Are High Gloss floors a cleaning nightmare?

SillyStraw · November 2010

I don't know if this or the D&R board is a better place for this topic but I thought since this board is about cleaning I'd give it a shot. DH and I are considering installing high gloss laminate flooring in our living room/hallways/dining room. One contractor told us that high gloss is high maintanence and you are constantly seeing smudge marks everywhere and it just always looks smudgy.

Has anyone else had this experience? We both like the look of high gloss floors but I don't need a cleaning headache either... (we do have a dog if that matters)

Luvmy2sons · November 2010

In one word. YES. We got high gloss poly when we had our hardwoods refinished. DH wanted it. It looks amazing when it's clean, but after a week of 2 kids and 2 dogs it does look smudgy. I have to steam the floors 2x a week to keep them looking nice.

srs5624 · November 2010

High gloss floors are the equivalent of walking on mirrors or glass. It's a highly reflective surface that's bound to get gross looking very quickly.

I guess if you and your H don't wear your shoes in the house and you don't have pets or kids it wouldn't be too terrible... probably weekly cleaning and polishing.

Personally, I wouldn't want them. H and I wear our shoes in the house, we have a cat, a kid on the way and I just don't have the patience to clean the floors constantly. Our hardwoods all have a somewhat matte finish (not completely flat, but not glossy either). I can get away with mopping them once a month, but I prefer to do it every other week (I dry mop them every day to catch the kitty hair tumbleweeds).

Just Peachy · November 2010

We have marble floors. They stay happy most of the time. But when I mop them, it takes a special technique so as not to leave streaks. It took me months to figure out how to clean them (I don't have access to a steamer which would be a dream). The presence of dirt is also very apparent, I sweep two-three times a day to keep the dirt at bay. We are a barefoot family, so we feel all the dirt on the floor. I also have a toddler who makes sure that there is no shortage of dirt.

Temp6313048411121614 · November 2010

Don't get the high gloss laminate. We just installed it a couple of weeks ago and I'm very disappointed. I can mop it daily, and 20 minutes after I finish there are smudges all over it. You can see every spec of dust, every hair, etc. It looks amazing when it's perfectly clean, but it doesn't stay like that for long. If I would've had any idea, we would've gotten the regular laminate that has more of a grainy texture. We just spent $2k on 800sqft (yes, we got an amazing deal), about 40 man hours installing, and there's no way DH will tear this up and put new down. The only thing I can come up with is to put large area rugs in a few spots just to keep some of the floor from being so smudgy. We're having the twins' first b-day party here in a few weeks and I'm scared that even though I'll clean it before anyone gets here, people will think that my house is filthy and is never cleaned b/c the floors won't look clean.

Are High Gloss floors a cleaning nightmare?

Re: Are High Gloss floors a cleaning nightmare?

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