The Best Natural Homemade Hardwood Floor Cleaner
Once you’ve tried making your own homemade hardwood floor cleaner, you’ll never want to go back to using store-bought wood floor cleaners again!
This homemade cleaning solution is all natural and free from harsh chemicals that are found in commercial cleaners. Make it as a spray or use it with your favorite type of mop.
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what you need to make Homemade Hardwood floor cleaner
ingredients:
- Distilled Water – Using water in homemade cleaners, bacteria can start to grow over time while the solution sits in the sealed container. To keep this from happening, always use distilled water.
- White Vinegar – Just regular old white distilled vinegar you use in cooking! I buy mine in bulk at Sam’s Club.
- Castile Soap – Gentle enough to use on your skin, but strong enough to clean with. Castile soap is so useful to have on hand if you want to start making your own cleaners and skincare!
- Olive Oil – Olive oil helps condition your wood floors, and shines them up as you clean!
- Essential Oils (Optional) – For additional cleaning power and a fresh smell, add a couple drops of essential oil such as cedarwood, thieves, rosemary or any of the citrus oils. I use a mixture of orange oil and my homemade thieves oil.
Read more about the many ways you can use castile soap in your home!
Tools to Use:
- Funnel
- Glass Amber Spray Bottles
- Labels (just for fun)
- Quart Sized Jar
How To Make Homemade Hardwood Floor Cleaner:
To Make Enough For One Spray Bottle:
Combine the Ingredients – In an empty spray bottle, combine 4 teaspoons white vinegar, 1 teaspoon olive oil and 1 teaspoons of castile soap. Fill the rest of the way with water.
Mix – Shake well to combine.
To Make a batch of concentrate:
Combine the Ingredients – In an empty jar, combine 2 cups of vinegar, 1/2 cup of olive oil and 1/2 cup of castile soap.
Mix – Shake well to combine.
To Use – To use, shake very well. Mix 2 Tablespoons of the homemade cleaning concentrate with 16 ounces of water in a spray bottle. One jar of concentrate makes 24 – 16 ounce spray bottles of floor cleaner.
Tips for success
To Use – Use with a rag or mop to clean hardwood floors and other wood surfaces.
Store – Store the hardwood floor cleaner in a container with a lid for up to 6 months.
Variations – Essential oils can add to the cleaning power and make your house smell fresh as you clean! Just add 2 drops to your spray bottle or 48 drops to a jar of concentrate.
Do not use with a steam mop or in a spray mop. The best way to use a homemade floor cleaner is with a microfiber mop.
about this homemade hardwood floor cleaner:
Its all natural
Most store-bought cleaners contain harsh chemicals that aren’t safe to use around children and pets.
Making your own homemade floor cleaner you can make sure that it’s made of only natural ingredients, so it’s a much better option for a non-toxic home.
Easy to make
It takes just a couple of minutes to mix the ingredients in a spray bottle, shake it up and your DIY floor cleaner is ready to use!
Much cheaper than store-bought
Making homemade cleaning products is almost always way cheaper than buying commercial cleaners.
Shines as well as cleans
This solution will not only clean wood floors, but it also uses olive oil to naturally polish and shine them up at the same time! But unlike commercial wood polish, olive oil doesn’t leave a residue that builds up over time.
How to use this homemade hardwood floor cleaner
If you’re making a batch of concentrated floor cleaner, shake the jar well and measure 2 Tablespoons of it into an empty spray bottle. Fill the rest of the way with distilled water. Shake well again.
If you are cleaning your floors by hand with a rag, spray the rag with the cleaner until it is just damp or spray it directly on the floor. Wipe the floor, spraying whenever the rag gets dry.
Don’t leave the floor feeling wet since excess water can damage your hardwoods.
If you are using a mop, spray the cleaner directly on the floor or onto the mop head. The mop end should be damp, not wet.
how to clean a really dirty hardwood floor
- Start by thoroughly sweeping or vacuuming the area. Make sure to get in the cracks and corners of the floors.
- Next, spray hardwood floor cleaner on a dry rag or directly on the floor and wipe, working on small sections at a time.
- Replace the rag as needed when it gets too dirty.
- Afterward, dry any wet spots with a dry rag or mop so that the hardwoods do not get any water damage from being too wet.
FAQ about DIY hardwood floor cleaner
Can I Use Vinegar On Wood Floors?
Vinegar is a super effective all purpose and natural cleaning agent. But it is acidic and can eventually damage the surface of your hardwood floors.
Diluting vinegar with the right ratio of water, however, neutralizes the acidity of the vinegar making it safe to use on wood flooring.
I’ve been using this vinegar solution on my hardwood floors for 4 years now and it hasn’t done any damage.
If you are still concerned about using vinegar on you hardwoods, test it on an inconspicuous area of flooring before using it on a regular basis.
what can I use to make hardwood floors shine?
Olive oil added to your hardwood floor cleaner helps naturally hydrate and polishes without leaving behind any film or sticky residue. Using a homemade cleaner with olive oil, you can get two jobs done at once: cleaning and polishing!
how often should you clean hardwood floors?
Hardwood floors should be swept or vacuumed weekly (daily if it needs it). High-traffic areas should be cleaned with hardwood floor cleaner and a mop twice a month.
Having a whole home cleaning routine is super helpful in keeping track of how often different house cleaning tasks should be done.
Can Homemade Hardwood Cleaner be used on any other type of flooring?
This DIY wood floor cleaner can be used on laminate floors as well as any hardwood flooring that has been sealed and finished.
More All Natural Cleaning:
If you liked this post, I think you’ll really enjoy these other natural cleaning ideas on the blog!
- Homemade Laundry Stain Remover Spray
- How to Clean a White Enamel Sink
- How to Clean a Glass Stovetop
- Homemade Toilet Bowl Cleaner
- DIY Thieves Cleaner From Scratch
I hope you love this recipe for natural wood floor cleaner! If you make it, I’d love for you to come back and leave a comment and rating so that I know how you like using it!
Pin these steps to try later. Tag @athomeontheprairie on Instagram to share what you’ve made with us!
Homemade Hardwood Floor Cleaner
You'll never go back to buying expensive store-bought hardwood floor cleaner again after trying this homemade DIY solution! Its fast and easy to make, inexpensive and all natural: The best homemade wood floor cleaner that shines.
Ingredients
For one 16 ounce spray bottle
- 4 teaspoons white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon castile soap
For a batch of concentrate
- 2 cups white vinegar
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup castile soap
Instructions
To Make Enough For One Spray Bottle:
- In an empty spray bottle, combine 4 teaspoons white vinegar, 1 teaspoon olive oil and 1 teaspoons of castile soap. Fill the rest of the way with water.
- Shake well to combine.
- Use with a rag or mop to clean hardwood floors and other wood surfaces.
To Make a batch of concentrate:
- In an empty jar, combine 2 cups of vinegar, 1/2 cup of olive oil and 1/2 castile soap.
- Shake well to combine.
- To use, mix 2 Tablespoons of the homemade cleaning concentrate with 16 ounces of water. One batch of concentrate makes 24 - 16 ounce spray bottles of floor cleaner.
- Use with a rag or mop to clean hardwood floors and other wood surfaces.
Notes
Store - Store the hardwood floor cleaner in a container with a lid for up to 12 months.
Variations - Essential oils can add to the cleaning power and make your house smell fresh as you clean! Just add 2 drops to your spray bottle or 48 drops to a jar of concentrate.
To Use - If you're making a batch of concentrated floor cleaner, shake the jar well and measure 2 Tablespoons of it into an empty spray bottle. Fill the spray bottle the rest of the way with distilled water. Shake well again.
If you are cleaning your floors by hand with a rag, spray the rag with the cleaner until it is just damp or spray directly on the floor. Wipe the floor, spraying again whenever the rag gets dry. Don't leave the floor feeling wet since too much water can damage your hardwoods.
If you are using a mop, spray the cleaner on the floor or on the end of the mop. The mop end should be damp, not wet.
Do not use this cleaner with a steam mop.
Interesting idea!
I love the idea of adding essential oils to the cleaner. You can switch up the aromas.
I love to make all-natural products! I can’t wait to try this. Thank you so much for sharing!!!
I just moved into a house with hardwood flooring throughout the entire home. This is perfect for me right now. Thank you! Thank you!
Oh this is awesome! I’ve tried all kinds of things with little success to clean our bamboo flooring. Totally going to try this now.
I put this on my to do list! I needed a new cleaner for our wood table!
Can I get the ratio to try for one bucket of mop water?
Why not use this mixture along with a steam mop?