How to Clean Pergo Floors

Have you recently had Pergo, or other laminate floors installed, and don’t know how to clean them?

Undoubtedly, the installer offered you a cleaning solution and tool that’s sold by Pergo and many other laminate flooring companies. That stuff is expensive and not terribly environmentally friendly.

Sweeping and Vacuuming:

First, of course, you’ll want to sweep, vacuum or dust mop up dirt. Dirt that’s allowed to sit on laminate floors will act as an abrasive and will eventually dull the floor. Doormats by entry ways will also minimize how much dirt and moisture gets on laminate.

Mopping:

Pergo recommends damp mopping once a week. When mopping use a minimum of water. Too much water will cause the Pergo to expand, damaging the floor.

Don’t ever use a very wet mop on laminated floors and you should always clean up spills immediately.

Use warm water when mopping and dry the floor completely when finished This will clean up most grimes and will not leave streaks or spots like other cleaning methods. Drying the floor after mopping stops water spots from forming, and picks up residual dirt left on the floor after mopping.

Cleaning Solutions:

Vinegar:

Vinegar is one of the best all-purpose cleaners around. AND, it’s environmentally friendly and cheap. Ya gotta love cheap! Mix up a solution of 1/4 cup white vinegar and two quarts of water and fill a spray bottle.

Spray small areas of the Pergo floor and then use a damp sponge mop to wipe up the area. Vinegar prevents streaking and by using the spray bottle you’re keeping the water on the floor to a minimum. Pergo recommends this mixture as well as the ammonia mixture below.

Ammonia:

Mix a gallon of water with ½ cup ammonia. Mop as usual.

Vinegar and Rubbing Alcohol:

Equal parts rubbing alcohol, vinegar and water is a good mop solution for Pergo and other laminate flooring. You can mop with it or spray it on and mop it up like the vinegar solution above.

Swiffer Wet-Jet Mops:

A lot of people really like Swiffer Wet-Jet mops for cleaning hard surface floors. This mop keeps down the amount of liquid on the floor and seems to have just the right kind of mop so that laminate floors dry steak free.

Windex:

Swiffer cleaner is similar to windex. It doesn’t leave streaks or residue. It’s expensive if you have a large floor to clean but it certainly won’t damage the floor and is great to use if you don’t have vinegar or ammonia around.

These are lots of suggestions for how to clean your laminate floor, and how NOT to clean your laminate floor. Be careful – perhaps the “how not to list” might even be more important than the how to list. It’s probably better to have Pergo flooring that’s a little bit dirty than to have Pergo flooring that’s damaged!

How NOT to Clean Pergo:

Do not use hardwood floor cleaners on Laminated Pergo floors. They contain wax which will make your Pergo floors slippery and the wax will build up and become a problem. Wax makes laminate floors look dull and streaky. Do not use soaps or detergents when cleaning as soap leaves a residue that will make the floor sticky over time and dull the finish.