With three children and two dogs, it seems that keeping my floors clean is an ongoing (and sometimes losing!) battle.
When we moved to our current home, we found that it has lots and lots of laminate flooring. I had never had these types of floors before. A friend blessed me with this cleaning kit and I love the large mop head with reusuable pads, but I found the cleaner to be expensive to replace. It took some trial and error, but I finally found a homemade laminate floor cleaner recipe that works for me. Its is inexpensive, can be made at home, and gives my floors a streak free shine!
Here is what you need:
Homemade Laminate Floor Cleaner1 cup of water
1 cup of rubbing alcohol
1 cup of white vinegar
1 Tbsp liquid dishwashing soap
Put in a spray bottle and shake it up. I used the empty bottle from the original cleaner. Spray sparingly on floors and mop up. If my floors are really dirty, I let it sit for a few seconds before I mop it up.
Don’t forget to label your bottle 
Here are my results, after a houseful of 40 or so people with lots of food and lots of little children:
They still need to be cleaned almost daily, but atleast they shine for a few moments! And while we are on the topic, am I the only mom who can’t seem to wash a floor and keep everyone off it until it is dry? I think my dogs and kids are magnets to a wet floor! If I can get them washed and dried without anyone walking on them, I do a happy dance!
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I love this idea and the reason being is that your solution is far safer than all the chemicals you buy for laminate flooring. I love sustainable solutions, thanks for sharing!
Post for “Christy”, by “tiles with intricate design” do you mean laminate or actual ceramic tiles like on a backsplash? If it is sealed ceramic tiles you are referring to, are you trying to clean grout or the surface? I have been going hog wild with dollar store denture cleaner. I toss a box of baking soda all over any surface, then mop over with straight vinager and the kids and I shoot marbles across the floor until the bubbles are gone. We put on those funky hospital socks with no slip lines on them and slide around and race to see who can scrub off the most scuff marks without falling down and then we fill our supersoakers with diluted denture cleaner for the rinse. Yeah, I’m a strange one but I’m OK with it and I get 2 things I love: plat time and clean floors. We dry the floor with our white towels and sheets so the cleaner works twice. For tile and grout (depending on the color and if you have already scrubbed away the sealer, use a lemon- cut in half lengthwise, squeeze juice all over area, wait a couple of minutes turn lemon inside out so the rind makes a little glove and scrub with the lemon. You want the inner rind to touch as much surface as poss. for the oil.
Question – does it seem to matter which dishwashing liquid? I use Dawn which may be kind of harsh but maybe not. Maybe that’s what these floors need?? Any secrets for getting tile with intricate designs clean? I’ve scrubbed them so much I’m afraid there’s not going to be any grout left.
I have laminate floors, too, and mine seem to have no shine left. We’ve only been in our new house 3 years this June and the floors are so dull. They look good when you clean them (until they dry). Then it’s back to dull. I’m going to try your solution and see if that makes a difference. I’ve only used the solution just for laminate floors and they still look like this!! ARGH!!
Thanks! I just tried it tonight and it looks good. One silly question — do you just mop with a dry mop/cloth or should this be rinsed off ?
Okay, I guess I’m alone, but I love my laminate floors. We replaced all of our carpets with them for health reasons. — Anyway, I am looking forward to trying this homemade cleaner. I recently priced the gallon jug of cleaner and had sticker shock!
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I don’t dislike them, but I find the color of mine too dark. If they were lighter, it would hide the dirt/footprints more!
~Stephanie
Thank you for linking to this. We installed laminate floors and they ARE hard to keep clean. This is going to help me a lot.
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Hope it works for you as it has for me!
~Stephanie
I am always amazed how much cleaner the whole house looks when the floors are clean, but how quickly they are dirty! Thanks for the recipe, I’ll try it.
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That is so true. Or how about an empty sink? My house feels so clean when that happens, and it is a little easier than clean floors
Hi Amanda, I hear you on the sticky, filmy floors. It drives me crazy. When I first started to use this, it seemed like it took awhile to get up the film left from the store bought cleaner. I wonder if that may be what is going on?
I have a friend who has laminate floors and bought a Shark Steam mop and absolutely loves it. I am praying that one will come my way one of these days
I am right there with you on everything. I have lots of laminate in my house and if I could afford to replace them, believe me, I would. I think they are the hardest floors to keep clean, or should I say, keep looking clean. I’ve had hardwood, tile and vinyl, but laminate seems to be the worst, and I only have kids, no pets. I can’t imagine.
Thanks for the recipe though, I have used this same recipe minus the rubbing alcohol. I will try it with the alcohol and see if it makes a difference for me. It just seems like my floors always have a filmy look and are slightly sticky, no matter what I do. It’s very frustrating.
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