Mopping with Vinegar – Safe for most Floor Types
Mopping your floors with Vinegar is safe for most all floor types including wood floors. You should NOT use it on marble or stone though as it will cause the surface to “pit”. Vinegar is a natural disinfectant and not to mention that you can save money on buying the expensive cleaners.
Mopping your floors with Vinegar:
To get started make sure to sweep your floor thoroughly before mopping. Mopping a floor with crumbs still on it can cause the starches in the crumbs to turn to gluten and create spots that are very difficult to clean. Mix together 1/4 cup of white vinegar with a 1 quart of water in your bucket. Mop in small sections and when you need to rinse your mop try to rinse it in the sink before putting it back into your vinegar solution so you are not putting the dirt into the clean solution. Allow the floor to air dry and when it’s dry, it should be streak free with no vinegar odor.
White vinegar doesn’t smell pretty but it isn’t toxic for you. You can add a few drops of essential oils and not only will it make your vinegar smell better it will also increase the disinfection power. You can also make your own citrus infused cleaners!
Other DIY Cleaning Tips You May Be Interested In:
How to Clean White Spots out of Wood
Homemade Powder Laundry Detergent
Shelley is a boy mom, marine wife, and is blessed with an amazing family. She loves sharing recipes, travel reviews and tips that focus on helping busy families make memories.
I’m going to try this today! Would any of the essential oils be ok for wood floors?
Yes! Just a drop or two 🙂 Be sure to wring your mop out well. Standing water will cause problems not the oils 🙂
no rinsing? I use vinegar in washing all the bed-clothes (2 dogs, 3 cats – ‘nuf said) but really need to get the house smelling less doggy.
Right no rinsing – but wring your mop well!
Being a chai tea latte addict, I go through a lot of cinnamon sticks making my own concentrate. A while back I started bottling up a mixture of vinegar, orange peels, and the leftover cinnamon sticks from my chai concentrate, with an eye on using it to disinfect the chicken coop. The stuff made the coop smell amazing… at least until the ladies came and pooped all over the place again. Anyway, now that it’s winter and the backyard alternates between a foot of snow and a foot of mud on any given day, my dogs are constantly tracking in mud and mopping the kitchen’s tile floor becomes a daily ritual. On a whim, I tried using the vinegar/cinnamon/orange concoction in the mop bucket instead of the usual industrial grade cleaner I get from Sam’s Club. I figured it’d probably leave a streaky mess but was curious how it’d do. To my surprise, it cleaned the floor and didn’t streak. Best of all, the kitchen smelled wonderful afterwards!
Thanks for sharing that tip!
Will this strip the wax off the wood floors?
No, it won’t.
Is the stain lifting power comparable to the bleach cleaning products without the toxicity?
It is great at removing grease. I honestly like it better.
I have the non shiny porcelain tile. Can’ I mop with vinegar?
Yes you can!
Dealing with cleaning has always been a task for me. And, when it comes to the floor it makes me go mad. Even though I use chemicals(that harm my skin), I don’t get good results. I’ll try this & see if it works for me. And, if it does, it will be a real help for me.
Thank you for such great tips with vinegar I’m a janitorial cleaner. I clean banks and I was wondering how vinegar will effect the shine and the grout for ceramic tile and the tile them selves
We don’t notice that it effects the shine at all. We have been cleaning with it for years and it is great!
Can you use this in the Bissell Crosswave?
I am not sure. I would read the owners manual to find out.
I have hardwood floors and vinegar and water works great!