| | Since the
inception of laminate flooring, ease of maintenance has been one of its largest
assets. Due to the composition and construction of the product, as well as the
extremely hard Aluminum Oxide wear layer (top layers), laminate flooring is perhaps
the easiest type of flooring to maintain.
General daily maintenance
requires vacuuming, sweeping and dust mopping. Several generic cleaning solutions
are also available to clean laminate floors. Most major laminate flooring manufacturers
have their own cleaning kits with instructions. Most kits contain a flat cloth
mop and a spray-on cleaning solution. The cleaner is best sprayed onto the mop-head
and then the floor is wiped clean. It is very important that you follow the maintenance
schedule of the product you purchase. Ask your retailer or manufacturer on the
specifics of maintaining your floor. All of the manufacturers warranties require
a specific maintenance schedule to be followed.
Laminate floors are
fade, stain, dent, burn and scratch resistant. However, it is still possible that
you may end up with a scratch, chip or dent that will require repair. Laminate
flooring is very tough, but it is not 'bullet proof'.
There are a range
of flooring laminate putty's which can help mask any small chips in your flooring
however, they will not cover or hide scratches. Scratches will fade a little with
use of the flooring depending on how deep, with proper advice and cleaning equipment,
you can reduce the risks of damaging your flooring and keeping it looking new. While
laminates are meant to stand up to wear, they keep a new look if you follow this
simple advice.
- Vacuum or sweep the flooring to remove loose
dirt or grit
(*** Caution - do not use any vacuum's
with a rotating beater bar - hard floor attachments only).
Whilst many laminate
flooring manufacturers actually say you can use vacuum's with hard floor attachments,
we recommend you only use a soft brush to clean the surface grit and dirt away
prior to mopping. We have found that if your flooring is suffering from a lot
of grit particles on the floor you do risk the chance of some of this grit getting
onto the wheels of the vacuum, and whilst dragging or pushing the vacuum around
the floor, it is possible that a piece of grit can stop some of the smaller wheels
found on today's vacuums from going around, this will result in a scratch on your
laminate floor. - Flat mop, using a laminate manufacturers cleaning solution.
Spray the cleaning solution onto a flat mop with a microfibre
cloth, do not
saturate or over wet the mop. The mop should not leave moisture behind the mopped
area cleaned, this
should be almost dry. If your laminate flooring has a
wood grain type finish, the flooring should be mopped in the same direction as
the grain. (Most good quality laminates have an impressed grain affect in the
wear layers on wood type finishes) cleaning in the length of these grains helps
bring back the luster of the flooring, only microfibre cloths can get into these
impressed grains, cleaning across the grain is not as affective. - Never
use polish, varnish or wax. Most laminate flooring have a pre-finished wear layer,
this never needs further treatment, only correct cleaning. There are many after
market (generic) laminate floor cleaners on sale today, many of these cleaners
can actually lead to more damage to your laminate flooring over a long period
of time. Many of these after market cleaning products have glossing agents in
them, designed to offer your flooring a glossy clean sparkly finish or have soap
included in there make up. Glossing agents will actually make your laminate flooring
appear patchy, as you use the flooring the worn areas fade as the glossing agent
wears off quickly, then your have to constantly keep glossing your floor to keep
it looking good, this is classed as a polish and the manufacturers can and will
invalidate your warrantee as a result if these products are used. The glossing
agents and soaps found in many after market cleaners often cause the flooring
to become sticky and this will cause the flooring to attract dirt rather than
repel it. More dirt on your flooring will lead to more scratching with time.
- Never
clean with abrasives, scouring powder or steel wool.
- Wipe up spills
/ liquids immediately.
- Avoid allowing any liquids to stand on your
floor - including your pets water bowl.
- Dirt is the primary enemy
of laminates floors. Walking over time causes fine scratches that lead to dullness
and larger particles of sand or rocks cause visible scratches.
Protection
advice for your laminate flooring
Never drag any unprotected
furniture or heavy items across your floor. Install 2 -3 mm felt on the bottoms
of all of your furniture, especially tables and chairs. Whilst the furniture legs
may not directly damage your floor, grit building up and trapped between the floor
and the hard furniture legs / bottoms will cause a lot of light scratches. Installing
the felt layer between these two hard surfaces gives the grit somewhere to go
rather than getting pushed into your laminate flooring.
Install proper barrier
mats. It is essential that proper door mats are used at every entrance and exit
of your home. A good system is to have a coir or Astroturf type mat on the outside
to help remove grit from the treads of your shoes or trainers and then a rubber
backed cotton based mat inside your doorways. This will reduce the transfer of
grit and moisture onto your laminate floors. Castors - Most manufacturers
say in there leaflets that there floors withstand castors, what this actually
means in many cases is that the castors will not leave indentations (like they
do in carpets). Unprotected castors will damage your flooring, old metal type
castors often found on older lounge chairs offer floor coverings a point load,
often these are strained and at an odd angle or damaged, especially when you 'land'
/ sit in your lounge chairs, as a result this can cause indentations in your laminate
flooring, and can even cause the break up of the surface layers.
Plastic
castors often found on office chairs come in many shapes and sizes, the composition
of the plastic wheel (how hard it is) makes a dramatic difference to the affects
it has on hard floor coverings. Often the plastic castors build up with grit particles
found on every floor, these particles impress themselves into the plastic creating
an abrasive castor wheel, this chair with use then becomes a mobile sanding machine
and generally results in the failing of the laminate floors wearlayer. This is
rarely a production fault and is a regular complaint from customers. This can
be avoided if the correct advice is given.
Laminate floors are best protected
against castors with castor cups, castor cups spread the weight of the furniture
thus lowing the point load on the flooring however, it is very important to cover
the bottom of the castor cup with a soft 2-3 mm felt backing as grit can still
gather between the hard floor covering and the hard castor cup, installing 2-3
mm felt eases this problem. Click
Here for a link to Pergo's Cleaning Advice Page Click
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