Laminate care

With a little care and attention you will be able to prolong the life of your new floor and help maintain its good looks for longer

Here are a few helpful tips:

• Always use felt pads or castor cups under the legs and feet of furniture to protect your floor from being scratched.
• Using door mats and throw rugs at doorway exterior and interiors will help to remove grit and dirt from shoes and also avoid scratching.
• Dirt will stick and becomes harder to remove.
• Dog or cat claws, especially on larger pets, should be kept short as this can scratch the surface and cause the pet to slip and slide.
• Any spills should be wiped up straight away to avoid permanent stains.
• Never wash the floor with lots of water as this can warp the boards and cause them to blister. Standing water can dull the finish, damage the wood and leave a discolouring residue.
• Do not use furniture polish on laminate or solid wood flooring as it makes the floor very slippy and dangerous. Varnish, strong detergents and bleach are also not suitable for use on hard floors.
• When moving heavy furniture, completely pick up the furniture and carry rather than slide to best protect the wood flooring.
• Never use sheet vinyl or tile floor care products on wood floors. Self polishing acrylic waxes can cause wood to become slippery and appear dull quickly. The only remedy in this situation is to sand and refinish the floor.
• Remember that sports shoes and high heels can dent any floor surface meaning that caution should be taken when wearing footwear on laminate or solid wood flooring.

Cleaning & after care

All laminate and solid wood floors should be cleaned regularly to neutralise and protect the surface layer of the floor.

A combination of dry and damp cleaning ensures hardwood flooring are cleaned properly. It is unnecessary to clean laminate or solid wood floors all the time with water. Modern products have been designed to enable the floor to be dry-cleaned.

There are two main methods of cleaning hard floors:

Dry method

Your floor should be swept regularly to remove dirt and grit. Most of the time, using a Swiffer mop head with a dust attracting pad will remove all surface dirt. You can find one of these at any of our stores in our accessory display. Simply glide the mop in overlapping, long zigzag movements.

Occasionally, stubborn marks will need to be removed using a damp mop and recommended laminate or solid wood cleaning solution such as Unilin (consult manfactures guidelines). After the solution has been applied and cleaned with a damp mop, the floor should be wiped clean of any excess surface moisture with a dry cloth.

Waxed and oiled solid wood products can be treated with an additional layer of approved floor wax and oil. We recommend that this treatment is carried out immediately after fitting and repeated every 6 months.

Please contact us if you would like to find out more about our recommended laminate and solid wood floor treatments.

Stubborn stains

Most stains are no problem for laminate floors, however some stubborn stains need added attention.

• Rubber or plastic marks - rub with a dry cloth, use acetone when needed.
• Nail varnish, shoe polish, paint, felt pen - rub with a cloth soaked in acetone, solvent for nail varnish or paint thinner.
• Chocolate, fat or oil based products - rub with a concentrated cleaning product.
• Urine, blood - wipe up as quickly as possible using a damp cloth. If the stain has already dried, rub repeatedly with a dry cloth. Use a concentrated cleaning product when needed