How to Use Vinegar for Cleaning Porcelain or Tile Floors

Vinegar is an inexpensive cleaner suitable for some tile floors, including porcelain, vinyl and linoleum. Vinegar cuts through grease and is deodorizing and antibacterial. You should avoid using vinegar on natural stone tile, such as granite and marble, however, as these materials are damaged by vinegar.

Things You'll Need

• Bristle broom
• Dust mop
• White vinegar
• Mop bucket
• Mop
• Towels

Instructions

1. Sweep your floor well with a bristle broom followed by a dust mop. (The latter is to pick up the smaller particles left behind by the bristle broom.).

2. Pour 2 gallons of warm water into a clean mop bucket. Add ¼ cup of white vinegar, as suggested by Builddirect.com.

3. Wet your mop in the solution. The mop should be clean and free of debris that can scratch tile flooring.

4. Start mopping in the corner of the room the greatest distance away from the doorway. Scrub just a few feet of floor at a time before stopping to rinse your mop in the mop bucket--this makes mopping more effective, so you aren’t just transporting dirt from one area to another.

5. Dry the floor with clean towels to make the floor more shiny. To do this, either step on the towels, using your feet to move the towels along the floor or swish the towels around the floor using a broom.

Tips & Warnings

• MrsCleanUSA.com advises you can also use vinegar on hardwood floors.

• If your tile floors are extra dirty or greasy, use 1 tbsp. of dish detergent per 2 gallons of water first, before using the vinegar solution. This will get off much of the grease and grime. Rinse the floor afterward and then use the vinegar and water solution to make the floors shiny.

References

• Build Direct: Cleaning Porcelain Tile
• Mrs. Clean USA: Cleaning With Vinegar