Luxury vinyl tile care guide

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Luxury vinyl tiles (often referred to as LVT) are found in a lot of British homes, thanks to their high-end look, budget-friendly cost and amazing features and benefits. Whether you’ve recently had LVT fitted in your home, or you’re considering luxury vinyl tiles for your space, their appeal is noticeable!

Once your flooring is fitted by our professional fitters, you'll want to take every precaution to ensure your LVT maintains its high quality and luxurious appearance, and we can understand why. We asked our experts to provide us with their best suggestions for cleaning and maintaining LVT flooring in your home so you could take care of your flooring in the best ways possible.

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Caring for LVT flooring

LVT (luxury vinyl tiles) is wonderful for busy homes, thanks to its amazing ability to be stain - and scratch-resistant, but like all of us, it still needs a little effort to keep it looking its best. Unlike engineered wood, you can’t varnish away any scratches or marks on LVT, as it has a protective top layer that can’t be varnished, so taking care of it from the outset is vital. Here are some top tips to help you care for your LVT flooring:

Sweep your flooring regularly to avoid the build-up of debris that could scratch your flooring.
Use felt floor protectors on your furniture legs to avoid scratches.
Use mats at the entrance of all the doors that lead to outside to avoid bringing dirt and debris into your home. But avoid rubber-backed mats as they can discolour your lovely new LVT – and we wouldn’t want that!
If you’ve set up a home office in your space with LVT flooring, then try to avoid furniture with wheels, as these will cause dents and marks over time.
If you do notice a recent food stain, applying a paste of a teaspoon of baking soda mixed with some drops of water and rubbing it gently on the stain should lift off most marks.

How to clean LVT flooring

Unlike a solid wooden floor, you don’t need to spend time oiling or waxing your flooring to keep it squeaky clean and shining. When it comes to cleaning LVT flooring and keeping it sparkling, you’ll want to ensure you’re in a good routine. The best way to clean LVT flooring is to sweep it frequently with a soft bristle brush – every two days should suffice. This will keep your surfaces clear of any debris that could cause minor marks and scratches.

For a deeper clean, use a solution of warm water and an LVT-friendly cleaning solution and a damp cloth or mop. Try to avoid using too much water or cleaning your floor with a mop too often, as this can damage your floors – like laminate and vinyl, LVT is made up of several layers of materials that can be sensitive to moisture. So, aim to keep your mopping to only once a week or less. LVT, like laminate, has great stain-resistant properties, but you should still aim to clean up fruit juice, alcohol, or soft drink spills as quickly as possible with an absorbent cloth.

GREASY PEASY LEMON SQUEEZY

Greasy marks from floor cleaners can leave a slight residue or film. But it’s OK, because all you need to do is mix 2ml of lemon juice into a bucket of water and clean with a wrung out mop.

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Luxury vinyl maintenance

With luxury vinyl tiles or planks, the best way to keep your flooring in great condition is to maintain and look after it from the very beginning – this way, you won’t need to replace your flooring as often, and you’ll maintain its beautiful effect much longer. You can find out more about the different effects and types of luxury vinyl tiles and planks you can buy from Tapi in our ‘what is LVT’ guide.

So here are some of the frequently asked questions that our flooring experts get asked about LVT to help you avoid making any mistakes when you care for your flooring:

Can you steam clean LVT?

No. You should avoid using steam cleaners or overly wet mops on all smooth flooring – laminate, luxury vinyl, and engineered wood are also not supposed to get too wet! You can find more information about how to care for different types of flooring, including laminate, in our care guides.

By using high heat and pressure with a steam mop, moisture will be forced down into the joins and lower layers of the wood, making the flooring warp and bow, so you will need to replace it much sooner than you expected.

What is the best luxury vinyl tile cleaning solution?

There is no single ‘best’ cleaner for LVT flooring, but there are some cleaning solutions that you should aim to avoid if you want to keep your flooring in tip-top-Tapi condition! Cleaners that contain harsh chemicals, ammonia or wax, or abrasive materials can permanently damage your surfaces. It’s best to spot-test your cleaners on a spare board before trying them on your flooring just in case they don’t agree with each other.

We know what we're doing when it comes to luxury vinyl tiles, but if you have any other questions like how to lay LVT, or want some style inspiration to spruce up your home, then please check out the rest of our Ideas Hub, or visit your nearest Tapi store.

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