What's the best way to clean new laminate flooring?

[niclonnic]

Over the past month, we have been tearing up the 15-year-old carpets downstairs and replacing it with Trafficmaster laminate flooring from Home Depot. My dad has been hard at work on it. It's looking really nice!

Since I'm the one who does all the vacuuming, this is a big change for me. I won't have to vacuum nearly as much.

My current vacuum collection consists of a Hoover WindTunnel 2 Rewind Pet, Eureka AirSpeed Unlimited Rewind, Dirt Devil Featherlite Cyclonic and Bissell C4 Cyclonic canister vacuum.

On the wet cleaning side, we own a Swiffer Wet Jet and a Shark Steam Pocket Mop. The problem with the Swiffer is that while it cleans well, it leaves streaks behind and can make the floor sticky. But with the Shark steam mop, which also causes streaking, a bigger problem has arisen.

I was steaming the kitchen floor earlier this morning, then my dad came downstairs and became agitated. He said that the hot steam could warp the floor, despite the fact that I was using the steam duster pad. So I immediately stopped.

So what do you guys think? How should I maintain this beautiful new flooring?

 

[niclonnic]

Current vacuum collection

This is my current collection. One of my dogs, Pippin, is curious about what I'm doing.

 

[niclonnic]

The mops

These are the mops that I use to clean with. The Shark has the steam duster pad attached.

 

[singingrainbow]

We did almost the same thing late 2014, and since then we've been using Bona for the engineered floors. It cleans great, doesn't streak, and doesn't leave a residue. We were also warned that steam could indeed warp the floor. Hope this helps!

 

[vacerator]

Steam mops

are not reccomended for laminate.

 

[pinkge]

I use...

The mop that is made by the Bruce floor cleaner.The Bruce cleaner is in a spray form and I clean all my parquet flooring with is.Does a wonderful job and they a shiney clean.

 

[pr-21]

Don't use a steam cleaner, use the mfgs recommended cleaner with a micro fiber mop lightly spritzing the mop as you go. Change the mop pad if it gets to wet.


PR-21
Bud

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

niclonnic

As much as I would hate to hijack the preferred date range of this thread, I have to say find an old straight-suction Royal metal upright, like this 311 commercial cleaner (1958-1987), to suit your hardwood flooring.


 


~Ben

 

[starryblues4u]

Hmmmm

I love my Miele Complete homecare for vacuuming. I do use a floor mate and it works good. I have been curious though about the new bissell crosswave. After watching the review on Ibaisaic's channel and it looked very enticing. They are pricy though.

 

[niclonnic]

Hmm...

All of these options sound very convincing!

Here's my analysis on the vacuums I own:

Hoover: Performs poorly on hard floors. Debris gets scattered everywhere because the brush roll can't be turned off.

Eureka: Does an excellent job on hard floors due to on/off brush roll (using a belt tensioner).

Dirt Devil: A rather poor performer and VERY stinky (my dad's girlfriend used it to clean up dog messes at her house)

Bissell: AMAZING on hard floors, due to its strong suction and electronic brush roll on/off feature! As I vacuum, dirt gets sucked up before I even hover over it.

So I'll use either the Eureka or Bissell on these floors.

KirbyClassicIII, I don't think I would use an old vacuum on my floors. I'm mainly interested in modern vacuums.

 

[bimmer740]

Nick,
Buy yourself a nice canister vacuum that you can use with a well made soft natural bristle floor brush. And to mop your floors use the Bona system with the washable microfiber clothes. I have engineered hard wood flooring in my condo, it can be refinished up to 3 times, but I'm hoping I never have to refinish it before I sell the place. The Bona cleaner works wonderfully. Using a steam cleaner will quickly destroy your new flooring. My Aerus Electrolux Classic takes care of cleaning my hardwood as well as using Bona for weekly moping, if you do the same your floors should look great for years to come.

 

[vacerator]

Newly introduced

Bissel products are pricey. I bought a Lift-Off steam mop/cleaner which lasted three years only.
I cleaned my master bath floor, and fixtures, kitchen floor, and range once monthly with it.
Never again, I don't care how much Cathy Bissel donates to animal shelters.
It costs peanuts to make those machines in China.
A good hard floor vacuum like Bimmer740 Steven said, and Bona or the Mynt robotic floor cleaner.
My Hoover floor mate Deluxe spin scrub also does a great job. Not reccomended for unsealed floors.

 

[eurekaprince]

I have found that the best way to dry clean bare floors is with a stick vac that also features a microfibre wiping/mopping pad. Choose from three on the market now: the cordless Swiffer Vac, the Bissel Symphony (with optional steam mode) or the corded Dirt Devil Vac + Dust - see the video below....



http://https//m.youtube.com/watch?v=SxiSndLff8Y

 

[panasonicvac]

We use a Rubbermaid wall mop to clean our floors for over 25 years, since we got laminate floors in our kitchen about 7 years ago, it never gave us any problems with our floors.

 

[ralph123]

The best way to clean any flooring is to follow the manufacturer's recommendations. They want "their" floors to look good in your home.

 

[myles_v]

Get a good quality horsehair floor brush for your Bissell, use that to vacuum the floor over and then use a microfiber mop. You can find good quality microfiber mops for $25-$30.
Try mopping wth plain water, and if you have problems with that then use a laminate floor cleaner. In my house cleaning business we use Zep or Bruce for laminates and hardwoods, and Armstrong for resilient floors like vinyl and tile.

Even better, buy a good bagged canister vacuum. I almost fainted seeing that lineup of bagless machines! Haha, but to each his own I guess

 

[durango159]

I agree wholeheartedly with Bimmer740!!

A spinning brush roll on a hard floor is not what you want to do. Some brush rolls are so stiff that it will burn through your flooring depending on what the flooring is. A spinning brush roll can also leave agitator prints on your floor and many times permanent on a laminate floor.

A horse hair barefloor brush or even better a hardfloor tool from Miele or Riccar/ Simplicity as posted below will do wonders and prolong how long you'll be able to go without wet cleaning.

As far as wet cleaning, Bona may be a little pricey but it is the best for laminate flooring.

Mr. Clean Eraser line will get them very clean but will leave a residue as well that makes a floor look like it needs rinsing.

Steam mops and regular wet mops can overwet floors. Residues leftover from some Switer things can smear. Leftover residues can be dangerous for pets and children.

Bona products clean well and are safe, non-toxic products!

http://riccar.com/soft-sweep-floor-tool

 

[turbo500]

I had laminate flooriing throughout the whole of the downstairs of my old house.

I used to vacuum it with a straight-suction cylinder with either a standard suction-only combi head or a specific hard floor tool. The Miele parquet twister brush was particularly good.

I used to mop the whole floor once a week with a regular mop and bucket (I still think this method is better than any steam mop or fancy hard floor cleaning gadget!) with hard-hot water and a normal floor cleaner. You have to make sure that the mop is very tightly rung out though so that it's only damp and not wet.

 

[niclonnic]

Okay

So I haven't vacuumed my floor yet. However, I just checked Bissell's website and found that there's no hard floor tool for my Bissell canister. Such a tool from another vacuum wouldn't fit, due to the square connector system this vacuum uses.

My dad decided that we should use a microfiber mop for wet cleaning. But we don't have one yet.