Clean wood floors with vinegar by adding 1/2 cup white vinegar to a gallon of lukewarm water.
Mix ½ cup of vinegar with one gallon of hot water to create your mopping solution. Wring out your mop thoroughly so that it is only damp and doesn't saturate wood floors with moisture to avoid damage.
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.
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.
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.
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.
For deep cleaning and disinfecting wood floors, you should give the surface a more thorough clean every 1-2 weeks. To disinfect your floor, use Lysol® Clean & Fresh Multi-Surface Cleaner at full-strength (or dilute 1 oz to 5 oz of warm water in a bucket) and be sure to pre-clean the surface.
Your bathroom's or kitchen's tiled floors will love a vinegar wash. Put half a cup of vinegar into one gallon of warm water, and away you go. Swish, swish, swish away all the germs, dirt, and grime. Proper dilution is definitely key here.
Vinegar is an acid and hardwood floors need a pH neutral or close to it cleaner. When mixed with water, the solution's acidity is drastically lowered and it becomes an effective method to wash hardwood floors. The vinegar and water mixture cuts through dirt and grime, leaving a streak-free and naturally clean floor.
There's no need to rinse your vinegar-mopping solution from your floors. Keep in mind that your floors should be drying very quickly if you've wrung out your mop sufficiently.
Use a 1:1 ratio of diluted vinegar and water and store it in a spray bottle. Then you can spritz and disinfect your kitchen sink, counters, or any other spots that you'd normally use bleach but want to be food-safe. To counteract the vinegar smell, you can use soapy water to rinse the sink afterward.
As a general rule, most natural cleaning experts suggest mixing one part vinegar to one part water. These recommendations typically rely on distilled white vinegar as the cleaning element. If homeowners are using cleaning vinegar, they may want to add a little more water to achieve a similar amount of acetic acid.
The best way to clean hardwood floors is to adopt a regular routine. Use a broom or hardwood floor mop for cleaning wood floors daily. A microfiber dust mop pre-treated with a dusting agent will pick up dust and dirt and prevent scratches. Vacuum your hardwood floor once a week.
The best solutions for mopping a floor include using white vinegar, dish soap, window cleaner, or rubbing alcohol methods. These floor cleaners are easy to make at home and keep your floors clean.
Combine ½ cup of white vinegar and 1 gallon of water in a small bucket. Add a few drops of lemon or orange essential oil to the solution if you want a scented cleaner. To clean your wood floors, simply dip a sponge mop in the solution and squeeze it dry. Wipe it across your floors while rinsing the mop out frequently.
Diluted vinegar can dissolve the finish that protects the wood and leave it looking cloudy, dull, or scratched. (The same goes for wood furniture.) Follow the manufacturer's cleaning recommendations or pick a cleaner that's made specifically for hardwood flooring.
Manufacturers and industry experts advise against cleaning hardwood floors with water because wood naturally expands when it's wet and can cause your floor to crack or splinter.
Do not wet mop wood flooring. Damp is good. Dripping wet is bad. If you can ring out the mop or pad, you're working with too much water.
The Winner
The hero and 100% natural cleaning active is – vinegar. Distilled (aka purified) white vinegar. Yes, you can smell vinegar when using but let an hour pass and any scent is a thing of the past. Our reliable Aunt Fannies describe this as your floors smelling of clean, not of chemicals.