Most likely the installers left a coating of glue on the laminate when they installed it.

A mixture of 50/50 vinegar/water will remove a haze from laminate. If it does not, then it is most likely a light coating of glue from sponge used to wipe over the floor by installers.

Google how to remove glue residue from laminate and perhaps you will find out how to remove the glue.

This laminate flooring has been down now going on 5 years. Do you still think it would be a glue issue? I used water and vinegar again Sunday and in places I can get a shine and others it's still so dull and hazy it makes me sick. I'm sorry your mom has this same problem. Trust me I feel for her! Has she had any luck? I figure on and hands and knees which kills me is more effective than a mop. I wish I could find a great microfiber or any mop that would make this easier. Oh how I regret!

Call Mannington and discuss with them: Mannington Consumer Services 1-800-FLOOR-US (1-800-356-6787).

Mannington website

I feel for you, I really do. My sister put down laminate after me. I haven't had any problems with mine. But I did help her to get rid of the haze ( I felt horrible l because I told her it was so low maintenance, and it was for me, just not her I guess)

She used different products on her flooring, so I suspect it was residues. I just used a mixture of water, alcohol, and a few drops of dish soap, mopped and swept with a microfiber mop. Nothing else. No steam mop since I read steam mops can warp and damage laminate.

To get the haze off my sister's floor I spot treated it with Krud Kutter, from the paint section of my hardware store. Since the spot treated area was not damaged, I cleaned the whole floor with it, and the haze/residue was gone. I have heard good things from others about Krud Kutter, and I haven't had a bad experience with it yet.

I would call the company and talk to them, but if they won't help you it won't hurt to try it.

We don't have laminate but my son-in-law had some kind of flooring that his dogs just wore out the surface. He had it replaced. Either of two processes is going on with yours. Either you have already worn through the surface finish or you have deposits doing this. I doubt it could be deposits given the extreme cleaning you have done. That leaves wear. Here I believe you have two options. First try a wax liquid and polish and see if that works. If it doesn't you may have to remove the wax and totally refinish the floor with a varnish. I hope you don;t need that. Talk to Mannington.

I have laminate in my basement and use nothing but a wrung out terry clothmop head on it (water only). No soaps or detergents of any kind.

Hi everyone and thank you to everyone for sharing tips! I did call Mannington since that's the laminate dark we have. They of course said they hear this all the time customers being misinformed by installers or even the store you buy from. They said they sell Mannington cleaner and that is all they recommend well ever! I asked at the store when we bought all this flooring and had it installed if they had Mannington cleaner or did they make one and I was told by the owner no we don't carry one I don't think they make one and my wife and I have this same flooring in some rooms and she used her swifter products and shark steam mop. Seriously as the customer yes I believed him and I know using a shark steam mop probably is what has made it lose its shine seams splitting open and warped places I am not throwing shark under the bus here however all their tv shows and the shopping network shows and sharks website say safe for laminate flooring. Please trust me I know some people may have a shark and it's not hurting your floor but it will within time. I have tried the homemade cleaner the alcohol a drop of dawn and I have tried the homemade cleaner with white vinigar with microfiber mop and probably every other mop on the market. I have gotten on my hands and knees doing small areas at a time and drying it immediately with soft towels. If company is coming I sweep or I do have a Dyson that I can turn the brush off making it safe for flooring and I have a bissell pet vacuum so I do that and oh it takes hours on your hands and knees there are areas yes it looks better but other areas like the huge areas does it look cleaner yes and as soon as you walk on it there are footprints or we have 2 pugs if they walk I have little dog paw prints. We have rugs where I have split open seams to hide them and Mannington says this damage is from using a steam cleaner and swifter products. No I liked the ease of the steamer or swifter on my tile bathroom floor but if I only would have known. It's so horrible that brands say they are safe for laminate and no steam cleaner is so I want to help people to not ruin their new flooring. Mannington said moisture gets under it and seams breaking open the floor buckling or places where any damage occurs that no it can take months or longer to show but you immediate destroy your shine and gloss. This was top of the line Mannington laminate flooring too. They also said with the wet swifter products and even the home cleaners you make water or moisture gets under the floor and it begins to ruin it. I know Bissell Pet Symohony is the newest steam cleaner that they say is safe for laminate but I am scared to try it. What I saw with steam was a dull cloudy film develop. I tried to get all that off and areas not hurt i had better luck but I just noticed this week down the hallway was warping and it looks like it's bubbled up if that makes sense. Can anyone please help with any suggestions. Don't say replace it lol I can't! I have been told to buy a Bono mop and the Bono cleaner and it might help clean it and restore some shine and I have been scared I don't know anyone who has used Bono then Pledge has come out with a cleaner they claim is safe for laminate flooring and I haven't tried it either. I appreciate those of you that offered suggestions and I tried everything! I did ask Mannington if they have a cleaner to just maybe restore my shine and make it easy to clean with and they said once laminate is ruined by the steam cleaners or using wet products like swifter no they don't. I like swifter and Shark products I am not bashing either brand. I didn't know anyone that had laminate that I could ask what I should do. If I would have been told from day one I would have used Mannington cleaner the store we bought from didn't have it and I did what he told me his wife does. Ours being so dark in color makes this harder.

I would appreciate help from anyone who reads this. I'm scared to try new products claiming they are safe for laminate flooring. One problem is we have the majority of the house done in the laminate I wanted new carpet but my husband wanted laminate due to our dogs. I will admit when it was installed it was beautiful and it breaks my heart it doesn't shine and look pretty like it did.

Surely someone who reads this may have had this same horror story and if anyone wonders why the store we bought from didn't have the cleaner it's because we live in a small town and the closest big name store we all know are like 40 miles away each way and we went local it was cheaper and this store had done previously replaced carpet in our home. We did have all new carpeting done by them in the bedrooms when the laminate was put in.

Has anyone had this same experience that could please help. Dark floors have to be swept a lot and having 2 dogs even more sweeping!

I just would love my floor to be easy to clean there must be some way!

I wish we would have gone with hardwood it wasn't that much more in cost but my husband said laminate would be better.

I never knew it showed footprints so bad either not just ours but the dogs. I clean on my hands and knees and the second you walk around its smeared and shows it all!

Please if anyone has any suggestions let me know or what do I need to buy? I have read both good and bad reviews on Bona and Pledge. I know everyone has their own issues with products. I will try anything at this point.

I did call Mannington since that's the laminate dark we have. They of
course said they hear this all the time customers being misinformed by
installers or even the store you buy from. They said they sell
Mannington cleaner and that is all they recommend well ever!

Please if anyone has any suggestions let me know or what do I need to buy?

I did ask Mannington if they have a cleaner to just maybe restore my
shine and make it easy to clean with and they said once laminate is
ruined by the steam cleaners or using wet products like swifter no they
don't.

As you can see from the sentences I extracted from your previous post, you have answered your own question. The next question is what to do about this. And the answers to that - ones that I can think of - are:

Learn to live with the appearance of the flooring as is. Find a way to stop obsessing about it. Get off your hands and knees and find a simpler way to clean the floor, such as vacuuming it with a hard floor attachment to remove the dog fur instead of cleaning it with any liquid.

Put down area rugs in strategic locations so you don't see as much of the hard flooring.

Contact Mannington and see if you can send them a section of the flooring so they can determine whether it really was ruined by the cleaning methods recommended by the installer or whether there is a flaw in your laminate pieces.

Sue the installer in small claims court for damages based on the faulty information provided.

Since Mannington says the floor is already ruined, why not just apply a new finish on top of the floor. That is cheap and lasts a long time. There are plenty of clear finishes you could use. Even if it has a slight color that shouldn't show on a dark floor. Just be sure it dries tack free. Do a limited area; let it dry; and see if it suits you. What have you got to lose?

I had the same issue a few weeks ago. I noticed that my floors were looking hazy. I have dark laminate flooring as well. I tried the vinegar and water first and that did nothing. What worked for me and although you've used the shark steam mop, it did work for me.

1) Buy a new Shark Steam mop pad.

2) Soak the pad in HOT vinegar water, wring it out and put pad on mop.

3) Steam mop slowly a small area.

4) Take a old cotton towel and with your feet, shimmy the floor really good until it is completely dry. You can do this on your hands and knees as well. This worked for me.

I've read you can get a floor buffer as well. I just bought new laminate flooring to redo my kitchen due to a dishwasher leak and the NEW flooring out of the box has a bad haze on it....didn't notice it until the installers installed it. So gonna have to do the above again, but why is there a haze on new flooring.....

Does anyone know what I can use to hide or fill places that have burst open on my
dark laminate flooring? Anyone who has had a place burst open as you know when you touch it the floor just pills more the yellowish color since it’s damaged laminate flooring. It’s happened so many places I can’t cover them all with rugs or furniture. It would be way too expensive to pop up and replace boards. As my previous post stated I made the huge mistake of listening to the installers about how to keep my new laminate floor clean and looking good. If I had the money I would replace all the flooring but I currently can’t. Mannington does not help and they can’t I understand. It’s just to the point I’m embarrassed to death for people to see the floor in places broken open and nasty looking. Neither my husband or myself knew that laminate flooring would do this. Before anyone comments we should have done our research better, we were told by the company we purchased from and the installers which one of the installers owns the company!

i have the same problem. my new laminate floor get lots of sunshine on them so they show every streak. I have tried everything mentioned on this site and all others for a year and not luck. they are driving me crazy. they have a dull haze on the right after washing,Tried bona, vinegar, alchol, water special cleaners recommended by mannington. NOTHING works.

I notice that one of you has had good luck with the Lamanator Plus products. I have seen their online promotion--a Deep Scrub cleaner, a Restorer product, and a maintenance product. Am wondering if I should get it for my laminate floors, which are not bad (just a little dull, and they are practically brand new). Has anyone else tried these products? Would love to hear how well they work.

I found lamanator on amazon and ran the reviews through fakespot (https://www.fakespot.com/product/lamanator-plus-floor-restorer-1-quart) with good results. However several recommend this gives the same result for less $$$ zep hardwood and laminate floor refinisher. I have the exact same issue you described... have had footprints and residue with every cleaner, then steam mop makes is worse.

I bought the Zep refinishing stuff and used after a final steam mop and alcohol solution cleaning (for this prep only). It was absolutely the solution to this problem. Now I"ll stick to just warm water and maybe give the zep regular cleaning solution a try. Never never again will I use Bono, pledge, or that other junk.

I have dark chocolate truffle laminate by Mohawk and I have the same problem! I have tried Steam Mopping, Vinegar and Water, and Rejuvinate. Nothing works. As soon as I clean the floors, BOOM the footprints show and the haze shows. So, are you saying that I should try ZEP before Laminator Plus?

Of course, I have the same problem or I wouldn't be reading this. I think our problem is that we have the dark floor. I had medium dark laminate floors in my last house and they were a breeze to keep. The very dark laminate just shows everything. Before I read above about Zep, I ordered the Lamanator Plus Restorer from Amazon. It won't be here for 10 days so I may try the Zep if Home Depot has it. I also have a dog and every hair he sheds shows. My advise is that no one should ever install a very dark laminate.

I've got you all beat!!! I've had light laminate flooring my Mannington for over 12 years!!! I'm over 70 yrs old so cleaning the floors is a killer. When my husband was alive he OVER spread the cleaner, even though it said one squirt for a 3 x 3 sq. ft. area. He'd squirt, squirt, squirt, squirt. It wasn't long before we had the horrible haze, with prints showing up everywhere. Then when he was sick and dying, he accidentally left the water running in the sink which overflowed or splashed to much in the tub and shower. I DON"T blame him as our floor was bad before he made it worse. Now as a senior citizen, on a very tight fixed income with no life insurance on my husband; well needless to say I have to just live with it at this point, as I can't afford to replace it. Like most of you above I can be obsessed with trying to get it clean!!! I even have a cat who like to take her toy mice and drown them and walk across the floor making wet paw prints.

I truly love the look of my floors when clean; and I get lots of compliments on my house and floor; it's just that they just don't stay clean and when the light from the windows hits the floor I can see EVERY spot, hair, dust etc. To make matters worse; ha ha, I even have laminate in my laundry room, kitchen, hall walls and one bathroom. I only have carpet in the bedrooms and tile in the Master bath. I've come to realize that all the solutions and products mentioned by others have only made my floor worse. The answer is to keep-it-simple. Use ONLY the product recommended by the manufacturer and NOTHING else. So at this point it's just to late for me; so I only attempted to keep it clean!!

Hi All,

I have been reading these flooring issues and feeling your pain. Truly. I have spent HOURS reading about how to get the film off of my dark laminate flooring. So pretty when it's clean but oh so not pretty once anyone walks on it or the dogs leave paw prints when they come in front outside (I have two shih tzu's so we are not talking large dogs here). It was to the point where I wanted no one on the floors after they were cleaned so they would look nice. Ummmm... not very realistic or practical.

Trust me when I tell you that I have tried everything, and purchased everything, that worked for others. I will tell you what finally worked for me- FINALLY.

I bought some Windex with vinegar in it. I sprayed it on the floor and let it sit for five minutes. You have to do this in small sections so it takes a long time to complete. Once it's been on that section for five minutes you need to get down on your hands and knees and clean it with a soft rag (I used a flour dishtowel) with as much pressure you have in you. Then you need to dry it immediately. It seriously did remove the film. You might have to do this more than once if you have thicker film on your floors from products you have used.

I was so nervous to walk on it after about a half hour of doing this, but guess what? No prints! Nothing. It looked just like it did before it was installed and before I used multiple products on it.

I have the same flooring in the lower level and tried to take a shortcut, so I sprayed the Windex with vinegar on it, let it sit for five minutes, and mopped it off. I mean- this takes a lot less time and elbow grease. But, it didn't work. Shucks.

I still have the lower level floor to do so I will take a before and after picture of it and post it.

It worked on my family room floor beautifully. This lower level floors gets a lot more traffic so this should be interesting. However, getting that film off is key. That is what is leaving all of the footprints and dog prints and everything else. I could literally draw on my floors through the film. It was disgusting.

Try it- you have nothing to lose but about $3.50 for the bottle of Windex with vinegar and some time and effort. I'm so happy it worked on at least one of the floors!!

From now on I plan to clean these floors with a clean fiber cloth mop and the Windex and vinegar spray. This will not leave a film. If I have problems with that (I haven't tried it yet) I will use plain water. No more products on the floors- lesson learned (the hard way!).

Patricia

Hi, Patricia, you have more energy and determination than I do. I just decided to move. :-) Love the floors in the new place. They are much lighter than the dark floors that I hated so badly. These are so easy to keep clean. I'm happy again!!!

Hi Elizabeth,

Well that is wonderful news and I am glad you are happy- yay!

I happen to LOOOOOOOOOVE the look of the darker laminate so nothin' was gonna stop me from trying to get that dang film off. I must admit, though, that after spending thousands on the flooring (they are less than 1.5 years old), I contemplated getting new floors because I was so distraught over how filthy they always looked. So far, my last ditch effort is working so finger's crossed that it continues. I definitely prefer the look of darker laminate than lighter laminate and I have both in my house.

Thanks for writing. :)

Patricia

Best of luck.

I tried the Laminator products. I sat on my butt and hand washed my whole house with the first product which removed some of the film and then the everyday product. It worked the first couple tries, Now after a few months I am back to the film and footprints. Not sure if I want to invest again and try again hand washing on my butt...I am 63 and these floors are wearing me out!!!

I have same problem. No idea on how to keep the floors clean. I too use swifter. Also have four dogs I’ve given up

Here are the details procedure for the best laminate floor cleaner for shine