Do you know how to clean tough grime from your floors without a lot of elbow grease? What are the best methods to remove tough grime from your floors? And how do these “best methods” differ based on your floor type?
You can use apple cider vinegar on vinyl floors This is preferable over wax for several reasons. First, you don’t have to clean the floor and then apply more wax. Second, vinegar removes the existing soap and wax building that is already there that may have started to discolor over time while removing much of the grease. You can make the apple cider vinegar solution by adding one cup of the vinegar to a gallon of hot water. Then use that mixture to mop the floor. You can use a standard damp mop and effort to get tough grime off a vinyl floor.
Steam mops are sometimes used on standard vinyl floors to sterilize the area while scrubbing it. However, vinyl plank floors – which look like hardwood floor planks but are made from vinyl – have the same vulnerabilities to steam mops hard wood floors do. The heat and moisture from the steam mop can get into the spaces and damage them, loosing the glue that holds the vinyl planks in place. And that’s separate from the heat that could damage the vinyl and warp it like wood. So do not use a steam mop on vinyl plank woods.
If you have grime on concrete, stone or tile floors, start by trying to sweep up the mess. This may not pull up all the grimes but will loosen the dirt and debris. Then mob it with a hot water and vinegar mixture. Warning: do not use vinegar on marble floors, though other stone floors are fine. If that isn’t enough, mix a cup of dishwashing detergent with a gallon of water to scrub it with a mop or scrub brush. The detergent and water mixture can be used on sealed and unsealed concrete floors, as well.
If you have a ceramic tile floor, use a string mop or wet wipe type of mop head, not a sponge mop. When you use a sponge on the tile, running it over the tile squares will cause it to pick up the dirt before rubbing against the next tile groove causes it to drop the dirty water into that groove.
Many kitchens have tile floors to handle the wet grease splatter of the modern fryer and greasy cooking. You can use a degreaser on grease stains on a tile floor, though it should not be used on a wood floor or vinyl floor. Degreasers do require more personal protection measures than most other cleaning agents on this list. After the degreaser has broken up the stain, use a mop or sponge to wipe it up. Rinse the sponge repeatedly in soapy water to wipe out the grease in the sponge so that you don’t end up smearing the grease particles around the floor, essentially redistributing the stain instead of eradicating it. If you don’t have a degreaser and want a similar effect, spray Scrubbing Bubbles on a section of the tile floor, wait several minutes, and then scrub it with a mop.
If you want to get grime off wood floors, the worst thing you can do is spread any water based mixture on it that can seep into the floor. Instead, use a vinegar mixture and scrubbing sponge to scrub the stain before wiping it all up or using a disposable mop wipe that you pass over it several times. If you want to use a liquid mixture, tea bags soaked in water can add shine without destroying its color as bleach water would.
Leave a Reply