You probably already have all of the ingredients needed to make your homemade floor cleaner — one which gets your floors just as shiny clean as the commercial stuff.
So, why would you want to? Because it’s good!
INDOOR AIR QUALITY MATTERS
Commercial cleaning products contribute significantly to indoor air pollution. For people with allergies or asthma, indoor air quality is critical to good health.
Now, add in pets or young children (or even teens like mine) who spend a lot of time on the floor. Do you really want their paws or pacifiers having that much contact with harsh solvents?
SO DOES YOUR MONEY
If that’s not enough to convince you, it also costs just pennies to make enough to homemade floor cleaner to last for months. That’s right: pennies.
Why shell out $3 or more for a commercial cleaner that’s bad for you and your family when you can whip up your own with ingredients you already have?
WORKS ON ALL HARD FLOORS
You only need this one homemade floor cleaner to clean every hard flooring surface in your home.
✓ It works on laminate.
✓ It works on hardwood.
✓ It works on vinyl, linoleum, and tile.
✓ Yep, you can use it on marble or granite.
✓ It even works on cement!
Have I mentioned that, after powering through grime, it also leaves a gorgeous shine?
INGREDIENTS MATTER.
Please note that there are good reasons for using the specific ingredients below. If you change the recipe, you’re changing the formula, and that may alter your results. Here’s why this Homemade Floor Cleaner uses what it does.
Water: Loosens grime and acts as a suspension for the other ingredients.
White vinegar: Degreases and provides mild disinfection.
Rubbing alcohol: Speeds up evaporation to avoid streaks. Degreases and helps disinfect.
Liquid dish soap: Dissolves bonds between dirt and floor. Degreases. Cleans.
Essential oils: Offsets the smell of vinegar and rubbing alcohol. If you have pets or children, verify the safety of any essential oil you use.
How To Make Homemade Floor Cleaner
Ingredients:
- 2 cups warm water
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 1/4 cup rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol (surgical spirits in the UK)
- 3 drops liquid dish soap (See Important Notes below)
- 5-10 drops essential oils (optional)
IMPORTANT NOTES
We all like to swap things around in DIY cleaning recipes but, before you do, there are some things you should know:
• Don’t use a dish soap that contains moisturizers, antibacterial ingredients, or “oxygen bleach.” I use Dawn Original (Classic). (Fairy is the UK substitute.)
• Do NOT swap Castille soap for the dish soap. Castille is an oil-based soap and will leave streaks and smears.
• If you use essential oils, be sure they aren’t compounds (i.e., those with fragrance added to grapeseed or some other form of oil). I buy these from Amazon.
• I’ve been using this on marble and granite for years without a problem. The vinegar in this solution is very heavily diluted by the water and other ingredients, so it doesn’t remain acidic enough to cause etching. If you have any concerns, don’t use it.
How To Use Homemade Floor Cleaner
The recipe above works equally well regardless of whether you use a bucket or spray bottle to dispense your floor cleaner as you mop. Of course, if you use a bucket, you’ll have to dump out what’s left after use, while anything left in the spray bottle can be stored in a dark, cool place for future cleanings.
GOT A MOPPING ROBOT?
I adore my mopping robot, which I use pretty much every day.
Since the cleaning solution doesn’t get into the robot itself, just transferred to the mopping cloth by the pad’s wick, I’ve been using a diluted version without a problem. Add two tablespoons to the reservoir and fill it the rest of the way with water.
More How-Tos:
Daily Cleaning Routine Checklist
How to Clean a Keurig (even if you think it’s broken)
Pin Homemade Floor Cleaner for All Types of Floors
Dearest Katie,
As always, very to the point and health conscious and frugal. Love the tip of using peppermint oil.
Hugs to you,
Mariette
Thank you, Mariette!
Well, I’ll be darned!
I was reading your latest post and thought, okay, the furniture polish, air freshener and vinegar tips have been amazing, but alcohol and vinegar (mixed together) on my floors…well, let’s say I was skeptical.
Mixed up a trusty spray bottle of this concoction, and lo and behold, it is fantastic! You are right, it dries to a beautiful shine and the kitchen smells delightful. If it works this well on my hardwoods I will be ecstatic.
Thanks for another huge money saver, especially one which honestly does what is advertised.
I hope you and your family are having a wonderful summer.
I’m so glad you gave it a try, Sue! I love the way it cleans my white ceramic tile floors. Those things are the bane of my existence! How’d it work on your hardwood?
I did the hardwood floors this afternoon and this mixture did a beautiful job.
These floors are light oak and no matter the care, they pick up everything that comes down the pike and with a house well used by family and friends the everything adds up quickly.
Hubby thought the kitchen and hallway tile I did last night looked great but after I finished the hardwood today, he was even more impressed.
Having used the peppermint oil in this mixture, I was curious if the combination you mention above gives the same fresh scent, or does the citrus in the orange overpower the peppermint? Thanks!
I have sprayed my cerami c tile floors with rubbing alcohol and mopped with hot water for years , they still look new,
Rubbing alcohol really does a wonderful job cleaning things.
Thank you for the wonderful website and for your tips and advices. One question, what is your opinion about steamers, steam mops and similar products? They also don’t use chemicals, only pure steam. But do they really desinfect? Anyway, I will start using your home made products with vinegar. Thank you again.
I just gathered up 4 (yes 4) “steam cleaners” to throw away. They all worked great for a couple months and then would clog even though I used distilled water. I would put them in the garage and buy another. Now I am trying to be frugal as well as green. I bought an O Cedar mop with spinning basket and am going to try this floor cleaner. Steam cleaners are a waste of money.
Thank you for the idea! Just wondering how much of each item in the recipe do you use? I know it says equal parts, but not sure how much exactly. Please let me know. Thanks!
Jill,
it just depends on how big your container is. But as an example you could use 2/3 c vinegar, 2/3 c alcohol and 2/3 c water and then add your dishsoap and the oils if you are adding them. It doesn’t matter how much just that your water, alcohol and vinegar all have to have the same amount.
Exactly, Ruth!
Hi Katie, the reviews for this floor cleaner are exciting, as it is so discouraging to try a new product, homemade or commercial, and get poor results. My question is, is this a no-rinse recipe? I really don’t like the idea of mopping twice, once to clean and then again to rinse. The use of dishsoap is what makes me question this. Please let me know. thanks for your tips.
Yep, it’s a no-rinse solution IF you only use the small amount of soap called for. Too much soap will actually attract dirt if you don’t rinse it off, but this recipe involves very little. Just enough to help lift dirt.
I am curious why you can’t use Castille soap?
Castile soap is a base, and so it shouldn’t be used with an acid like vinegar (or lemon juice) because they’ll cancel each other out. The vinegar will just turn the castile soap into its original oils, and those will leave streaks on your floor.
Great advice! I am just wondering if this works well on vinyl wood planks. Over time my floor has built up a film that I hate. The shine is gone. I feel it never looks clean even though I just mopped it. Any suggestions? Thanks
It should definitely clean them, but whether it removes that film or haze depends on its cause. Sometimes that film is the result of detergent buildup, and this formula would definitely remove that. You could even skip the liquid dish soap for the first mopping or two if you’re concerned.
I used this on my vinyl floors and they dried very dull with no shine.
Not sure what the problem is… I used 2 cups of water, 2 cups of alcohol and 2 cups of white vinegar and the 1/2 tsp of dish liquid and my floors look duller than before I did and they also have streaks.
Did you use a dish soap that claims it’s “gentle on hands” or anti-bacterial? Both have additives that can leave a haze.
Can you please tell me specifically about how much water, vinegar, rubbing alcohol, and liquid soap to use? I know that the amount of water, vinegar, and rubbing alcohol must be equal, but what about the liquid soap? Does it have to be only three drops or more? Does it depend on the amount of water, vinegar, and rubbing alcohol used?
I just tried this on my ceramic tile floors and it’s great! I also did the peppermint & orange essential oils…which smelled nice! My floors look very clean, clean, clean! Thanks for this non-toxic cleaner.
I’m very glad you liked it, Anne!
I’m confused. The ingredient list gives specific amounts of water, vinegar, and alcohol, but the instructions say to combine equal parts. Which is it? I tried it with the amounts on the ingredient list and it seemed to work fine. My only problem is it smelled like straight vinegar and I couldn’t smell the essential oils at all. Anything to help with that?
My apologies, Michelle. I’d posted the “equal parts” recipe to begin with then, as people with flooring types other than my own began to have problems, tinkered with the recipe — and used it on different flooring types — until I came up with a specific one, which has worked well for me in trials on ceramic, porcelain, laminate, linoleum, vinyl, and hard wood.
As for the vinegar smell, there are a number of factors to consider. First, vinegar always gives a strong scent initially but that disappears as it dries; by the time you’re done mopping it won’t be noticeable. If you’d prefer not to smell the vinegar at ALL you can add more essential oil, but keep in mind that when you do you are adding additional oil which might affect the shine and lead to streaking.
I personally just ignore the vinegar smell and get on with the mopping. Thirty minutes later there’s no trace of the vinegar in the air. (I’ve had company confirm this.)
Great recipe! I like using essential oils my home cleaning products and I’m trying this recipe right next weekend. Thank you for sharing it!
I know this was posted up quite awhile ago but I just found it now and its genius, I am ditching all my chemicals… chemicals to clean..oxymoron there! Anyways my question is, does this have to rinsed off floors once used to clean the floors?
Your enthusiasm about natural cleaning methods is commendable, Anne, but it’s not realistic to get rid of all chemicals to clean. Water, for instance, is a chemical: two hydrogen atoms bonded to one oxygen molecule through a covalent bond. So I think what you mean is you’re getting rid of harsh commercial cleaning products. 🙂
To answer your question: no, you don’t need to rinse the floor cleaner.
Why can you not substitute the dish soap for castile soap?
Sorry. I’ve seen another recipe which contains the following:
1 gallon hot water,
1 cup vinegar,
2 tablespoon castile soap,
optional: 8-12 drops essential oil
However you say the vinegar will cancel the castile soap out, correct? Does that mean the above recipe will not work?
Thanks
I haven’t tried that one, James, but in general the acidity of vinegar will neutralize the castile soap, which is a base, so they cancel each other out.