Tips for Laminate Floor Care and Maintenance
Laminate floor care is relatively simple, especially compared to other flooring materials.
Laminate floors are attractive, durable and easy to clean. I just sweep and damp mop or buff with a squirt of wood laminate cleaner. Your supplier will offer a range of recommended cleaning products and there are some special enhancers available to increase the luster of the floor.
Basic care and maintenance is easy: you can clean up spills and messes using a little bit of soap and water, but if you like to make things more complicated, you can put forth a little more effort. You can damp clean your floors using a vinegar solution (¼ cup of vinegar into 30-32 ounces of water in an empty spray bottle) and a terry mop or Swiffer.
The best news is that with laminate floors you do not have to mess with wax or floor finishes. If you do damp mop (the key word is damp only), do not use too much water as puddles could seep in behind the baseboards or under the floors.
What about dealing with stains, you ask?
Fortunately, laminate flooring is very stain resistant. If you do need to use a stain removal product, follow the guidelines from your flooring manufacturer. Typical suggestions include mineral spirits for grease and tar with acetone for cigarette burns and nail polish spills.
Other care and maintenance tips:
Manufacturers suggest using door mats and area rugs to keep down on the amount of dirt and debris that could cause light scratching on the floors surface. You would do this to keep people/pets from tracking dirt and mud into the house, regardless of what flooring surface you use so this isn’t a new concept.
Most of us don’t pay that much attention to what is going on with our flooring unless someone spills coffee, tea, wine or soda on a carpet. But, we aren’t going to do carpets anymore because we now have flooring that looks nice with less care.
Use the same methods of taking care of this flooring as you would with anything else. Use care when handling sharp or heavy objects, use protective buttons on the furniture legs and clean on a regular basis.
If your laminate gets scratched, see if you can buy a touch up stick from your manufacturer. If worse comes to worse, and I can’t even imagine how this would happen, you can call a professional to replace a plank.
Further reading: The Flooring Handbook: The Complete Guide to Choosing and Installing Floors 
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