Your laminate flooring is at risk from the very thing that’s designed to make your life easier. The vacuum cleaner.
TL;DR
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Always use the hard-floor attachment and keep it clean.
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Sweep first so grit does not act like sandpaper.
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Check hoover wheels and underside for trapped debris.
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Move the hoover gently, not like a lunatic dragging a fridge.
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Protect floors with mats, rugs, felt pads, and a bit of restraint.
Laminate is designed to appear sleek, smooth and vaguely expensive - without actually breaking the bank. It will tick all the boxes and remain firm, until you start dragging things across it. You may be thinking about furniture at this point, but the biggest culprit is your humble hoover.
The vacuum cleaner can quickly turn from trusted household ally into a feverish demon should you clean carelessly. Thing is, you’ll barely notice the scratches and indents to start with. Weeks, maybe even months after laying the floor and keeping the place clean, and your eye will suddenly focus on chipped thresholds and surface scars. You’ve been adding to it every single time you’ve whipped Henry out to remove dirt. The horror.
So, what can you do to prevent that precious laminate from turning into a scratching post for your hoover?
Use the right attachment…
…and clean the bristles
The first thing you need to grasp is that the tools matter. If you run the hoover directly across your household laminate (or hard wood flooring) with reckless abandon (the kind usually reserved for Arnold Schwarzenneger driving trucks through condominium walls) then you are asking for trouble.
Laminate is not invincible and the plastic or metal parts underneath your vacuum head are perfectly capable of gouging tracks across its surface if you allow them. This is why the manufacturers of vacuum cleaners supply special hard floor attachments, which are designed with soft bristles that glide rather than grind.
If you insist on using the carpet brush with its whirring rollers and stiff fibre strands, then you may as well take a belt sander to the floor and call it a day, or play floor darts with Freddy Kruger.
The correct hard floor tool is like giving your laminate a massage, instead of a medieval flogging, and that is not an exaggeration. You need to ensure the bristles are intact and clean. Bristles clogged with grit transform from gentle buffers into scratch-inducing saboteurs.
If your fancy hoover did not come with such an attachment then you must buy one. Do not attempt to wing it with whatever came out of the box. This is laminate we are talking about. It looks glossy until you ruin it and then it looks like the floor in a condemned pub. If you think you can get away with it, think again, because the floor will remember every idiotic shortcut you take.
How to actually use your hoover
I won’t patronise you here, but I will remind you that dragging your vacuum cleaner as though you are towing a small trailer remains a surefire way to score that dirt beneath those plastic wheel into the top laminate layer – forever.
What you should be doing is a steady and controlled motion. Not just lifting your vacuum cleaner into position, but also lifting and repositioning the head where necessary, rather than forcing it into corners like you are trying to ram down a door.
Before you even begin hoovering, take a moment to sweep or use a microfibre dust mop. This might sound like overkill, but it means you will not be grinding tiny stones or grit into the laminate as you vacuum. Think of it as clearing landmines before sending in the troops. Do it once and do it properly.
You will also want to check the underside of the hoover for rogue bits of debris stuck to the wheels or head. A pebble wedged under a wheel will carve a neat little gorge along your floor that you will notice every single time you walk over it for the rest of your natural life. It may even stalk you beyond the grave.
While we are on the subject of hoover wheels, remember that laminate does not respond kindly to you swinging the machine around like Thor’s hammer. Move with precision and control. If you feel the urge to yank the machine across the room by its hose, stop yourself and consider whether your laminate is worth more to you than a few seconds of impatience.
The real lesson here? Do not behave like an oaf dragging a reluctant dog on a lead. Behave like someone who actually gives a damn about the money they spent on their flooring.
Maintain and prevent
Finally we arrive at the bigger picture, which is maintenance and prevention, because here is the brutal truth. If you treat your floor like a car park then it will soon look like one.
Invest in mats at entrances to stop grit from being tracked across. Do not wear stilettos or steel-tipped boots indoors. Keep pet claws trimmed. All these tiny details matter and if you ignore them then you deserve all the scratches you get.
When it comes to hoover maintenance, check your attachments regularly and wash or replace them as needed. Do not let the rollers or bristles build up with grease, hair or dirt. A filthy hoover head is like a street sweeper from hell, that will smear and scrape instead of clean.
Empty the dust container often because an overstuffed hoover loses suction, which means you start pushing harder, which in turn risks more scratches. Hoover smarter, not harder. Finally, if you want your laminate to look pristine rather than like a battlefield, embrace the holy trinity of rugs, felt pads under furniture and restraint with your hoover.
Rugs absorb the brunt of wear, felt pads protect against sliding chairs, and restraint stops you from charging across the laminate with all the subtlety of a tank. Do these things consistently and your laminate floor will last. Fail to do them and you may as well get used to apologising to your guests for the collection of scratches that now resemble an attempt at abstract art.
If you find this advice overly pedantic then consider how pedantic you will feel when you are on your knees staring at a permanent scratch that mocks you. A blissful home is often a happy home, but a floor decorated like an ice rink? Not a healthy look.
