Top 3 DIY Natural Floor Cleaner Recipes That Work

Your home’s floors see a lot of mess. Whether it’s sticky kid hands, pet mess, or everyday grime from coming and going, keeping them clean can feel like a full-time job. Natural floor cleaners can enable you to complete this task without introducing potentially harmful chemicals to your home. They can even be a trick in a pinch if you haven’t had time to pick up more since your last drop of store-bought floor cleaner. 

Why Choose Natural Floor Cleaners

Natural floor cleaners are simple, but impactful solutions that allow you to maintain your home without compromising your family’s health. Many floor cleaning chemicals are toxic, and it can be hard to decipher exactly what’s in them, especially without a chemistry degree. 

Incorporating homemade floor cleaners into your routine can give you peace of mind that you’re not exposing yourself or your loved ones to anything needlessly harmful. Bonus: you probably have a lot of the ingredients already, reducing unwanted clutter.

Benefits of DIY Cleaning Solutions

Making your household’s floor cleaner has many advantages, including the following:

• Cost-effective: Using ingredients you already have on hand saves you an extra trip to the store and fewer expenses buying different products.
• Less caustic: Natural floor cleaners don’t contain harsh chemicals that can strip your floors or irritate your skin or eyes.
• More eco-friendly: For the same reasons natural floor cleaners are less irritating to your skin, eyes, children, and pets, they are less harmful to the surrounding environment.
• Fewer unpleasant odors: Natural floor cleaners don’t have strong bleach smells or other odors.
• Easy to make: Many homemade floor cleaners are three or fewer ingredients, making them straightforward solutions.
• Added transparency: When you make your cleaning products from scratch, you know exactly what’s in them.

Though the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, we’d be remiss not to mention a few disadvantages of homemade cleaning solutions. DIY natural cleaners aren’t as finely honed for different floor types as commercial cleaning products, and they’re more labor-intensive because you have to mix the ingredients yourself. 

Essential Ingredients for Natural Floor Cleaners

Before you can make natural floor cleaners, make sure you have the following ingredients:

• Dish soap (Dawn or Castile soap)
• Water
• White vinegar
• Baking soda

Other ingredients that may be helpful for extra cleaning power:

• Fresh lemon juice (adds a fresh scent)
• Essential oils (allows you to customize your floor cleaner)
• Rubbing alcohol (reduces streaks and addresses tougher stains)
• Borax (improves cleaning power)
• Olive oil (polishes and conditions wood)

Top DIY Natural Floor Cleaner Recipes 

Making your own natural floor cleaner is simple and effective. However, always exercise caution when making DIY floor cleaners. Avoid mixing bleach with ammonia, and be careful not to leave standing water, which can lead to water damage.

Vinegar and Baking Soda

Combine 1 cup vinegar with 1 cup baking soda and enough water to fully dissolve the baking soda. We recommend warm water for additional cleaning power. Mix in a bucket and mop or transfer to your favorite floor cleaning appliance.

Vinegar, Baking Soda + Add In Of Your Choice

Using the same base recipe above, you can add a couple of drops of fresh lemon juice or essential oils for a nice, clean scent. A drop or two of olive oil can polish wood floors. Rubbing alcohol can reduce streaks, and Borax can improve your solution’s cleaning power for extra tough messes and stains. You can add about a tablespoon of each to a gallon of water. 

Warm Water and Dish Soap

Sometimes, soap and water are all you need. If you don’t know the material of your floors or you don’t want to deal with the hassle of figuring out what you can and cannot use on your specific floor type, soap and water can be a gentle, but effective homemade floor cleaner. Add a ¼ cup of dish soap to a gallon or more warm water and mix until sudsy. Mop as usual and dry carefully if you have hardwood floors.

When to Use Commercial Cleaners

Natural floor cleaners are a great tool, but like any tool, they can only do so much. If you have old, set-in stains, a historical home, a long list of allergies, heated floors, or you’re in any way shy about cleaning your floor yourself, a professional touch may be warranted.

Professional carpet cleaners, hardwood refinishers, and even thorough house cleaners can access commercial cleaning chemicals that target deeper odors, stains, messes, and more. 

Liberty Home Guard Can Reduce Floor Cleaning Worries

Enrolling in a Liberty Home Guard home warranty gives you access to more than home systems and appliance coverage. Our add-ons are designed to be competitive, and it’s no secret that we offer more than our competitors. You can easily add carpet cleaning or central vacuum coverage. The carpet cleaning add-on entitles you to up to 2 professional cleanings per year, reducing your out-of-pocket costs and home maintenance tasks.

Call (833) 543-7830 or request a free online quote anytime for more information.