You don't need a special soap for mopping wood floors: Fill up a bucket with warm water and squeeze in about 1 TBSP of Natural Dish Soap. Pro Tip: Avoid using a soaking wet mop: Wring it out until it's mildly damp.
A good ratio is 1/2 cup of distilled white vinegar to 1 gallon of warm water. To leave a pleasant scent behind as you clean, you can add a few drops of your favorite essential oil to the cleaning solution.
Begin by dusting or sweeping your floors well. Then make a cleaning mixture using 4 cups warm water and a few drops of castile soap or dish soap.
Floor Mopping
Mild dish soap is a surprisingly good floor cleaner. All you need is 1 to 2 tablespoons of dish soap mixed in with a bucket of water. Floors will be clean and shiny in no time. Dish soap is very effective on resilient floorings, such as linoleum and vinyl, and also works well on ceramic tile.
In most homes, the best wood floor cleaner is plain old soap and water, and the only tools you need are a broom, vacuum, and mop. The best mop for wood floors is a microfiber flat-head or string mop you can easily wring out.
Mild dish soap can work well as a floor cleaner, and since it is so mild, it can be used on most floor types without leaving a residue. Don't overuse it, though—too much will create a slightly sticky film. Here are two different recipes to try: Mix 1/4 cup mild dish soap and 3 cups warm water.
Water, Vinegar, and Dish Detergent
Dish detergent can be used as a DIY hardwood floor cleaner to remove oil, dirt, and dust from your floors. Use the same water and white vinegar mixture but add a few drops of dish detergent for some extra-powerful cleaning.
Wood Floor Cleaning Method: Castile Soap and Essential Oil
To get started, I filled a bucket with 1/4 cup castile soap, a few drops of lemon essential oil (but you can use whatever you prefer), and one gallon of warm water. Then I dipped my microfiber mop with the solution and cleaned my floor.
“If you installed lovely hardwood floors, and you're using bleach and laundry detergent to clean them, your flooring manufacturer probably wouldn't be very happy,” Maker says. She also warns that “you would just about ruin any natural stone with a laundry detergent solution.” So, what are the alternatives?
You can use a broom or a vacuum without a beater bar (the beater bar can damage hardwood surfaces) to clear away the debris. But the best choice is a microfiber dust mop. The fibers in the mop attract and trap the dirt, and you can then toss the mop head in the washer so you have a clean mop each time.
Deep Hardwood Floor Cleaning
The key is damp mopping, not wet mopping because you never want to let water sit on your hardwoods. Of course you'll want to do a thorough vacuuming job first to remove any dirt and debris on the surface of your hardwoods.
Cleaning with vinegar and water is cheap, safe for the environment, and generally does a great job at cleaning many items in your home. Just please don't use them to clean wood floors. Using vinegar and water as a homemade wood floor cleaning solution can have a negative effect on your wood floor.
Avoid ammonia – Ammonia will discolor, deteriorate, and dull the finish. Using ammonia to clean a wood floor will take years off of its life. Steam cleaners are bad news – You should only use steam cleaners on carpets and other surfaces that they are designed for.
Assuming Your Floors Are Sealed
If they are, a little wet mopping from time to time is okay. But if not, wet mopping can harm your floors since there's no barrier to stop water from soaking the wood.
Only use water and a pH neutral cleaning product that is suitable for timber floors. Avoid using household detergents or methylated spirits as these can remove the varnish that protects the surface of the floors. It's also recommended not to use polish or wax products as these can make the floor surface very slippery.
An easy way to fill in microscratches and shine wood floors is to polish your floors after mopping. After dusting and spray mopping, use a designated microfiber mop pad to apply polish to wood floors to add shine. Bona floor polish is easy to use and adds a protection and shine with every application.
Mix a few cups of water with a few drops of dish soap in a bucket. Gently mix to the point that you can see a few traces of foam, but no large bubbles. Dip your mop in the mixture and wring it out until it's slightly damp. Rub the mop in circular motions on your floor.
pH: The alkalis in laundry detergent are too strong for your floors. If you have hardwood floors, luxury vinyl plank, or tile, your floors will prefer a neutral pH cleaner.
Dry the Floor or Use a Dry Mop Method
If you use a bucket of cleaner it is a good idea to rinse and dry the floor to be extra sure all of the soap residue is off and not hanging around too long to create a film.
It's easy to believe that, to make something clean, you need to use chemicals. Surely you can't clean a floor with only water - can you? The answer is yes: it's been proven that water is often enough to clean efficiently when used in conjunction with a good auto scrubber.
Combine a gallon of water with 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar. Then, add a few drops of dish detergent for a fresh scent and extra cleaning power. Dip a microfiber mop or a sponge into the cleaner and use it wipe down your floors.
Mild Dish Soap: dish detergent is meant to cut through the grease and grime so using a small amount mixed with warm or hot water can be helpful on kitchen floors. Try using ¼ cup dish soap with three cups of warm water for mopping your floors. White Vinegar: use vinegar alone or mixed with a bit of dish soap.
The reason Tide removes this (along with any dirt, grime, or grease) is because it contains surfactants, which get rid of anything greasy; it's the same reason it removes grease from your clothes, too.