Laminate floors are a blessing and a curse. Our kitchen has laminates that take a beating thanks to two animals and two work-from-homers who are always hanging out near the food. The good news is that they don’t show wear and tear quite like our hardwood floors, even after all the scratches, scrapes and scuffs. But the bad news is that they’re a beast to clean. Most of the floor cleaners I’ve tried leave a waxy film that’s hard to get rid of, and the last thing you want is to clean your floors after cleaning your floors. That’s where this homemade laminate floor cleaner.
It’s cheap, easy to whip up and effective. Plus it’s made with only 3 ingredients, so you never have to worry about running out.
DIY Laminate Floor Cleaner
Laminate floors may look like other types of flooring, but you can’t actually clean them like other floors. That’s because laminates are made of a type resin with a clear protective coating on top. If you get them too wet you can end up with a streaky, waxy mess that’s hard to get rid of. And if you drench them, letting lots of water puddle in the cracks, you can even cause them to bubble, separate at the seams, or fade in color.
That’s why you need a cleaner that evaporates quickly and gives you a nice, streak-free shine.
Vinegar and rubbing alcohol are king when it comes to homemade laminate floor wash. Vinegar helps disinfect and deodorize, and rubbing alcohol evaporates quickly without pooling or leaving streaks. While a water-based solution isn’t ideal, a little bit of water extends the life of your cleaner and makes it gentle enough to use on your floors everyday. And a couple drops of orange essential oil gets rid of grease and helps mask the scent of vinegar and alcohol, which can be overpowering at first but should fade as the solution dries.
Before washing your floors, start by sweeping with a soft bristle broom to collect hair and dust. Then tackle dried spills and stains by blotting them with a microfiber towel. For tough spots like grease, wax or dried on food, place an ice pack on top of them for several minutes, then gently scrape them off.
Next, wash your floors to get rid of lingering dirt and grime. Do yourself a favor and pick up one of those spray laminate floor mops that looks like a reusable Swiffer. A mop and bucket will work, but you need to wring out the mop until it’s almost completely dry to prevent damaging your floors. Instead, a refillable spray mop spritzes a fine layer of cleaner without the mess of a bucket, and it can be used for all types of floors (a win-win). After mopping, go over floors with a dry microfiber cloth or a dry mop to ensure no water remains on the laminate.
Every six months or so you can use a steam mop for a deeper clean. Just be sure to dry your floors immediately with a dry mop or microfiber cloth.
Laminate Floor Cleaner
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 1/2 cup rubbing alcohol
- 1/2 cup filtered water
- 5 drops sweet orange essential oil
- glass spray bottle or laminate floor mop
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
- Transfer to a glass spray bottle or the solution reservoir in a laminate floor mop.
- Lightly spray on floors and mop up, making sure no solution is left to pool in cracks. Use within one month.
What is the black and white wet swiller you have? Its beautiful!
I love your blog, to think you should definitely stop recommending people to buy plastic products like spray mops. Because of people and plastic, Earth is facing an existential crisis with no way of fixing it. Think about advocating zero Waste products and ditch plastic products of products packaged in non-recyclable plastics. Only 9% of all plastics can be recycled. Just because you throw it in the trash doesn’t mean it goes away. It goes into our earth our oceans, and by 2050, there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish. We have enough plastic trash to fill up every single skyscraper on the planet multiple times. Help all life on earth by advocating a zero waste lifestyle. From one conscious consumer to another, thank you.
Wow, way to go with the lecture, you’re so unbelievably millennial.
I do believe in living life with as small a carbon footprint as possible but once in a while I indulge myself and buy plastic spray mops just because it’s fun and I want to.
Stephanie, awesome recipe. Was using Pine Sol and it definitely left a nasty residue that was hard to clean. I wear indoor flip flops so the treads show. With this recipe my laminate floors are finally clean!
From one conscious human to another I agree with you Chris .
As long as humans are on this planet consuming it’s natural resources for our own luxury and comfort . This planet will be on a one-way ride to extinction ( only designated Earth because these are the sounds we grunt when trying to understand who and what we really are ……????? )
Examples being , Internet , phones , computers , batteries , lightbulbs , toilet paper, bidets, plumbing for running water , wrappers on KIND bars and tofu burgers, and yes of course MOPS brooms TOOTHBRUSHES , and many other things .
Eating all other living forms or matter doesn’t really help either .
I am one hundred percent for a zero waste , zero trace lifestyle . As important as spreading the word is though , if everyone talks about it and no one acts ….. Then this is all bull hooeeyyyyy and a bunch people who want to read themselves type circle jerkin in the echo chamber .
So the best thing to do is leed by Example , we must recycle all of our phones and computers , disconnect all of our communication service plans , close our bank accounts , recycle any prescious rare earth metals we have been recklessly carrying around in our pockets to be used as currency , immediately stop using any electricity or cleaning our butts , start chewing on twigs to clean out teeth , stop eating anything that has ever been packaged or taken a breath, and well ultimately ……… just stop existing , because no matter how hard we try. We will always be taking up space and breathing precious air that other life forms need who are much more deserving than humans .
So if you promise you’ll take the leap , I will too . YOU CAN TRUST ME , I VOTED FOR KANYE !
Let’s do it Chris Zero waste , Zero trace , Zero snarky posts from Chris ever again .
For everyone else.,,,,,. I haven’t tried this yet . I got a little distracted being annoyed by Chris . However, this sounds absolutely brilliant with the alcohol vinegar combo to get the evaporation happening quicker . Will definitely give this a shot using the most recyclable spray mop I can . So done with sponge mopping and towel drying the whole damn floor .
Seriously though we should all try our best to be green ( without being redicouless )
This is most likely the worst combination of products to use on a laminate floor. I’ve had the same problems with my laminate floors.. They are a nightmare to clean I actually purchased a store bought high-end wax that I made it even worse. Accidentally I found a product that actually works it’s so easy it’s crazy. You cannot buy it in the store. And once you have removed the wax and any other products that you have put on your floor, yes they have a product that does that you can leave your floors the way the factory left them with a very light shine. Or you can add this products wax top coat I initially put on the wax top coat it looked gorgeous I removed that a couple of years ago just because I wanted the less shiny finish. My floors are always gorgeous and easy to clean. I dust the floor with a with a micro fiber floor mop getting rid of any debris then I go over with a microfiber mop head sprayed with water and I spray this product on the floor I spread it out it doesn’t change the wax it doesn’t leave footprints it doesn’t leave it full just gorgeous. What other product do you know that you can clean right in the middle of the floor if there was a spill of some sort and just clean that area and when it dries in a few minutes you can’t even tell. The name of the product is, Laminator Plus. I do not work for them I do not get any monies from them I’m just a very loyal customer. I just read this article and decided to say something. I would definitely suggest trying this product.
I respect your opinions, but you obviously don’t have indoor pets. The fur/hair and dirt from outside are pretty overwhelming as a cleaning problem. None of these ideas would work for me.