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.

 

[durango159]

Beam and Electrolux use a squared bare floor brush for their central vacs and canister using the Q, Solaire and some other power heads. I wonder if one of their bare floor brushes would fit?

This is a reason I am sketchy about buying vacuums with unusual wand styles because you become stuck with the attachments which came with that unit.

Hoover bagless canisters come with odd tools and no bare floor brush on most of them, but the hose and wands are a 1.25" standard size which will accept tools from many other vacuums including central vacuum kits.

The lime green and tangerine orange Kenmore power nozzle canisters are good machines to get because they have the standard size hose to accept a variety of other manufacturers stuff unlike the awful new bulky hose with awkward tools on many of their other canisters.

 

[vacerator]

Yes, I have one of

those squared off Beam/E-Lux floor brushes. It's a good brush, has wheels and all, but doesn't get under my leather sofa, nor my vintage 80's Thomasville dresser or armoir without getting detached from the wand. It has no air way at the front brush edge like my generic one for my central vac, or even a generic one we got from Sears many years ago.
So I mainly use it for quick pick up on area rugs along with the floors.

 

[luxlife]

"Microfiber mop for wet cleaning"

I've been using this Shark wet mop for a few years now. I added a link to it below. It's very well built, very sturdy. I've tried a few of these in the past in other brands, but they ended up leaking and having crucial parts break or come loose. The one made by Shark has available 2 types of washable microfiber pads: 1 with long strands and 1 with a shorter pile so I have something for my engineered floors and also my slate and tile. The best part about this one is that the solution tank is refillable, so I'm not forced to purchase proprietary refill cleaners, like Swiffer and Bona. Bona products are wonderful and I'd go back to a Bona spray mop again if they would make the solution bottle refillable.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/shark-pro-s...775181?hash=item281b4dcc0d:g:W70AAOSwSHZWgYQV

 

[n0oxy]

nonstandard attachments

One of my canisters is an electrolux ultra one, it also uses the nonstandard square hose end, fortunately I got an adapter for $6 that converts it to use the standard 1.25 attachments. For me, if I can't use standard attachments with a vacuum, that is an automatic deal breaker, I will not buy it. It must use standard attachments or at least have an adapter available to convert to a standard hose end

 

[trootos]

It is not a secret that any floor covering, including laminated, needs a regular and thorough cleaning. However, not any equipment or cleanser is suitable for these purposes. Can you tell me the best mop for laminate floors, which one is better to clean the laminate so it keeps its original appearance for a long time? I wish only experienced people who know what they are talking about would answer. There are too many couch analysts online now who haven’t done anything themselves.

 

[cinema]

I have several dogs and we sometimes wear shoes inside. Clean my floors often, I start with vacuuming using a parquet tool. Then wet mopping using a cloth mop. Then I finish with a steam mop, the bissell powerfresh one. I use distilled water and it leaves no streaks and I don't have to use any chemicals or soaps. I See lots of people here claiming it warps laminate... I have never experienced this. We do have laminate flooring. You can select the steam level. But I have been only using it for a year or so once a week. You can eat off the floors after I'm done with them. I would replace the steam mop with simply scrubbing the floors with washrags on your hands and knees if you're paranoid about warping them with steam. that's truly the best way.