Easy Peasy 3-Ingredient Homemade Wood Floor Cleaner That Shines
This post: homemade wood floor cleaner that will make your floors shine. Guest post by Laura Bailey.
When we moved into our home, I was in love with the wood floors in the dining room.
But I must admit, I was a little scared that we would ruin them!
I’ve always gotten the impression that wood floors are hard to care for. Truth is, wood floors are actually wonderfully durable and pretty easy to maintain.
I clean our wood floors in our dining room about once a week. Of course we sweep and spot clean after every meal since this is the room where a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old eat meals.
And truthfully, the floors could probably stand to be thoroughly cleaned more often than that! But hey, I’m a busy mom and I do my best. *wink
I use a natural wood floor cleaner recipe that only requires 3 ingredients.
I like to spray the cleaner on the floor and mop up using my steam mop. (I use this one.
) The heat makes the floors dry more quickly!
If you have a steam mop, be sure it has a setting that is safe for wood floors.
Or you can mix this recipe up in a mop bucket, using the same proportions, and clean your floors with a regular mop.
To do that, just multiply the ingredients by 8 to make 1 gallon of floor cleaner.
DIY Wood Floor Cleaner
- 2 Tablespoons White Vinegar
- 2 Cups Warm Water
- 2-3 drops essential oil (I love lemon, lemongrass, or eucalyptus)
Mix together in a spray bottle and spray directly on the floor in small sections, mopping each section with a steam mop.
If your floors are a little grimy, you can add 1/2 teaspoon of Castile soap
. A little goes a long way, so you really don’t need much.
I also polish the floors occasionally using this next 3-ingredient recipe – usually once per season.
Spring cleaning is a great time to do this. It gives them a good conditioning and makes them shiny!
DIY Wood Floor Polish
- 1/4 Cup White Vinegar
- 3/4 Cup Olive Oil
- 15 drops essential oil (for this, I typically use a combo of lemon and eucalyptus)
Combine ingredients in a spray bottle, shake well, and spray directly on the floor in small sections.
Polish each section with a microfiber cloth.
You could also try using a microfiber mop, but I find it easier to really work the polish into the wood using a cloth.
I did half of my floor so you could see the effect.
This really is a homemade wood floor cleaner that shines!
The extra good news: you can also use this polish on wood furniture.
It is so much safer than the stuff in the yellow can. It is much better on the environment and you don’t have to worry about your kids touching the furniture after you’ve polished it! That’s always a win in my book.
Added by Kristy Lynn: Both the cleaner + the polish work great on the vinyl plank flooring in our family’s remodeled farmhouse, and I’ve used them with good results on real wood floors too.
Check out more clean home DIYs:
Your turn.
Ever tried a DIY wood floor cleaner? Drop a comment below + tell me about it.
My oak floors have polyurethane over them. Do you think this would work ok on them?
I’ve used this cleaner on varnished wood floors with good results. Try a small amount at first, and go from there. Let me know how it goes!
Can the wood floor cleaner recipe be used to clean stained wood kitchen cabinets?
Sue, it should work just fine on any hardwood surface. Hope this helps!
Used to struggle cleaning my wooden floors before but upon digging and doing some research, I finally managed to crack the pot, LOL. On my next cleaning schedule, I will you DIY floor cleaning polish a try and will let you know how it goes.
Thank you so much for this helpful tip.
Hope it goes well!
Hi, Im wracking my brain on how to care for my oak floors. What kind of finish does this floor cleaner and polish work for? I have natural oiled floors unilke the majority of wood floors and I’m not sure it would be compatible.
Hey Dominique! I’ve personally used it on real hardwood floors with good results. I’m not certain how it would do on an oiled floor, however. Maybe try it in a small spot on the floor, just in case? I’d love to hear your results.
Do you have to use the essential oil? I have a cat and was told that lemon and orange oils among some others are unsafe for cats because their livers don’t filter them out properly so it is a toxin.
Raini, I’m sure you could leave out the essential oils if you prefer!
Just used the polish recipe to shine up a garage sale apple box purchase (new library book “basket” now), and of course had plenty of polish, so got started and couldn’t stop, til I’d done the dining room floor too! Thankfully my 1 and 3 yr olds didn’t wake up early from their naps… Thanks for sharing your tips and recipes!
That sounds like an awesome garage sale find!! Thanks for sharing, Priscilla!
Does the polish make the floor slick?
Thanks for having me over and letting me share, Kristy! Have a beautiful Monday!
I’m honored to have you writing here, Laura!