DIY Wood Floor Cleaner *safe, non-toxic, easy and cheap!
Make your own DIY wood floor cleaner for less than a few dollars. This homemade wood floor cleaner is non-toxic and less expensive than the store-bought variety, using just a handful of ingredients that are already in your kitchen pantry! Clean your wood floors with this DIY homemade floor cleaner without needing a mask or gloves or excessive scrubbing!
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3rd trimester is kicking my booty! 🙁 This is my 3rd pregnancy, 3rd trimester and I’m ready to throw the towel in. I can’t stand being so sick, sore and crabby…yet at the same time I’m beyond thankful that I have been blessed to be able to have children of my own without any trouble. **big time blessing!**
With only 8 .5 weeks until the little peanut is due, and all of our out-of-state guests gone, I’m in full cleaning mode to get ready! (honesty, this will probably only last for a few days, so I better capitalize on it while I’m in the mood!)
Today I’m going to share with you a wood floor cleaner that I’ve been making since I was pregnant with my first kiddo (who is now 4.5 years old…wahhh!!) Lover Boy and I had installed light colored laminate wood flooring in our first home and with three dogs it was easy to see their drool marks from their water bowl. We had been using Melaleuca’s cleaners for a couple of years before this but they did/do not sell a wood floor cleaner. So, I got busy on Google (this was before the big wave of blogs and Pinterest) and started searching for a safe homemade cleaner. I remember looking at several recipes and decided to make the one with the least amount of ingredients…and ones that I had on hand. I have been using this for almost 5 years now and have been pleased ever since!
What You Need:
-empty spray bottle
-rubbing alcohol
-vinegar
-water (it doesn’t not have to be bottled water…I only used this jug for picture purposes)
How You Make It:
-in spray bottle fill 1/3rd rubbing alcohol, 1/3rd vinegar and 1/3rd water (in other words – equal parts of each ingredient)
How To Use It:
-spray in medium sized sections on the floor and use a soft cloth mop to wipe it up! No extra water needed!
*It’s super easy, cheap, safe and leaves your house smelling really fresh!
**I have now used this homemade wood floor cleaner in all three of our houses on laminate, engineered hardwood and solid hardwood flooring and it’s worked great on all of them!
I hope you guys will enjoy this homemade wood floor cleaner and enjoy the benefits of non-toxic cleaning!
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Check out my DIY Grout Cleaner:
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I actually contacted a friend of mine who has been a pro floor installer for years. they said the only kind of thing they usually recommend is actually water and vinegar, but when I asked about the alcohol he said as long as you are using equal parts he see’s nothing wrong with it. And also the key, like you said is not to over saturate!!! Well Im off to go mop, seriously, with this reciepe! Wish me luck, Im at the end of my rope with these floors lol
Good luck!! I hope your floors sparkle!! 🙂
doesn’t the alcohol dry out the wood?
I haven’t had any issues of the alcohol drying out the wood with the laminate, engineered hard wood and regular hardwood floors! 🙂
Since my family doesn’t handle vinegar well because it’s made from corn I try not to use white vinegar in places where we would come in contact with it. Do you think it would work just as well with apple cider vinegar or could I just use lemon juice instead?
hmmm…honestly I do not know. I would try both and see which one works better! Good luck! I’d love to hear what you find out!
Were/are your floors waxed or polyurethaned?
Yes – 8 years ago
Could I use this on my quartz counter tops?
I use it on my granite and it works great … but just to be safe you might want to contact a quartz dealer and ask-wouldn’t want to harm the glossy finish
I use the wintergreen scented rubbing alcohol in this recipe! It makes everything (hardwood floors, kitchen tile, granite countertops) smell SO good!
I use Vinegar and water for just about everything that needs to be cleaned. My mop has a sprayer bottle connected to it so I just pull the handle to squirt out some solution. My floors always look awesome but I’m not crazy about the smell of vinegar. Vinegar and water (half and half) is also a great cleaner for dentures. Use it to wash windows, wipe down my counters, and you name it. I don’t use any commercial cleaners. Not sure I’d want to add alcohol to the mix though.
About using vinegar, I used vinegar and equal part of mouth wash in a load of clothes that had been salvaged from a fire. That really takes the smell out of the clothes. Even if you like a nice fire outside and your clothes take on that smokey smell. Just thought I would mention also that it is a good cleaner for walls when you have a smoker in the house. Thanks for the tips.
Would this work on cork floors?
Could you add things like citrus peelings or dried herbs to this wash to give it a scent?
Hi Natalie – I suppose you could, however, you would want to make sure that it wouldn’t ruin/remove any finishes of your wood.
Great and easy recipe indeed. We had our new laminate floor installed last week and thanks to my boys it doesn’t look like new anymore. It needs cleaning immediately and your recipe is perfect for the purpose. Thank you for sharing it!
you are so welcome!! I’m so happy you’re having great results!! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks! It is a very easy and cheap floor cleaner, indeed! I have hardwood floor everywhere in the house and I want to take the best care for it as possible! I will definitely try the the DIY non-toxic cleaner! 🙂
yay!! happy it worked so well!
Stephanie, I used this concoction and it stripped the finnish off my wood floor. I wonder why, since so many people seem to have used it successfully.
Bettye: My guess is that you have a newer floor with a finish on it & this recipe is not diluted enough to be safe to use on it. Most flooring companies will tell you to make sure you use a ratio of 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar to 1 gallon of water. Vinegar is acidic, so anything stronger than that, may start eating at the finish that was applied to your flooring. Hope this helps.
Wow! This is great. Thanks
I would think the isopropyl alcohol would disqualify this recipe as being truly non-toxic. It is a good recipe, one that I use in my own home for a variety of surfaces. But perhaps a clarification would be good so that no one lets their guard down (thinking that alcohol is nontoxic) and not store it safely away from children and pets.