Since flooring is not something that you change often in a home, it’s important to take good care of your floors so they can last a long time looking their best!   After considering the wide variety of flooring options that Avalon Flooring offers, I decided on engineered hardwood (7” Charlemagne Oak from the Verissimo series).  After installing it, I knew it was important for me to understand how to maintain them so that I didn’t unknowingly ruin them.

So I’ve teamed up with Avalon Flooring to give you these 5 tips on How to Clean Engineered Hardwood Floors:

1. The best thing you can use to clean your floors is a broom and dustpan, or a lightweight sweeper like the Swiffer Sweep & Vac.  I picked one up at Target on a whim and found that it works great for getting up the dust and dirt.  Just be sure that the one you get is a dry sweeper, not the mop version because you want to minimize moisture on your engineered hardwood floors.  Which leads me to my next point…
2. Do not let spills or leaks linger.  Be sure to clean them up immediately!   Engineered hardwood can and will warp if spills or leaks linger, so wipe up any liquids immediately to avoid ruining your floors.   This is so important!
3. Keep in mind that you need to regularly clean the dirt and debris off your engineered hardwood flooring or else that dirt & debris will act as an abrasive material and will scratch your floor’s finish over time.  That’s why having a broom or Sweep & Vac close at hand will make it easy for you to regularly clean your floors.  I typically sweep mine every other day because #kids and #crumbs.  But if you live a kid-free, pet-free existence, you can probably get away with longer times between sweeping.
4. If you use a traditional vacuum, do NOT use the rotating bristle brush.  This will scratch the finish on the floor.
5. Avoid ammonia or vinegar based cleaners.  These are too harsh for your engineered hardwood and can do damage over time, so it’s best to avoid those.  So make sure to look at the label or do a quick google search to check that the cleaners you are using do not contain those ingredients.

By following these guidelines, you can be sure to enjoy your engineered hardwood floors for a long time to come!  It’s been 4 months since we finished installing our floors, and I have to admit that I have been so impressed by the quality of these Avalon floors and I would choose them all over again in a heartbeat!  If you are in the market for new floors and are trying to decide what kind is best and where to shop for it, you can read my post on that here.