How to Clean and Maintain LVT Flooring

LVT flooring is renowned for its ease of cleaning, practicality, and durability. It's the ideal floor for family homes where spills and stains can occur frequently. Whilst all our luxury vinyl floors are built to last, to get the most out of your new floor and keep it spick and span, you will need to give it some TLC.

Here's a quick list of how to clean LVT flooring and how to protect them. Followed by some useful LVT tips we've gathered from decades of experience.

Do

When Cleaning, Do:

Sweep or vacuum regularly
Once a week, wipe your floor with a specifically designed cleaner

To Protect Your Floor, Do:

Put doormats and rugs by doors
Wear soft soled shoes
Put felt on legs of furniture
Lift furniture to move it - even with soft pads, grit can scratch
Keep pets' nails trimmed

Don't

When Cleaning, Don't:

Use a steam cleaner
Use a wet mop
Use bleach-based products
Use abrasive materials such as scouring pads
Use soap-based products
Use furniture polish

To Protect Your Floor, Don't:

Wear high heels
Leave puddles to soak in

How Often Do You Need to Clean LVT Floors?

Cleaning your LVT floors on a regular basis is essential to maintaining their appearance, as well as their performance. The frequency at which you will need to clean will depend on several factors, including what type of household traffic you have and if the floor is used for commercial purposes.

If you do live in a busy home, you should sweep or vacuum daily to remove dust and grit that can cause scratches. Any spills need to be wiped up immediately to avoid more difficult-to-remove stains. And as mentioned earlier, LVT floors should be lightly mopped every week with a specially designed cleaner.

LVT Maintenance Tips

Doormats are useful for picking up moisture as well as grit before it gets to the floor. A must-have for any home.
When vacuuming and sweeping, pay extra attention to bevelled edges - these can pick up dust.
Soap-based products leave an unwanted film which can dull the surface of your floor over time. Instead, use warm water with proper floor cleaner.
Sweeping with the grain will leave less dirt on textured tiles.

How to Remove Stains from LVT Flooring

If you have a luxury vinyl tile with a stubborn stain, don't despair. There are some simple steps you can take to remove the stain to restore your floor. The key is to clean a spot as soon as the accident happens. And never use harsh chemicals or solvents that contain ammonia or acids, which will deteriorate the surface finish.

You will need to use a damp cloth with hot water and a specially designed mild cleaner to gently blot up any liquid spill or stain. Never scrub the floor vigorously, as you could damage the surface of the floor. Instead, softly dab the stain with your damp cloth.

Again, never use a wet mop to wipe the stain as excessive amounts of water can damage your floor. Before you even think about applying any type of cleaning agent - always read the label to ensure it is suitable for luxury vinyl.

After you have cleaned the stain, wait until the floor is completely dry until you walk on it again.

LVT Flooring Tools and Aftercare Products

LVT Tools

If you're installing your floor yourself, you will need the right gear. We supply a whole range of installation kits as well as a few handy gizmos which let you reach your full DIY potential! We've got knives for cutting, clips for securing, and spreaders for glue. Whatever it is you need to do, we've got the solution for all your needs.

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LVT Aftercare

Nothing beats the look of a newly laid floor, and we think it's important to give your flooring all the attention it needs. So, naturally, we've found the most effective aftercare products in the industry, balancing effectiveness with affordability.

For day-to-day care, we've carefully selected cleaning products for any situation, so you can keep your floor looking as fresh as the day you bought it.

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Refinishing Vinyl Flooring

Luxury Vinyl flooring is pretty hardy, but regular use over the years will wear away the top layer and cause a build-up of cleaner and polish. As a rough guide, most vinyl floors should be refinished every 6-12 months.

Have a good look at your vinyl flooring, if you can see light scratches and a faded finish, then it's time to take off the old finish and apply a new layer of floor sealer. Remember that the surface of vinyl flooring is not wood, so it doesn't need to be sanded down.

View our full range of vinyl aftercare products to help keep your vinyl flooring looking it's best for years to come.

Stripping the old finish

Mix floor stripper and cold water in a bucket. Apply the floor stripper to an area of the room - tackle it in manageable chunks of a few square metres at a time.
As the finish is stripped away the floor will become very wet and slippery, so be careful.
Use a mop to clear away the stripper.
If there is a heavy build up, this process may need to be repeated. Once the stripper is mopped up, leave the floor to dry.
Now vacuum the vinyl to pick up any dust and debris, make sure the floor is thoroughly cleaned, anything on the surface when you reapply the coating will get sealed into the vinyl tiles.

Applying the new finish:

Apply the vinyl floor finisher to the floor and apply with a pad or mop, wiping across the grain.
Allow the first coat to dry for 30 minutes.
Now reapply the second coat, wiping along the grain. Two thin layers should be enough, and both layers should be evenly spread.
Let the final coat dry for at least 6-12 hours.
Congratulations, you have now refinished your vinyl floor!

Important tip

Important tip: it's standard to add an extra 5% on to your area to allow for the usual wastage that occurs during installation. To calculate this, you'll need to multiply the total area by 1.05. However, parquet and tiled floors where the installation starts in the middle of the room require 7-10% wastage as it's likely you'll have to cut more boards than with a regular, strait-lay design.

Measuring for Carpet

First, you'll need to measure the length & width of your room. You'll also need to allow for extra material for the installer to "cut in". When carpets are fitted, they need to run at least 5cm up each wall so they can be trimmed more accurately to fit against your skirting boards.

The most common widths for carpets are 4 & 5 metres. The width always refers to the width of the carpet, and the length is the other measurement, be it longer or shorter than the width. For example, if your room is 2.7 x 3.9 metres, you would opt for a 4-metre width carpet and purchase 2.75 metres in length, giving you 11m2 in total. If you want the design of your carpet to be in a lengthways direction, you'd need to purchase 4 metres of the 4-metre-wide carpet, giving you 16m2 in total.

Measuring Carpet for Stairs, Hallways & Landings

Draw a detailed plan of all of the flat areas involved, including any rooms that you intend to do in the same quality and colour as your hall, stairs and landing (HSL). Write each measurement against each wall.

Make a note of how many straight stairs you have and measure the width of these stairs. We recommend allowing 50cm extra in length for each straight step.

Make a note of any ½ landings, winders & kites that you may have (kites and winders are triangular-shaped stairs that create a curve in your staircase). Measure the length and width of each of these steps remembering that the length is the measurement that runs over the nose of the step and the width is the measurement running from side to side as you look up the staircase.

You'll need to decide whether to use 4.00 or 5.00-metre width carpet. Make sure you check which widths are available in your chosen carpet before you make this decision as you don't want to work it out in 5.00-metre width to realise your carpet only comes in 4.00-metre width!

Now the fun part! Draw a rectangle on your piece of paper and write the width at the top of the page and then try and fit all of the pieces that you need into that rectangle, ensuring that all of your relevant measurements will work within the space you have allowed. Diagram 1 shows an example of a HSL plan.

Remember, if you are carpeting some rooms in the same carpet that you intend to put on your stairs then you can use waste material from the rooms to use on the stairs, this may mean buying less carpet for your HSL.