How to Mop a Floor Well

Mops are one of those tools that can make cleaning easier if you use the right one and the correct technique. Here’s how to choose, use and store your mop.

Steps to Mopping Floors

When your floor feels sticky and dull, you probably reach for the mop to deal with the mess. But using it the wrong way can leave your floors just as sticky or even covered with streaks. It may seem like a simple, straightforward process, but many people overlook some of the steps and then wonder why their floors look so bad. Let’s make sure you’re mopping yours the right way.

Step 1. Prepare the Floor

If you’re only concerned with cleaning high-traffic areas as part of a daily tidying routine, you can simply clean around things without moving them. On the other hand, if you’re mopping as part of a weekly house cleaning routine, you need to clear the floor by picking up toys, pet bowls, small rugs, and even moving small furniture if you live in a dusty environment, have pets, or have allergies.

Step 2. Sweep or Vacuum

It’s important to sweep or vacuum before you mop to remove dust — otherwise, your cleaning solution will turn that dust into mud and leave streaks on your floor. If you’re just doing the high-traffic areas, an electrostatic floor sweeper like a dry Swiffer can do the trick. When it’s your weekly cleaning session, you’ll want to be more thorough and vacuum the right way wall to wall.

Step 3. Pretreat if Needed

To speed up mopping, pretreat dried-on spills by wiping them with warm water or a cleaning wipe. This step keeps the mess from contaminating your cleaning bucket and makes floor cleaning go faster. Pretreating spills on your floor can also help reduce streaks when you’re mopping. Try my homemade soft scrub for this.

Step 4. Choose the Right Mop for Your Floor

Whether you use a bucket or not depends on the type of mop, and which one is best for you depends on the type of floor you have.

For hardwood, engineered wood, and laminate floors, a spray mop or a microfiber mop and a spray bottle of floor cleaner are ideal since they don’t use a lot of liquid. If you do use a mop and bucket, use a wringer or spinner to extract excess moisture. Avoid using steam since the heat can damage your floor.

For ceramic tile, vinyl, linoleum, and stone floors, you’ll get the best results with a string mop and bucket of cleaner, or a microfiber mop with a built-in sprayer, since they can get in all the nooks and crannies. Steam mops should only be used on ceramic tile or natural stone floors since their heat can damage adhesives and polyurethane finishes. If your grout or tiles are cracked, avoid using steam or string mops since they can saturate the floor and damage the subfloor.

Step 5. Prepare Your Mopping Solution

Mix your floor cleaner in a bucket or spray bottle, and have a second container filled with clean water for rinsing if needed. Hot water with a few drops of liquid dish detergent is enough for most floors since dish soap is formulated to cut through grime quickly. In bathrooms and kitchens, you may also want a commercial floor cleaning product that offers disinfection. Or use my germ-removing homemade floor cleaner that works on all flooring types (no rinsing required). With steam mops, you do not need an additional cleaning product since the heat removes grime and kills bacteria, too.

Step 6. Dip and Wring

If you’re using the two-bucket method, dip your mop in the bucket of cleaning solution to dampen it, then wring it out. After mopping a section, dip the mop in the water bucket to rinse it, then wring out the dirty water. Once you’ve rinsed the mop, dunk it into the bucket of cleaning solution and wring it out before proceeding. With steam mops, spray mops, and microfiber mops, you should rinse or change the mop pad as soon as it looks dirty.

Step 7. Long and Wide Strokes

Take care not to mop yourself into a corner. Instead, start at the side of the room opposite the door and work backward so you don’t walk on an area you just cleaned. With string mops, work in a figure 8 motion to lift dirt, then back and forth to clean the surface. With microfiber, sponge, or steam mops, work forward and back in straight, overlapping strokes.

Step 8. Move and Repeat

Once you’ve cleaned a section, move to the next one. Watch your buckets for signs you need to change the rinse water or replenish the cleaning mixture. You may need to dump and replace the mopping solution if it begins to look gray or dingy. Pour the used mixture down the toilet and rinse your bucket before refiling it.

Step 9. Rinse As Needed

If you kept the dish soap to a minimum or used my homemade floor cleaner, you won’t need to rinse. But if you used a commercial product that advises a final rinse, do not skip it. Leaving unrinsed cleaner on the floor can attract more dirt and damage the surface. If your floor was grimier than usual, or you don’t mop regularly, a final rinse with fresh water is a good idea.

Step 10. Decide About Drying

Steam mops and spray mops don’t leave behind much moisture, so your floor should be dry within minutes. If you used a string or sponge mop, however, dry any areas of excess water with a towel. Then, let the rest of your floor air dry or speed up the process with a towel or fan and reassemble the room. How long it takes to dry a floor after mopping depends on the method you used, but 20 minutes is usually sufficient.

Step 11. Put Your Equipment Away

Clean your cleaning equipment after use. Dump buckets down the toilet or sink and rinse them well inside and out. Some string mops and microfiber pads can go in the washer with other cleaning cloths, or you may choose to wash them by hand in hot, soapy water. Sponge heads require hand-washing in hot, soapy water. Squeeze out excess moisture, then prop your mop end-up to dry. Drying your mop in bright, direct sunlight provides added disinfection.

Tips to Make Mopping Faster

• The dirtier the floor, the longer it will take to mop. To keep dirt under control, clean high-traffic areas frequently. High-traffic areas on your floor are in front of seating areas, entrances, the kitchen sink, appliances, and toilets. Use a spray bottle of soapy water and a damp cloth for these in-between cleanings, and you’ll find mopping day goes much faster.

• Don’t skip pretreating stubborn areas (step 3). You’ll have to scrub less while mopping, and your bucket of cleaning solution will remain fresh longer.

• Pay attention to measurements when mixing floor cleaners. Too much cleaning product can leave a residue that feels sticky, attracts dirt, and makes your floors look dull. If you’re using dish soap, do not use more than a couple of drops. If you can’t see the water through the suds, you’ve used too much.

• Keep separate mop heads for separate purposes. With dedicated mop heads, you can use your mop to clean things besides floors.

Common Questions

Below are some of the questions I’m most frequently asked about mopping. Please feel free to leave additional questions in the comments. I routinely update the Common Questions sections to provide readers with accurate, thorough solutions for their homes.