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 without introducing irritants to your home.
Homemade Floor Cleaner
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 Budget
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?
Works With Mopping Robots
I’ve written before about the Cleaning Robots that Work for Me. To this day, I adore my mopping robot not only because it makes my life easier, but because I can use this homemade floor cleaner with it. What’s not to love about shiny, clean floors without lifting a finger?
Why It Works
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. At this dilution, it’s safe for natural stone surfaces, because it’s not acidic enough to cause etching. I’ve been using this on marble and granite for years without a problem. If you have any concerns, don’t use it.
Rubbing alcohol: Speeds up evaporation to avoid streaks. Degreases and helps disinfect.
Liquid dish soap: Dissolves bonds between dirt and floor. Degreases. Cleans. Don’t use a dish soap that contains moisturizers, antibacterial ingredients, or “oxygen bleach.” I use Dawn Original (Classic). (Fairy is the UK substitute.) Please don’t swap Castille soap for the dish soap. Castille is an oil-based soap and will leave streaks and smears.
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. 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.
Homemade Floor Cleaner Recipe
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)
Combine in a bucket or spray bottle. Store unused mixture away from heat.
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
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.)
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!
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?
Did you use a dish soap that claims it’s “gentle on hands” or anti-bacterial? Both have additives that can leave a haze.
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.
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.
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!
Exactly, Ruth!
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.
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.
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!