My other half is insisting we have engineered wood flooring over our underfloor heating in the lounge rather than my preferred choice of tiling. I will be using a steam cleaner that claims to reach temperatures of 140 degrees. Would we be better using an oiled finish or lacquered to protect the wood? I currently use the cleaner on a laminate floor with no underfloor heating and use tissue to mop up excess moisture and don't seem to have any visible problems.
Wood flooring and steam cleaners
- Thread starter soulsavor
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Do not use a steam mop on any type of laminate or engineered flooring! Firstly, no manufacturers recommend their use, secondly you should be able to clean the floor perfectly well with spray cleaner suited to the type of floor (polyurethane coatings on laminate and lacquered engineered floors are virtually impervious to staining anyway) and oiled or UV oiled finishes cannot be cleaned with a steam cleaner as the grain is open and will be damaged. Again, specialist spray cleaners are available for oiled floors, as are stain removing kits.
Thanks for your input Crazydaze. In my case my main aim is not to clean the floor but to kill virus' without the use of chemicals. My understanding is this can only be done with high temperatures such as my cleaner can give. I guess the Hardwax/oil finish is out also.
If you want to kill virus's etc, you need a hard, smooth, impervious floor to start with, this will make cleaning much easier and more efficient. A pourous surface like wood is probably the WORST floor covering you could choose. In the same way a ceramic cutting board is far far far more hygenic than a butchers block on a kitchen work surface. If you simply must use a steam cleaner and/or strong disinfectants/cleaners, a ceramic tiled floor with the minimum,if any, grout edgings would be best.
To put it simply, try finding a laminate, engineered, solid, vinyl, linoleum, LVT or safety floor supplier who is happy to have their product cleaned in the way you are planning and i'd be suprised.
In the real world, if you want a wood effect finish, I personally would suggest a really good quality laminate like Pergo, Quickstep or Parador and use the specialised laminate floor spray cleaners for cleaning, or a really nice LVT (which would be colder on a concrete subfloor) and likewise use the 'authorised specialist cleaning kits'.
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Appreciate feedback. Will pass info on. Thankyou.
with respect steam cleaners and other "kills 99% off germs" can be more off a danger than a dirty floor
our immune system works by having germs and bugs in small numbers attacking our bodies and we build up resistance to these bugs so when a large amount attacks we can shrug them off with a sniffle or minimal effort
you sanitize everything your immune system cannot develop a defence and even harmless things like pollen can cause problems
thats why asthma has shot through the roof in recent years
you cannot control the world outside so let the body do its work with a clean but not sterile house
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