The short answer is yes, you can, but water is the thing you have to get right. Laminate is a lot tougher than people think on the top and a lot weaker than people think underneath, and almost every ruined laminate floor we get called out to has been ruined by water rather than by wear.
What is actually in a laminate board
It helps to know what you are dealing with, because it explains everything else.
A laminate plank is really three things stuck together. On the top there is a melamine wear layer, which is a hard clear coating. Under that there is a printed layer, which is the photograph of timber that gives it its look. And underneath both of those, making up nearly all the thickness of the board, there is a high density fibreboard core.
That core is the bit that matters. It is essentially wood fibre compressed under a lot of pressure. It is dense and it is stable, but it is still wood fibre, and wood fibre takes on water.
The top of your board is sealed. The core is not. Every joint and every bevel between your planks is a way in.
So what water actually does
When water sits on a laminate floor it works down into the joints and gets into the edge of that core. The fibre swells up. You will see it first as a slightly raised, rough edge along a joint, and it often feels like it before you see it, because you catch it with a bare foot.
Here is the part people do not realise. That does not go back down when it dries. Timber will move with moisture and come back. Compressed fibreboard has already been squashed as far as it will go, so when it swells it is a one way trip. Once you have got a puffed up edge on a laminate board, that is permanent, and the only fix is replacing the board.
That is why we are careful about how much water goes on a laminate floor, and it is why a bucket and a wet mop is genuinely a risk on this one.
Steam mops
We will be blunt about these because we see the damage. A steam mop puts hot water vapour onto your floor under pressure. Pressure and heat are exactly what you need to drive moisture into a joint.
It does not usually go wrong the first time. It goes wrong over a couple of years of weekly use, and by then the damage is right along every joint in the room rather than in one spot. Whatever the box says about being safe for sealed floors, we would not put one on laminate.
Why a machine is safer than your mop
This sounds backwards, because a machine sounds like more water, not less. It is the opposite.
We use a professional scrubber-extractor. It puts a pH neutral solution down, two counter-rotating brushes work it into the surface and the bevels, and then it sucks the dirty solution straight back up in the same pass. The floor is walk-on dry within minutes.
The difference is not the amount of water. It is the dwell time. A mop leaves water on your floor to sit and evaporate, which is precisely when it is finding the joints. The machine never gives it the chance.
The other thing it is doing is getting the grit out. Fine grit works its way down into the bevels between your planks, and a mop just pushes it about in there. That grit is harder than your wear layer, so it sits there acting like sandpaper every time somebody walks on it. That is the whole argument, and there is more on it in our piece on mopping versus professional deep cleaning.
Our process on a laminate floor
Every deep clean we do on laminate runs the same way.
- We look at it first. Board condition, joints, any existing swelling, and whether it is a floating floor or glued down. If there is already water damage we will point it out before we start rather than after.
- A proper vacuum. Every bit of loose grit off before any moisture goes near it. On laminate this matters even more, because wet grit dragged along a bevel is doing exactly the damage you are trying to prevent.
- The machine goes over it. Solution down, brushes into the texture and the bevels, dirty solution straight back up.
- Edges and corners by hand. Along the skirtings and round the kickboards where the machine cannot reach.
- We tell you what it needs. With laminate that is usually nothing more than better day to day habits, and we will say so.
When a laminate floor is past saving
Laminate cannot be sanded. That is the key difference between it and timber. A solid or engineered wood floor has a real timber layer on top that can be taken back and refinished, sometimes more than once. Laminate has a printed photograph under a thin clear coat. Once you go through that coat, there is nothing underneath to bring back.
So these are the ones where cleaning is not the answer:
- Swollen or crumbling joints. Water has already been in the core. That board is done.
- Worn through to the print. You will see it as a pale, washed out patch in a walkway or in front of the sink where the pattern has literally worn off.
- Peaking, where the joints have lifted into a ridge. That is usually an expansion problem rather than a cleaning one, often no expansion gap left at the edges.
- Chipped or blown edges around a doorway or where something heavy has been dropped.
If it is one or two boards and you have got spares from when it was fitted, that is a manageable repair. If it is the whole hall, you are looking at replacing the floor, and we would rather tell you that than take money for cleaning something that needs replaced.
What to do the rest of the year
- Dry dust two or three times a week. Microfibre dust mop. This is the one that actually protects the floor, because it gets the grit off before it gets walked in.
- Damp mop, never wet mop. Well wrung out flat mop, pH neutral cleaner made for laminate. If there is visible wet behind you, that is too much.
- Wipe spills straight away, especially at the joints. Do not leave it until later.
- Matting at the door, long enough for two or three steps on it.
- Felt pads under everything, and replace them when they get worn or grubby.
- Watch the appliances. The single fastest way to ruin a floor is a dishwasher or a washing machine that has been quietly leaking. Have a look behind them now and again.
Common questions
How often should a laminate floor be deep cleaned?
Normal household, once a year. Busy family house, every six months. Commercial or HMO, every three to six months.
Will a deep clean fix an edge that has already swollen?
No. That damage is in the core of the board and it does not come back. The board needs replaced. What a clean will do is stop the rest of the floor going the same way.
Is a laminate floor safe to have machine cleaned if it is a floating floor?
Yes, and most laminate is floating. The reason it is safe is the extraction, because the water is lifted as it goes down rather than left to soak in at the joints.
Can you polish laminate to bring the shine back?
We would not, and we would suggest you do not either. Polishes and shine restorers build up on the surface, go patchy and show every footprint, and then they are a job to get off. If a laminate floor has lost its sheen it is usually residue or grit, and taking those off is what brings it back.
Related questions
If you are not sure whether your laminate is dirty or damaged, that is a two minute answer for us in person. Get a free quote or give us a ring on 0131 285 6435.
We look after floors across Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian.
