Floors are getting filthier, and it’s all laminate’s fault.
The wildly popular smooth panels leave nowhere for dirt to hide. While this is overwhelmingly a good thing - it is better to see the enemy in plain sight than allow it to find shelter in carpet or rug fibres - it does mean that every speck of dust, hair and crumb becomes glaringly obvious. For the houseproud, it’s a source of constant migraines.
Laminate flooring also has a knack for displaying scratches in sharp relief, especially if you’ve been dragging heavy furniture across light-coloured panels. Sure, your space may have better feng sui, but at what cost to your floors?
Where once wall-to-wall carpet was the done thing to lay over floors - bar the kitchen and bathroom for obvious reasons - today laminate flooring is very much the golden child.
Certainly from a hygiene and an aesthetic point of view, laminate is far easier to maintain and offers a timeless appeal that could even raise your home’s equity, which is great news if you’re trying to sell.
High-quality panels can also look incredibly realistic, mimicking the veins and grains of expensive materials such as marble and timber at a much lower cost.
But all laminate’s plus points can be wrecked by poor maintenance. This is why regular cleaning is essential, with both tools and cleaning formulas to keep your floors in tip-top condition.
The good news is that there are plenty of methods and gadgets to lend a hand, from high-spec robot vacuums armed with mop functions to self-propel around the house, to steam mops that will shift stubborn grime using nothing but the power of water. Then there are gentle but tough cleaning formulas that will zap your space of any bacteria, leaving behind a shiny surface and a light scent.
For floors you could eat your dinner off, we’ve rounded up the best options to clean laminate flooring below.
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Shark HydroVac Corded Hard Floor Cleaner with Antimicrobial Brush-Roll
Shark is a tech brand famed for quality and efficiency, and this zippy little appliance does not disappoint.
The slim design holds plenty of power to clean dirty floors and scoop debris at once. With one click the handle is connected, then simply plug in, switch on and prepare to whizz around the house picking up crumbs, easing out age-old stains and catching clusters of dust. Even sticky raisins aren’t safe.
It can handle wet spills and crumbs that have gathered in corners with the easy-to-manoeuvre pivoting head. Handy headlights lead the way, shining from the cleaning head to guide your progress underneath furniture and around corners. Effective across all hard floor types including wood, tiles, marble and laminate, this vacuum mop makes light work of everything from kitchen spills to bathroom messes. One of the other added benefits of this cleaner is the freshen mode, which can be used to clean rugs and floor mats, from kitchen runners to bath mats and doormats. This vacuum has a long 7.6 m cable so you can move around your home easily without having to unplug every few minutes.
Helpfully for laminate flooring, this vacuum mop won’t saturate the floor in water - it doesn’t need to - because the combination of function and cleaning solution does the job without leaving a slippery floor in its wake.
The box comes with a starter kit of solution but we recommend ordering a larger bottle because vacuum mopping is addictive and you’ll need to keep supplies going. It’s rather like giving your floor a spa treatment and leaves the space smelling fresher. You can even see the muck that has been collected in the dirty water canister, showing how much hidden grime can live on hard floors.
Buy now £229.00, Amazon
Anker RoboVac X8 Hybrid
Eufy by Anker’s X8 Hybrid RoboVac is great at getting under furniture and navigating various terrain as well as cleaning nooks and crannies. The mop is also helpful, giving my kitchen and bathroom a speedy wash.
Using the mop function is fairly simple. It’s just a case of wetting an included cloth and sliding it along the bracket on top of the water tank. Fill the tank with tap water and close it, then slide the unit into the RoboVac - it will click and the bot will announce that the tank is attached when fitted properly.
Then just turn it on and let it get to work. Rather than drenching your hard floors, it leaves behind a thin film which dries quickly. Once finished, empty the tank thoroughly to stop smells from developing.
It’s good for getting cooking or light shampoo spills off floors, but a deeper weekly clean will still be required for most homes.
Buy now £335.00, Amazon
Shark Klik n’ Flip Automatic Steam Mop S6003UK
Stand back, for this is no ordinary mop. The diminutive design boasts, as it says on the tin, Klik n’ Flip Technology, which cleans and sanitises 99.9 per cent of common household bacteria using intelligent steam controls. It works on all kinds of floors: as well as bathroom and kitchen tiles or laminate, you can use the Klik n’ Flip mop on hardwood, lino, marble and stone too.
The best part is that once you’re done with one side of the microfibre pad, flip over the head and continue with the opposite side - no more grappling at manky cloth. You don’t even need to use any chemicals or detergent as the microfibre works effectively with just water. Simply sling the pad in the wash once you’re done, ready for your next cleaning session.
If you’ve got really tough stains that no amount of hand scrubbing seems to shift, it’s time to call in the big guns - in this case, the mop’s steam blast function. Use three settings to blitz away stubborn debris.
Super slim at 119cm x 11cm x 10cm, it takes up far less space than a traditional mop and bucket and as far as mops go, looks pretty slick too. Comes with a 12 month guarantee.
Also available at Currys.
Buy now £169.99, Shark
BISSELL SpinWave 205E Hard Floor Cleaner
For a different night on the tiles (it all changes once you hit your 30s, kids), a deep clean can be incredibly satisfying - just ask Mrs Hinch’s 3.8m followers.
‘Mop’ is such an elementary term for this machine, it’s so much more. Designed for hard floors, it boasts swivel steering with cleaning pads that can hit all those hard-to-reach spots and there’s a ‘trigger’ button that allows you to spray an extra burst of cleaning solution to see to those stubborn messes.
The water tank can hold 830ml so there’s no need to refill when you’re halfway way through a job. Standby for gleaming floors you could probably eat your dinner off - if you wanted to.
Buy now £143.00, Amazon
Lanhope Floor Scrubbing Brush with Soft Bristles
Before mop work comes the brushwork - cleaning floors of easily liftable debris is the first step in manually cleaning laminate floors. The soft bristles of this broom will gather dirt without scarring the floor's surface. It's set at a 45 angle to make it easy to hold and sweep across surfaces.
Buy now £14.99, Amazon
Flash Powermop Starter Kit
Forget tired old mops with smelly heads; Flash takes mopping into the 21st century. Okay, it’s not quite as exciting as that, but the PowerMop is definitely an upgrade from whatever you had before.
The core of the brush head soaks and removes grime up to two times faster than a traditional mop and bucket, leaving behind nothing but clean, hygienic surfaces and a light, pleasant scent. If you’re tackling caked-on dirt, use the battery-operated trigger to blitz through it with ease.
It comes with mop pads which can be recycled at Terracycle points.
Buy now £22.00, Amazon
Russell Hobbs RHSM1001-G Steam and Clean Steam Mop
Not your traditional mop and bucket set, this mop uses the power of steam cleaning alone to return your floors back to their gleaming best. Fill with water and after a 25-second heating up time, you’ll have just under half an hour to go over laminate flooring, wood planks or bathroom and kitchen tiles, which should be plenty for most homes.
Move the microfibre pads over stubborn stains and spots to ease them off, and once you’re done throw the pads in the washing machine for cleaning and to use again next time. Genius.
Sold with a one-year guarantee.
Buy now £34.00, Amazon
Minky Reflex Sponge Mop
Ever since cleanfluencer Mrs Hinch professed her adoration for Minky cleaning products, the brand has gone from strength to strength and reached a whole new audience. This sponge mop is part of the line-up and comes with a wringing mechanism that gets out twice the amount of water so you’re not sloshing it all over the place. The larger head also means more floor space is covered quickly, resulting in a faster clean.
Buy now £16.00, Very
Hetty SprayMop
This spray mop means you don’t need to have a bucket of dirty water sloshing away next to you as you move about the house. Instead a water tank, operated by a foot pedal, spritzes out just the right amount of water for the mop head to wipe up, taking dirt along with it.
The head is fitted with a removable microfibre pad that can be machine washed too, allowing you to use it time and again, saving cash and the environment too. It’s made to be used on wood, tile, laminate and vinyl surfaces.
Buy now £39.99, My Henry
Method Wood Floor Cleaner, Almond, 2 Litre Refill
Designed specifically for wood flooring, Method’s cleaner comes in a refill pack, making it easier to be more environmentally conscious. It can be used on sealed hardwood as well as laminate flooring and needs nothing more than a spritz and cleaning with a mop to get the job done. We recommend using a spray bottle to douse floors with an even amount of the non-toxic formula, equalling less mess.
Buy now £8.10, Amazon
Method Floor Cleaner, Wild Rhubarb
Bring Method to the madness and clean your floors speedily thanks to this all-purpose rhubarb-scented cleaner. Containing 739ml, the non-toxic formula is made from natural ingredients making it safe to use in all kinds of homes. There’s no need for a bucket or dilution either; simply squirt over the floor and use a microfibre mop to wipe everything clean.
Buy now £2.70, Amazon
X-PROTECTOR Chair Pads Floor Protectors
Not a cleaner, but something that will keep your laminate floors looking fresher in the long run. Apply furniture pads to the feet of sofas, coffee tables, bookcases and chairs to prevent future scratches. This large pack has 48 sticky-backed beige felt pads to dot on but there are different colours available to match furniture if you want a truly seamless look.
Buy now £5.00, Amazon
