Anyone have laminate flooring?

If so, how do you keep them clean with cats around? I have hair that gets stuck, and if the cats go on the floor or throw up, it leaves a stain or film that no cleaner can get out.

All the wood floor cleaners do not work since they leave a residue on the floor and it isn't exactly wood flooring.

Any suggestions?

I use Purple Power cleaner for any heavy duty messes..It will clean anything and clean on anything. BF uses it in the garage for his car stuff and I use it for mopping floors and stuff and we have what I believe to be "wood" laminate flooring in the addtion off our living room and it works great takes up any smell and leftover ickyness...Id try that..It doesnt smell the greatest though to me so I always go over it again with Mr Clean Febreeze so it smells better afterwards! You can get Purple Power at Lowes any AutoParts store..I havent checked WalMart or anything though to see if its there!

Hmmm... I have laminate and it is easy to keep clean. Cat barf included. You have to wipe that up and clean it asap b/c it has stomach acid in it. And that would damage wood, too.

Is it possible that you don't have a good quality laminate? I am trying to remember which brand I purchased, but it wasn't cheap.

No, we have good quality. It is by Wilson Art. I have a hard time keeping it clean.

Strange...I have a ton of laminate and I'll admit that some of it isn't the greatest quality, but it's pretty easy to keep clean. Just wipe up cat barf, and wipe the spot with a bit of soap and water.

Other then that, I have a swiffer sweeper that picks up pretty much all of he cat hair, and I put on the wet attachment for a 'wash' of the floor once every wek or so - the swiffer was on the suggestion of my mom who has 3 big dogs and laminate floors. I can't say I've ever had hair stuck in the laminate, though...

We have laminate flooring too, not the cheapest or most expensive brand, and we love it. No problems at all!
I found that it does show up mopping marks though, so now I either a) don't mop or b) go over it straight away with an old towel to dry it quickly. Seriously, a Swiffer does work very well.
I wonder (no offense) if perhaps your floor wasn't put together very well? You shouldn't be getting hairs stuck in between the boards like that.

Originally Posted by pushylady

I wonder (no offense) if perhaps your floor wasn't put together very well? You shouldn't be getting hairs stuck in between the boards like that.

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I was wondering that as well. There shouldn't be any places for the hair to stick between the boards. I've helped DH put in laminate floors and it's not as easy as it looks.

As for cleaning, I found a special cleaning product at WalMart for pet accidents that is made just for lamininate and tile. It's made by OdoBall (never heard of it before) and it's call Oxy Surface & hard wood floor cleaner. I bought it on a whim and it works great on both the wood and linoleum in the bathroom. It's only for spot cleaning though. For full cleaning, I vaccuum first, then wet swiffer up all the dog prints.

Originally Posted by pushylady

I wonder (no offense) if perhaps your floor wasn't put together very well? You shouldn't be getting hairs stuck in between the boards like that.

Click to expand...

That's what i was thinking because i have laminate flooring in every room of the house apart from the stairs and hallway and i've had no problems.

I swiff daily to get any hairs up, then i mop it with hot soapy water once a week and get no streaks.

I'm sorry, I should have clarified better. If I don't get all the cat hair (we have long hair cats) swept, miss a little and try to mop, it sticks on the top of the board, but is hard to get out. I guess also my problem is more of a film being left after mopping and not getting a nice shine.

Does that make sense?

No, the people that put the floors in are very good. The guy that owns the buisness has good ratings and has been in business for over 30 years.

What do you use for mopping? Some stuff will leave a sticky film and nothing will help that except changing brands.

I have the swiffer vac and that works really well for picking up cat fur and all the random stuff that is on the floor. I find the laminate floors get dirty very easily, but I love it compared to carpet.

I found there was a lot of marks on the floor after mopping. Earlier this week, I bought an H2O mop and it works really well and there is no marks on the floor at all. No cleaners that you have to buy either, it cleans with steam and can also be used to clean carpets (which I have not tried yet).