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How to Clean and Care for Hardwood, Laminate, and Vinyl Floors

Taking care of the floors in your home can be challenging given the everyday conditions of a family and pets. But keeping your home looking good is crucial to maintaining its value. This is how to clean three types of residential flooring: real wood, laminate, and luxury vinyl. 

Beautiful modern kitchen with hardwood laminate or luxury vinyl flooring

Three Types of Residential Wood Flooring

1. Hardwood flooring

There are two types of hardwood flooring—both made from natural wood: 

Solid wood

Solid hardwood floors are made of planks milled from a single piece of timber. Hardwood flooring comes both finished and unfinished; sealed and unsealed. While not completely waterproof, solid hardwood flooring can be sanded down and refinished should it become water damaged. Solid hardwood is the most expensive option flooring option.

Engineered wood

Engineered hardwood is man-made from layers of material including HDF (High-Density Fiberboard which is a wood by-product) that have been glued together, with a thin layer of real hardwood on the top. Typically engineered wood comes finished with a clear protective coating or finish.

Engineered hardwood flooring is not waterproof. In the event of water damage, it is not suitable to be sanded down and refinished because the top layer of real wood is quite thin. Engineered hardwood is considerably more affordable than its solid wood cousin.

2. Laminate flooring

Like engineered hardwood, laminate flooring is also manmade, but from all synthetic products. It consists of a core made from HDF (High-Density Fiberboard which is a wood by-product) mixed with resins, then a top layer of plastic photographic material that looks like wood plus a clear protective finish.

Those layers are fused together in a factory using a lamination process. Laminate flooring is not waterproof. A major water spill or a flood of any kind will most likely require the floor to be replaced. That center HDF core acts like a giant sponge, the damage of which cannot be repaired.

3. Luxury vinyl flooring

Luxury vinyl plank flooring (LVP) uses PVC (polyvinyl chloride, which is plastic) instead of HDF for its core, which makes it 100% waterproof. LVP can handle major spills and floods. The caution with LVP is to never drag furniture across it, as that PVC material can tear quite easily. Make sure you lift that table, chair, or other—don’t assume you can get away with dragging or sliding without good felt pads or other caution.

How to Clean Wood Floors

Don’t know what type of flooring you have? No worries. When it comes to cleaning “wood” floors (solid, engineered, laminate, or vinyl) the only thing you need to figure out is whether or not your floors have a finish. You don’t really need to know the type of finish. The important fact is whether the floors have been treated in some way to make them resistant to standing water, which is the enemy of all wood and wood-like floors.

Drop-of-water test

Drop a single drop of water on the floor to discover if your flooring is finished. If it beads and just sits there, the flooring has been finished. If the drop of water soaks in and disappears leaving a dark spot, the wood is not finished.

The following is for finished solid or engineered wood, laminate, and vinyl flooring. Unfinished hardwood CANNOT be mopped since it will damage the flooring.

CAUTION: If your floor is unfinished, or if it’s an old wood floor and some of the finish has started to wear away, then don’t use any moisture or product on the floor at all. Just dust-mop it with a flat-head mop.

Wood floor cleaners

When it comes to wood and laminate cleaners, you can spend a fortune on commercial products like Bona and Black Diamond. Or you can make your own for pennies. 

The key to making your own wood and laminate floor cleaner is similar to a physician’s commitment: First, do no harm. The trick is making a product that will clean well without harming the finish of your floors, even when used repeatedly over many years.

No, vinegar

White vinegar is a fabulous cleaning product because it cuts through dirt well. But it is highly acidic and used repeatedly, will over time attack the finish on your wood, laminate, and vinyl floors, making them look dull at first, then ugly as the years go by.

Vinegar can also soften the finish, making it feel gummy or sticky. So let’s just agree that when it comes to cleaning wood or laminate floors, no vinegar.

Yes, alcohol

Alcohol is a fantastic cleaning product. Rubbing alcohol (70% is most common, but 91% works well, too), denatured alcohol, even gin or plain vodka all work. Alcohol is also a disinfectant, as you know from visiting a doctor’s office or hospital.

The great thing about alcohol as a cleaning agent is, like water, it has a nearly neutral ph—neither acidic nor alkaline. This makes alcohol the perfect ingredient in your homemade cleaner. It cleans, protects, and preserves beautifully finished wood and laminate floors. And it makes floor cleaning solution dry faster.

Distilled water

While safe to drink, your regular tap water may leave watermarks and hard water build-up on your floors over time. The best way to avoid this is to use distilled water in your floor cleaner (available in any supermarket) to eliminate streaking, hard watermarks, and mineral build-up.

Blue Dawn

A very small amount of Blue Dawn dishwashing liquid will break the surface tension of the water making the cleaner much more effective—but not so much that it requires rinsing. Blue Dawn, unlike any other variety of Dawn or other brand liquid dishwashing soap, contains a greater number of powerful surfactants than any other. It has grease-cutting properties unequaled in other liquid soaps. It is amazing. It’s the power in this floor cleaning recipe. It takes only a few drops.

All-Purpose Homemade Floor Cleaner

This all-purpose recipe is ideal for finished hardwood, engineered hardwood, laminate, and vinyl flooring. It requires no rinsing when used as follows.

  • 1 part alcohol
  • 4 parts distilled water
  • 2 drops Blue Dawn

Example: 1/4 cup alcohol, 1 cup distilled water, 2 drops Blue Dawn. Or 1/2 cup alcohol, 2 cups distilled water, 4 drops Blue Dawn.

Mix this up in a spray bottle each time you clean the floors, or you can make it up ahead. No rinsing required. Be sure to label well and keep out of the reach of children.

How to clean

Sweep or vacuum the floor (you’ll read more about this below). Spray the cleaner in a small area, scrub well with a cloth or sponge and immediately wipe the area dry with a mop fitted with a microfiber cloth.

The secret is to spray, scrub, and wipe dry immediately. If you do not want to do this on your hands and knees, I recommend this Microfiber Spray Mop for both wood and laminate floors. It sprays the cleaner from its removable bottle that lets you make your own cleaner. It has a large surface mop and machine-washable microfiber pad, which makes scrubbing wood and laminate floors a breeze.

 

Routine Maintenance

Vacuum or sweep

Here’s an easy routine to care for your wood and laminate floors: At least twice a week vacuum (or sweep) your wood or laminate floors to remove the real enemies here: dirt, sand, grit, pebbles, and grime. It comes in on your shoes and gets ground into the finish and surface of your beautiful floors every time you and the kids walk on them.

Clean

At least once every two weeks, clean and scrub the floors with your homemade cleaner (recipe above) and a good mop that cleans and wipes the floor nearly dry in a single effort.

Felt need

Protect your wood and laminate floor from scrapes and scratches with felt furniture pads. The kind of self-stick felt pads are inexpensive, easy to apply, and will last for many years. Felt reduces friction which makes it easy to slide chairs in and out and also cuts the noise.

Good care

Taking good care of your wood and laminate floors will keep your home looking great and protect your home’s value—which is likely one of the biggest investments you will ever make.

First published:9-16-15; Revised & Updated 1-29-23.


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19 replies
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  1. Daniel Gray says:

    Whether you hire a professional floor cleaner or do the job yourself, the fact is, our floors need to be cleaned. The tips shared above are really useful to everyone, liked!

    Reply
    • Mary Hunt says:

      You need a scratch repair pen like this one. There are several brands out there, and they are a kind of waxy substance that will fill that scratch. You want to select a color nearest to your flooring—opting for a shade darker, if you can’t match it exactly. Just follow the instructions on the product to fill that scratch and help it disappear. You can also find these pens online. Hope that helps!

      Reply
  2. Susan Kemp says:

    Dear Mary, I love your alcohol-based floor cleaner, AND, I use it for everything! Countertops, stove, microwave, bedroom, living room (furniture, etc). It has ended up being my favorite all-purpose cleaner for everything and everywhere!

    Reply
  3. Donna R Parcel says:

    I have two small chihuahuas that are potty pad trained (for during the cold months in Wisconsin) they occasionally pea at the edge of the potty pad — I mop it up as soon as I see it, but if I’m at work it may be quite a while later.
    Gradually the area has acquired a whitish look which disappears when I mop and reappears when the floor has dried.
    How can I get this whitish discoloration up? I’m not sure what the wood-like flooring is, I live in a rental mobile home and the flooring was there when I moved in.
    Thank you,

    Reply
    • Mary Hunt says:

      Donna … I have no way of knowing for sure what this problem is. But I can guess. Healthy dog urine is slightly acidic. Acid, especially when it’s left on the floor for any period of time, is going to eat away at the floor’s finish. It makes sense that the damage (the white haze). When you mop it, the situation disappears momentarily as it becomes wet. If I’m right that the floor has become damaged, your only recourse would be to have it refinished or resurfaced. I suggest you speak with a professional floor company or service in your area.

      Reply
  4. Penny Waite says:

    Mary Hunt to the rescue once again! we are selling our home, and our beautiful wood floors need a touch of cleaning. So happy this article was posted today! Thank You Mary!

    Reply
  5. Judy Hoxworth says:

    Help! I had my bedroom carpets cleaned yesterday! I gave the cleaner beach towels to lay under his hoses in the hallway. When I came in he was starting to leave and his hose had dripped a spot about 2 in by 2 ft. on the solid light wood floor. I immediately grabbed a towel but it was too late. The spot appears to be set from his cleaner in the hose. He rubbed on it with a damp cloth but it only made it bigger. What on earth is the answer now? I love my floors and it shows right down the hallway immediately when walking in….

    Reply
  6. Patricia Goff says:

    My floors were finished at one time but 50 years of being used has worn the finish off I am sure. I wish I could get mine to look clean but no matter how often I wash them they still look dirty. I will try some of these ways and see what happens.

    Reply
    • Mary Hunt says:

      Fifty years ago, wood floors were real wood. You may be able to have them refinished to look brand new. We did that in our home this past year. As long as there’s enough surface depth, they can sand them down and refinish any color or finish you desire. MUCH much cheaper than getting new.

      Reply
  7. Sandra Golightly says:

    We recently did a deep cleaning at our parents home. Our dad passed away after being in hospice in their home. His hospital bed and daily care was in the main living area which has laminate floors. A spray mop with laminate floor cleaner would not clean it. It took three of us about 2 hours on our hands and knees using hot water and Mr. Clean magic erasers to clean three rooms. We then went over it with a spray mom using laminate floor cleaner and dried it with another mop. The floors look like new. It was amazing how just cleaning the floors lifted everyone’s spirits.

    Reply
  8. Naomi Wheeler says:

    When you are talking laminate flooring, does that include luxury vinyl planks? I think of laminate as a flat surface floor. Most of the LVP flooring has more texture and the look of wood. I am not sure whether I would treat it differently. Thanks.

    Reply
    • Mary Hunt says:

      Hey Naomi! Laminate and Luxury Vinyl are two different things. Both come in varying widths of “planks,” both can have smooth or textured finish. Honestly it is next to impossible to tell the difference between these two man-made products and wood even when you down and feel them or by just looking at them. But they are very much different. Fortunately you can use this one homemade floor cleaner on all types, and with great success. Ceramic tile and vinyl sheet flooring are another matter for another post.

      Reply
  9. pawandclawdesigns says:

    I LITERALLY just bought that mop to clean up after our old kitty cat who likes to play in his water and then leave wet paw prints down the hall. Good to know about the vinegar ; the recipe I was GOING to make called for it. Glad I checked my e-mail before mopping the floors 🙂

    Reply
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