laminate flooring will only damage it. Therefore, it’s important to only introduce water via the mop.
You don’t want the microfiber mop to be dripping wet either. Instead, you want the mop damp and near-dry.
Damp mopping a laminate floor is one of the best ways to clean it. It gives it a deep clean with no scratches — as long as you’re using a microfiber mop. However, it’s not a cleaning process that you should frequently do. The frequency at which you clean your laminate floor with a damp mop should depend on the foot traffic.
Laminate floors will get dirtier faster if you live with a lot of people. In this case, maybe damp mopping bi-weekly makes more sense.
If you don’t have that much traffic on your laminate floors, once in a month, damp mopping should do. Just like with dry mopping, you can follow the process of starting from the end of the room to its door. That ensures your floors are in excellent condition after mopping.
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Best Ways to Clean Laminate Floors
Now that you know whether it’s okay to mop laminate floors, the next step is discussing maintenance processes for laminate floors. It all starts with how you install the laminate floor.
Laminate flooring is relatively easy to install; you can do it independently if you follow the proper steps. However, it’s always better to call on an expert to help you install laminate flooring.
With an expert on the job, you won’t have to bother about any loopholes. Also, you can rest assured that your flooring is safe, firm, and secure. A common way to recognize poor installation is when you find it difficult to mop the laminate floor smoothly. It is possible that some parts of the floor are not straight and stable.
Another way to recognize bad laminate flooring is how water seeps through the floor. An expert knows how to use protective covering to prevent water from seeping through easily.
Apart from mopping your floor, there are other ways to remove stains in laminate flooring. Let’s take a look at how you can clean laminate flooring without using a mop;
With A Vacuum
Whether you’re in the home or not, dirt will always get in your laminate floors. This dirt is at the mercy of the wind. Sometimes, the wind may take the dirt to places on your laminate floors that are hard to reach.
While it’s easy to remove visible dirt particles, dust is another problem entirely. This is where a vacuum comes in handy. Vacuums have designs that enable them to remove dirt in the tightest corners without stressing you.
One factor that makes the vacuum stand out is that accessories always come with a vacuum.
- A crevice tool to help you reach the tight contents easily.
- A dusting brush to clean dust on laminate floors. During summer, there is dust at every point, and your vacuum may not get all the dust. Using the dusting brush will always work best.
- Another accessory that comes with the vacuum is a wand. The wand is there to help you extend your vacuum head’s reach. With the wand, you can get anywhere within the room.
Another component of the vacuum that will interest you is the microfiber head usually located behind the head of the vacuum. The pad captures dirt which the vacuum head misses.
With Baking Soda
For many people, baking soda is a cooking ingredient, but it has many properties that make it ideal for cleaning purposes. The great thing about using baking soda to clean laminate floors is its ecological properties. Baking soda has eco-friendly constituents which are great for the environment.
Use a vacuum or a broom to clean the room before applying baking soda. You’ll also be needing mops, buckets, and, if you wish, vinegar. The process of using baking soda to clean is quite funny because you have to dirty the floor first before cleaning.
Start by pouring baking soda on the floor. Then, use a damp mop (which got damp through water in the bucket) to clean the baking soda. The best way to use baking soda is portion by portion.
That means you should first divide the space you want to clean into sections and pour your baking soda into each section. After pouring, ensure you clean each section thoroughly. The idea is to ensure that your floor is void of all baking soda particles when you clean.
With Cleaners
Using water alone to mop your laminate floor may not give you the best results. That’s why you may ask yourself; should I mop my laminate flooring? Yes, you can, but without a cleanser, there is a limit to the cleaning effect.
As much as possible, avoid the urge to use any regular liquid soap or cleanser. If you use liquid soap to clean, you are risking damage like warping to your laminate floor. Instead, buy cleaners specially for laminate floors.
While using a cleaner on your laminate floor, we’ll suggest you choose the cleaners with a spraying design. Then, you can mop up with a damp mop for cleaning.
What to Avoid When Cleaning Laminate Flooring
Laminate floors are beautiful floors, yet very fragile. You can’t afford some mistakes when you are cleaning your laminate floor — especially if you want to enjoy your laminate flooring for a long time.
- As much as possible, never give room for any stains, no matter how small. When you allow stains to stay on your laminate floors, it can destroy the floor permanently, especially when it’s liquid.
- Avoid using vinegar without mixing it with water. Vinegar, in its natural state, has high acid content and can make your laminate floor look dull.
- Bleaching your laminate floor is a no!
- Always use soft tools while cleaning laminate flooring. That’s why the best way to mop laminate flooring is to use a microfiber mop. Using hard cloths or mops will only cause scratches on your laminate flooring.
- If you’ve been cleaning your laminate floors incorrectly, it may start to lose its natural lister. Resist the temptation to polish your laminate floor, when this happens. Polishing laminate flooring will only add to the scratches on its surface.
How Often Can You Clean Your Laminate Floors?
There is no best way to clean a laminate floor, but it’s crucial because cleaning is a great maintenance practice. Since it’s always in use, you should clean your laminate floors every day. The daily cleaning should be regular sweeping, dry mopping, and vacuum.
Mopping with water should happen at intervals. Twice a month will do for a laminate floor that gets dirty easily due to high traffic. But, once a month will suffice for a room that sees lower foot traffic.
Maintenance Tips to Make Laminate floors Last Longer
Some maintenance tips for laminate floors include;
- Avoid water and liquid spills
- Cut off pet nails
- Remove all stains immediately
- Clean regularly
- Avoid dragging furniture across it
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Summary
Trying to mop your laminate floor is great, but doing it wrong is terrible. Above, we have answered the question of whether you can mop laminate floors. Likewise, we have described other ways to clean and maintain the laminate floors. But not a single one of these tips will work well if you have the wrong laminate floors.
Buying a laminate floor is a tough decision, but you have to choose right. Your laminate floor should be a combination of beauty and strength. The good news is the laminate floors in our catalogue at LV Flooring tick these boxes. Look through our online store today!
