DIY Floor Cleaner

Fixing and making things, what tools to get and what skills to learn, ...
Post Reply
User avatar
jennypenny
Posts: 6851
Joined: Sun Jul 03, 2011 2:20 pm

DIY Floor Cleaner

Post by jennypenny »

We don't have any carpet (not even in the bedrooms), only a mix of laminate and hardwood floors. The house is a rancher so everyone walks everywhere in dirty shoes including into the bedrooms. We also garden daily, keep a ton of plants in our sunroom/family room, and have two dogs who have run of the house, so our floors get dirty ... really, really dirty. I like DIY and natural cleaners but up until this point I've used Pine-Sol for weekly mopping with a steam cleaner for midweek touch-ups. I want to switch to a cleaner I can make myself. I'm having trouble finding a recipe I like. One problem is when they're too weak to really clean the dirt off the floor. The other problem is that the recipes don't make much and making enough to mop my whole house takes a lot of product. I don't care about the scent--my house always smells like a weird combination of garden, dogs, and whatever is in the crockpot, and a little essential oil isn't going to change that. *sigh* I'm just looking for something simple that cleans dirt and is easy to make in a five-gallon bucket.

Riggerjack
Posts: 3182
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2011 3:09 am

Re: DIY Floor Cleaner

Post by Riggerjack »

Yeah, I'm no help with cleaning. My sweet and tolerant wife could confirm this.

I just popped in to ask if you had considered pavers to reduce the problem at the source? Just reduce the mud tracking, rather than focusing on cleaning it up.

HD has 12x12 pavers for a buck.

7Wannabe5
Posts: 9372
Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2013 9:03 am

Re: DIY Floor Cleaner

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

Buy a cute little camper for yourself. Park it in a corner of the yard. Put a boot mat by the door.

George the original one
Posts: 5404
Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:28 am
Location: Wettest corner of Orygun

Re: DIY Floor Cleaner

Post by George the original one »

Don't bother cleaning and plant seeds in the floor.

Yeah, I'm no help either with cleaning. Wife & I both sweep our floors, but I wait for the garden mud to dry & crumble whereas she gets to it a little sooner.

Loner
Posts: 221
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2017 2:26 pm

Re: DIY Floor Cleaner

Post by Loner »

I'm not sure what a rancher is, and I understand the dogs are contributing to the problem, but did you consider leaving shoes at the door when you come in?

User avatar
jennypenny
Posts: 6851
Joined: Sun Jul 03, 2011 2:20 pm

Re: DIY Floor Cleaner

Post by jennypenny »

A ranch/rancher is a one-story home. I prefer it, but it does make it harder to keep people out of the bedrooms. I tried the rule about kicking off shoes a couple of times. I like that the kids stay active and spend a lot of time outdoors and I was afraid it was discouraging them from going in and out of the house all day.

It's a silly problem, I know. I don't really mind the dirt and 'lived in' look because it means that the house is getting used and everyone is busy. Maybe I should tell people I keep it dirty on purpose to improve our microbiome. :D

halfmoon
Posts: 697
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2016 10:19 pm

Re: DIY Floor Cleaner

Post by halfmoon »

I love how everyone's answer to "best DIY floor cleaner" is "don't bother cleaning". :lol:

I saw a plaque in someone's house once that said A CLEAN HOUSE IS THE SIGN OF A SQUANDERED EXISTENCE.

On the rare occasions that I clean, I use water and bleach (hides head in shame). I know it's evil stuff, but it works so very well. I also kind of like the smell, but DH hates it. He's firmly in the "don't bother cleaning" camp.

jacob
Site Admin
Posts: 15907
Joined: Fri Jun 28, 2013 8:38 pm
Location: USA, Zone 5b, Koppen Dfa, Elev. 620ft, Walkscore 77
Contact:

Re: DIY Floor Cleaner

Post by jacob »

One cup of vinegar in very warm water combined by vigorous scrubbing. Seems to me that most commercial products are designed to use soft mop to spread some chemicals around and let them work their magic, so spreading diluted vinegar around with a standard mop is probably not going to do much other than making things wet.

For DIY, you need a scrubbing broom/scrub brush. Like this: http://www.rubbermaid.com/en-US/floor-s ... ith-handle --- not to be confused with a deck scrubber (too aggressive). The bristles need to be shorter but not as hard as the outside versions---kinda like an oversized toothbrush.

You don't use it directly on the floor but rather wrap a rough towel (or maybe any towel) like this:
http://care.b6.dk/files/manager/produkt ... 504500.jpg around the scrub brush. Like, the one in the middle.
http://sn.dk/modules/xphoto/cache/49/91 ... 1105_4.jpg

For exact googling: gulvskrubbe and gulvklud should yield tons of results. I had a hard time finding the equivalent in English. Maybe I don't know the translation. But they're also semi-hard but not impossible to find in US stores.

Post Reply