Sharing a recipe for any easy DIY Floor Cleaner that works amazingly well, with hardly any effort at all.
Last week, I revealed our laundry room makeover, and while it looks pretty amazing at the moment, there were some dirty jobs that had to be completed… like washing the floor under the washing machine. So gross! Let me show you a picture of what our linoleum looked like… but prepare yourself. It is not pretty…
I decided to try a new floor and tile cleaner this time around… mainly because I had bought a bottle of Sal Suds to make my own dish soap, and wanted to try it out in other areas of my house.
What You Need To Make DIY Floor Cleaner
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- Water
- Sal Suds
- Essential Oils (Optional)- I used Pine & Lemon. Not sure where to buy essential oils? Check out this post.
- Sponge or Mop
- Cleaning Bucket
How To Make DIY Floor Cleaner
I made a 3 gallon solution of this floor cleaner, however, you can adjust the amounts based on how much you are making.
Start by adding 1/2 Tablespoon Sal Suds to a small bowl. (This equates to 1/2 teaspoon per gallon of water you are planning to use. Truly. You don’t need much.)
This next step is completely optional, however, I love adding essential oils to my cleaning products for a little extra cleaning power. Sal Suds already has Fir and Spruce Essential oils in it, so I enhanced it with few drops of Pine and Lemon (10 drops of each). Give this a little stir. You will notice the consistency of the Sal Suds change as you stir.
You can now fill your cleaning bucket with warm water. I added about 2 gallons of water and then poured the Sal Suds/essential oil mixture in as I added the last gallon. Make sure to rinse the bowl as you fill in order to get all the cleaning solution in the bucket.
Grab your mop or sponge and start cleaning. I actually found this solution to work with hardly any effort at all.
Ready to see the results… achieved in about 2 minutes?!
This DIY floor cleaner is not only incredibly easy to make, it works so well!
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There are very great tips. Thank you for the post.
Great solution. It seems to work great. Based on a suggestion from my scientist wife, it could be made even better by removing the baking soda, and adding a disinfectant like isopropyl alcohol. The vinegar and baking soda in your solution would combine to form CO2 and water and a salt, sodium acetate. After the reaction is done, there isn’t much left of the good cleaning properties of the vinegar or baking soda.
Hi thank you so much for this solution.
If we don’t have dawn dish liquid can we use like any other dish soap(eg- Ajax)
Your reply is much appreciated.
Thank you!!
Yes. You can use any dish soap you happen to have 🙂
I just mopped my kitchen and bathroom floors & I have the cleanest floors now. I did make one addition. I added some thieves essential oil to disinfect and add scent.
I think I will use this formula to clean my wood floors minus one ingredient:and exchanging another: I will omit the baking soda and exchange the Dawn for castile soap.
I created this recipe before I had ever tried essential oils. Now that I have them, I’ve been working on incorporating them into my cleaning recipes (and updating my posts as I do). I just got a bottle of Pine, and I’m going to try that in this recipe next time, but Thieves is a winner any time! Glad to hear it worked well for you!
I tried this today and my floor looks cloudy. Am I supposed to rinse with clear water? Perhaps my floors are just too old.
Hi Christin-
Thanks for the question. I have never experienced the cloudiness you describe, but here’s what I would try just to see if there is an improvement: Remove the baking soda from the formula. Baking soda creates a mild abrasive, but could also cause a little residue. If that doesn’t do the trick, rinsing with plain water should help, but I have never needed to do this, and who wants to go over their floors twice? I’m hoping the removal of the baking soda does the trick for you.
I use this same recipe but instead of baking soda I add 1 tbsp each borax and washing soda. It’ll strip grease and goo off of stoves, cabinets, etc without using a lot of elbow grease. There’s going to always be a jug of this solution under the kitchen & bathroom sinks from now on. If anyone else tries my method, just make sure to shake the jug or spray bottle ocassionally because I have had it form crystal chunks at the bottom… It also works great on linoleum. It’s just a great multi-purpose cleaner!
I DEFINITELY HAVE to try this right now!! Thanks for your DIY IDEAS, they are SO GREAT!! Thanks for subscribing me TODAY??
Hi Jenny! So glad you found some ideas you can use. And thank YOU for subscribing to the blog. Happy to have you following along!
Can you use this solution in a steam mop? Thanks!
Since steam mops are meant for use with water, I would contact the manufacturer. While I have heard that vinegar performs better when heated, I wouldn’t want the small amount of dish soap to harm your mop in any way. Thanks for your question! Hope that helps.
I might have to give this solution a try. I feel like every other cleaner I use leaves my floor sticky. Homemade, store bought, I can’t figure it out! I’ve never used one with Dawn, so maybe it will cut whatever oil reside seems to leave my 10 year linoleum gross. Oh, and your 14 year old looks better than my 10 year old.
I know what you’re talking about with the sticky residue left behind with certain cleaners. I didn’t notice that at all with this one. Hope it works for you!
You’re right, mopping on your hands and knees is no fun! My knees and I thank you for this tip.
Amen! Glad I could help.
Oh my gosh i have to try this! thank you sooo much!
Ellen- you seriously brighten my day with your enthusiasm! Thanks for always putting a smile on my face… and I’m happy to share all the DIY cleaning solutions I have found to work well for me. Happy a wonderful evening!
Hello! love this floor cleaning- what do you recommend for cleaning hard wood floors? thank you