Easy DIY Solutions to Clean, Protect and Polish Laminate Floors
Looking for a quick cleaning and easy shine solution for your laminate floor?
Commercial laminate floor cleaners or professional help may fall too heavily on your pocket. Once in a blue moon is fine but for regular cleaning homemade recipes are always the best option.
They are chemical-free, non-toxic, and of course affordable. Though the laminate floor requires special care as compared to other floors, you can make it sparkle like new with easy DIY cleaning solutions.
We have created a guide that will teach you to clean your laminate floors safely and effectively:
Let’s begin with weekly cleaning
How often do you clean your floor? We are not talking about deep cleaning but regularly cleaning the floors can lessen a lot of your efforts later.
Just sweeping the floor or dry vacuum to remove the dirt, dust, pet hair, once or twice a week can be really helpful. You can use an angled broom to remove the dust settled on the angles and baseboards.
In order to avoid scratches on the floor, make sure to use a soft brush attachment for your vacuum. Also, select the hard floor setting on your vacuum cleaner.
Basic cleaning
Wet mopping is a really bad idea as it can damage the floor finish and also cause warping.
So better use a damp mop or a spray cleaner to wet clean the laminate floor. You can spray the cleaning solution on the floor and wipe it off with a microfiber cloth.
In case, if the dust is tough or the dirt has got stuck to the floor then allow the cleaning solution to soak in the floor for a few minutes and then do the mopping.
After you are done with mopping and wiping just check the floor and see that no standing water or large drops of water is left behind. If you notice, clean it off immediately.
Quick tip to treat stains
The moment anything gets accidentally spilled on the floor, bloat it with a microfiber cloth.
For solid stains
- When you notice stains of candle wax, grease, or gum, take an ice pack and freeze the spot
- Use a plastic scraper or a plastic knife and gently scrape the solid stains
- Take a little dampened microfiber cloth to clean the spot, in case if any residue is left
For liquid stains
- When you notice oil spots, ink drops, liquid lipstick, nail polish, or any color stains, treat the spot with nail polish remover or acetone
- Apply a small amount of chemical or the nail polish remover on a clean white cloth and wipe the spots on the floor
- Take a little dampened microfiber cloth to clean the spot, in case if any residue is left
- Make sure the area is completely dried
Homemade recipes for laminate floor cleaning
Cleaning with distilled white vinegar
Ingredients:
- Warm water – 2 cups
- Distilled white vinegar – 2 cups
- Essential oil – 5 to 10 drops of lemon essential oil, orange essential oil, or any of your favorite flavor of essential oil
We agree vinegar is acidic in nature and not suitable for wood floors. However, when you use vinegar in its diluted form, it reduces its acidic power and works as a great disinfectant and cleaning agent.
It will free your floor from stains and make it look shiny while the citrus essence of essential oils will make the floor smell fresh and lift your mood.
Cleaning with castile soap
Ingredients:
- Warm water – 2 cups
- Castile soap – 2 drops
- Lemon or orange essential oils – 3 drops
- Tea tree oil – 2 drops
Since you will be using just 2 drops of soap, it will be easy for wiping the floor without making it too wet. Essential oils add fragrance as well as work as natural disinfectants. You can omit it if you are not a big fan of essential oils.
The blend of castile soap, water, and essential oils will give your laminate floor a nice shine and spread a good fragrance. You can put all these ingredients in a spray bottle for cleaning.
Cleaning with distilled white vinegar and alcohol
Ingredients:
- Rubbing alcohol – 1/2 cup
- Distilled white vinegar – 1/2 cup
- Distilled water – 1/2 cup
- Liquid dishwashing soap – 4 drops
- Essential oils – 5 drops of lemon essential oil, orange essential oil, or any of your favorite flavor of essential oil
A cleaning solution with these ingredients is best for sticky stains or dried dirt settled on floors. Since rubbing alcohol dries quickly, it works ideally as a natural cleaning agent for wooden floors. Liquid soap is effective on tough stains and oily spots.
You can mix all these ingredients in a spray bottle, spray the mixture on the stains and gently wipe it off with a microfiber mop, cloth, or spray mop. You don’t have to rinse, just damp mop and wipe the floor. It will make the surface shining clean.
How to polish the laminate floor?
We have a homemade solution for polishing the laminate floor too!
After a period of time, the charm of your laminate floor fades away as it starts losing its shine. You can bring back the natural shine with an easy DIY method.
Ingredients:
- Vegetable oil – 2 tablespoons
- Distilled white vinegar – 1 tablespoon
- Warm water – 2 cups
- Essential oils – 5 drops of lemon essential oil, lemongrass essential oil, orange essential oil
Method:
- You just have to mix all the above ingredients in a squirt or spray bottle
- Keep shaking it for sometime
- Go on spraying it on the floor and simultaneously mop it into a very thin layer
- Cover the entire floor and clean it with a dry mop
- Make sure not to leave any patch of floor wet
This will make your floor look polished and shiny. Essential oil is optional. However, it works as a disinfectant as well as spreads the natural fragrance.
How to protect your laminate floor?
- Avoid the use of polisher or floor buffer on the laminate floor
- Never slide any heavy furniture across the laminate floor
- Avoid using abrasive tools or acidic cleaners as it can damage the floor
- Never let water stand on the floor as it can cause a swell, bubble, or damage the floor
Hope these laminate floor cleaning and caring tips help you out. These are not just effective but eco-friendly cleaning solutions. Do try them.