How to Clean Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring

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One of my requirements for flooring when we were building our house was it needed to be low maintenance and affordable. I didn’t want to have to be paranoid about every little rock and dent or water damage. We came across luxury vinyl plank flooring and when I learned how durable and versatile it was, it was a no brainer. Let me teach you how to clean luxury vinyl plank flooring!

What is Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring?

Luxury vinyl plank flooring (LVP) or tile (LVT) is essentially vinyl flooring in pieces instead of one huge sheet like linoleum.

Originally I wanted sheet vinyl flooring but we had too much open space in our floor plan that one sheet couldn’t span the area without splicing it.

Luxury vinyl is water resistant so you can install it in bathrooms, laundry rooms and the kitchen! That was a win, win, win for me! And our flooring guy loved us because he doesn’t like laying too many transition strips.

You can get glue down LVP or click together planks that float. We chose the glue down planks because it was the only option available in the pattern we wanted.

As a side note, if you are laying luxury vinyl in an old home with uneven floor, go with the glue down. A friend installed the click together on his uneven kitchen floor and he struggled with them heaving at the seams.

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Choosing Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring

How to Clean Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring My husband knew he wanted a wide plank design because he just didn’t care for the look of skinny boards as wood flooring. I knew I wanted a textured pattern because I’d been on other floors that were so slippery when wearing socks.

And I wanted the texture to camouflage any dents and scratches that I was bound to gift it with!

We found a sawmill plank style and loved it. It wasn’t the highest quality available, but we liked it so much we went with it anyways. Plus, so many reviews said that even the lowest quality LVP lasted a loooong time.

For more help with your flooring choices, Debbie has a wealth of information to guide your process.

Repairing Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring

Another great thing about LVP is that if you do damage the flooring, all you have to do is replace a plank or two rather than the whole floor.

Ours is glue down so we just have to take a hair dryer to the plank, blast it until the glue softens, peel up the bad plank and replace it with a new one.

We have an extra box of flooring in the basement for such times!

How to Clean Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring

I have a hard floor brush extension for my Electrolux canister vacuum so that’s what I use on cleaning day. For smaller
messes and spot sweeping, I use a broom with short, soft bristles. This Soft Sweep is my favorite broom because it catches and holds the dust and the bristles aren’t so stiff and long that it flings dirt.

Plus, these brooms are great for dusting floor boards!

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When it comes to cleaning, I’m all about low maintenance. Our flooring guy recommended just mopping with warm water. Yay!

Even though the brand of flooring we’ve got recommends their own cleaning product, just using water won’t void it’s 20 year warranty. But using soap products will!

So I only use water to clean it. [Even if your flooring company instructs you on cleaning, be sure to read the warranty clarifications for yourself!]

I have a toddler so I really don’t have to purposefully mop the floor that often. Actually, I’ve never. My son pukes, drops food, spills his water or dumps baking ingredients often enough that I’m always spot mopping my floor.

[Updated 3 years later… I now have two busy boys and there are crumbs and dribbles all over. I now have to mop more often. I love how the floor shines even with just water! The tricky thing is when it is freshly mopped, the floor is slippery so my 4-year-old easily wipes out if he’s wearing socks.]

During the winter I’ve mopped in front of the doors more often because of the salt and mud getting tracked in.

Also, I wipe the floor in front of my dishwasher fairly often because I’m a reckless dishwasher loader.

For mopping that requires more than just a rag clean-up, I use a flat head mop with a washable microfiber pad.

I just spray water with a spray bottle and mop. Once the mop pad gets dirty, just throw it in the washer so you aren’t constantly having to buy refillable pads!

Read More: Simple Spring Cleaning Checklist

Daily Homemaking Tasks

What I Learned from My Grandmother About Homemaking

I’m a lazy cleaner.

Really, my floor hides dirt very well with the texture and the printed design. I love it because I don’t vacuum every day and I don’t have one of those awesome Roombas! [But it’s on my wish list.] I go barefoot a lot in the house so I can feel the dirt that way and monitor when it’s time to clean.

Also, I have a very picky son. He doesn’t like dirty hands when he’s crawling. So if I see him stop and brush off his hands before continuing on, I know it’s time to clean.

As with any floor, places with less traffic will collect dust. Under our dining room table, under the TV stand and under the china hutch are three places that if the sun is shining just right I can see all the dust collected. My husband will let me know that he sees all the dust as a hint to clean.

Having Clean Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring is Easy!

Even though my floors aren’t as clean as they could be, I love the ease of maintenance for LVP. With the right broom, they are easy to sweep. The vacuum glides across them beautifully. And when I do feel the need to mop, I’m glad that all I need is a rag and warm water!