Homemade Floor Cleaner for Every Room in the House

Floors, like dishes, have an absolutely incredible (read: mind-bogglingly annoying) way of getting dirty pretty much as soon as they’re cleaned. But hey, let’s just chalk it up to the fact that if dirty dishes mean full stomachs, then dirty floors mean a well-loved home.

Because floors need a good scrub so often, it can get annoying having to restock so many products for different types of floors. Luckily, whether you have hardwood, laminate, tile or vinyl flooring (or all four!), there’s a homemade floor cleaner you can make out of basic household ingredients.

How to Clean Floors with Homemade Floor Cleaner

Wood Flooring

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The most important thing to think about when cleaning hardwood floors is that you don’t want to damage the finish on the wood. Luckily, using homemade floor cleaners means you know exactly what is going on your floor. No harsh, unknown chemicals here!

Peppermint tea contains tannic acids that can improve your immune system, but the acids also help improve the look of your floors by attacking the dirt. Baby oil can work wonders gently buffing away and lifting dirt and grime. And dish soap is a gem when it comes to removing food stains and scrubbing bathtubs clean, so it comes as no surprise that it works well on flooring too.

What you’ll need: 1 quart water, 6 peppermint tea bags, 1 quart white vinegar, 2 tablespoons baby oil, 1 teaspoon dishwashing liquid

Directions: Boil the water, remove from heat, and steep the peppermint tea bags for 2 hours. Then, pour the tea into a bucket, and add the vinegar, baby oil and dishwashing liquid. Stir together. Soak your mop, wring it out and mop the floor.

Editor’s Tip: Be sure to wring your mop out regularly, as too much water can warp your beautiful flooring.

Laminate

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A solution of water and vinegar should be all you need to keep your laminate floor looking shiny and new. Are we surprised, though? Cleaning with vinegar is one of the easiest ways to cut down on fancy chemicals—vinegar cleans almost everything.

What you’ll need: 1 quart water, 1/4 cup white vinegar

Directions: Add the water and vinegar mixture to a spray bottle. Spray the solution directly on the floor, and then follow up with a damp cloth to buff away dirt. If you’d rather not be on your hands and knees, use a damp mop to wipe away the vinegar solution.

Because too much vinegar can damage laminate if it sits for too long, be sure to work in small amounts so you have time to mop up the vinegar right away. Once you’ve rubbed or mopped the vinegar into your flooring and it looks like the dirt has lifted, wipe down the laminate with a clean, dry cloth.

Tile

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Tile flooring, similar to linoleum, is very common in busy areas of the home: entryways, kitchens and bathrooms. Because these rooms often see lots of traffic, they’re probably going to be some of the most filthy. Like laminate flooring, tile (and linoleum for that matter) hold up well with chemical-free cleaning. Vinegar and water strike again!

What you’ll need: 1 gallon warm water, 1/2 cup white vinegar

Directions: Mix the solution in a bucket or mop pail, wring out your mop, and mop away. If you’re worried about the integrity of your tile floors against the strength of vinegar, you can always finish up your cleaning by wiping down your floors with a dry and absorbent cloth.

Because tile is typically in areas of the house that get really dirty, you might notice that your floors need a little more than water and vinegar. This viral cleaning hack for tile uses baking soda and hydrogen peroxide, and wow, what a difference that can make.

Vinyl

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Would you even be surprised if we told you that vinegar works to disinfect and clean vinyl floors too? No surprises here, you can use the same solution on vinyl that you use on laminate, tile and linoleum. You can also adapt the cleaning solution to your needs for vinyl by adding things like dish soap or baby oil.

What you’ll need: 1 gallon warm water, 1/2 cup white vinegar

Directions: Mix the solution in a bucket or mop pail. If your floors are really dirty, add a teaspoon of dishwashing liquid to penetrate the extra grime. For floors that are looking dull, add 1 or 2 capfuls of baby oil to boost the shine on your vinyl.