How To Clean Tile Floors
Introduction
We appreciate your concern about keeping your tile floors clean. It’s important to keep everything clean to have a clean environment. To do so, you need to maintain regularity, don’t put today’s work off for the next weekend. And, it’s a must to know how to clean tile floors properly.
In this article, we will talk about the best ways to keep your tile floors clean and looking new. Also, there are a lot of tips and tricks to keep the tile floors at their best.
Let’s dive right in.
How to Clean Tile Floors- The Best Way is To Use Vinegar
The best and safest way to clean tile floors is using vinegar. You can use vinegar on porcelain, vinyl, laminate, and ceramic tile, it’s safe or all of these. However, you should apply vinegar in small quantities.
Using too much vinegar may dissolve the finishes of your floor. Yet, there’s a way to lower the solution’s dissolving power- add vinegar to the water, make sure there are ½ parts each.
And, you can use vinegar either with dish soap or with water to clean tiles.
Way 1: Vinegar and Dish Soap
Things You’ll Need
- White vinegar
- Dish soap
- 4-gallon bucket
- Water
- Spray bottle
- Microfiber padded mop
Step-Step Process
- Take warm water to the 4-gallon bucket.
- Add 1 cup of white vinegar to 2.5 tablespoons of dish soap. Take both of these ingredients to your spray bottle. After that, mix them well.
- Now, spray your floor with the mixture of your spray bottle.
- If you notice any stubborn stain on your floor, gently scrub it away with a soft-bristled brush. For a simply dirty tile, use a microfiber padded mop for scrubbing purposes.
- Once you’re done scrubbing the entire floor, use warm water to rinse your mop.
- Finally, rinse the clean floor once again using clean water.
Way 2: Vinegar and Water
Things You’ll Need
- White vinegar
- 4-gallon bucket
- Mop
- Vacuum
Step-Step Process
- First of all, get your floor off any loose dirt and debris.
- Make half of your 4-gallon bucket filled with warm water. Take one cup of white vinegar and add it to the water.
- Use a vacuum for eliminating any grime or dirt on your floor. It will make the cleaning easier.
- Mop the floor with the mop and the mixture.
How to Clean Kitchen Tiles
It’s crucial to keep your kitchen free from germs and dirt. Don’t worry about how to do so, we have shared some easy steps here, check them out.
Things You’ll Need
- Vacuum
- Clean water
- Detergent/all-purpose cleaner
- Scrub brush and Cleaning Rag
- Lint-free cloth
Step-Step Process
- Use a vacuum to get rid of any loose debris.
- Next, mop the floor using a rag. In this case, try to avoid using a sponge mop. Because a sponge mop may drive dirty water into grout lines and make it harder to clean the grout lines.
- Use detergent in moderation. If you have a ceramic tile floor, overusing the cleaning detergent can make it look hazy. It would be better if you use an all-purpose cleaner and get rid of the film.
- Make sure you do not mop the floor using dirty water since it will make the tile look hazy. To do so, change the water frequently.
- Use a lint-free cloth to dry your floor.
Steam Cleaning Tile Floors
Does steam cleaning sound tough? Well, making it happen is a lot easier. Want proof? Here you go!
Things You’ll Need
- Steam cleaner
- Distilled water
- Microfiber cloth
Step-Step Process
- Get rid of the loose dirt and debris from your tile floor by sweeping. Sweeping will help to clean the dirt that even a steam cleaner cannot catch.
- Pour distilled water into your steam cleaner and fill the cleaner tank with the water. There’s no need to add any cleaning product to the water tank of your cleaner.
- Locate the head of your steam cleaner and fix a microfiber cloth to it. Next, plug in the steam cleaner as well as turn it on. Pump the handle to let the steam flow through that microfiber cloth. You can or squeeze the trigger instead of pumping the handle.
- Hold the steam cleaner and move its head backward and forward over the tiles.
- Unplug the steam cleaner. If you think it’s necessary, change any attachment or the microfiber cloth. Then, plug in the steamer once again as well as heat up the water.
- Once you’re done steaming the entire tile floor, unplug the steam cleaner and get rid of the microfiber cloth from the cleaner.
- Leave your tile floor for around 15-20 minutes and let it dry.
How Can You Disinfect Tile Floors?
Do you need some literally useful tips to disinfect your tile floors? If you do, these steps below will help you.
- Move the household items including furniture out of the way.
- Then, you should get rid of the loose dirt and debris. To do so, use a lightweight broom and sweep the floors.
- Take a bucket of water and add disinfectant bleach into it.
- Use the prepared bleach solution to mop the tile floor.
- Leave the floor for 15-20 minutes and let it dry.
- After that, store the cleaning products as well as move the household items.
That’s all you have to do for disinfecting tile floors. Also, using electronic sprayers or UV lights in order to disinfect tiles will work great, these are optional.
How to Remove Paint From Tiles
It’s pretty easy to do the job. Let’s see what you need to do to make it happen.
Things You’ll Need
- A utility knife
- Plastic scraper
- Heat gun
- Citrus-based paint stripper
- Clean rag
- Safety goggles
- Rubber gloves
- Dust mask (mandatory if you’re going to remove lead paint)
Way 1: Scrape Off the Paint
- Use a utility knife to scrape the paint off the tile. Keep a 45° angle while holding the knife. Do this job gently and notice if the paint is coming up without damaging your floor. If everything seems fine, you can keep scraping. However, as soon as you notice anything wrong such as any damage, stop scraping. Then, go for the 2nd way.
- Use water to dampen a clean rag. Next, wipe out the floor to clean it.
Way 2: Heat and Scrape the Paint
- To practice ‘safety first’, make sure you wear a dust mask that removes the risks of damaging your lungs.
- At a time, target a small area like 1 or 2 square feet. Keep moving the heat gun to heat up your tile floor. This will keep the tile floor safe from overheating or scorching. Keep doing this, stop only when you feel the paint soft.
- Get a plastic scraper and hold it at a 45-degree angle to gently get rid of the paint.
- Next, dampen a clean rag and wipe the surface with it. Repeat the whole process until the entire paint is completely removed.
How to Remove Wax From Tile
Sometimes, there is wax stuck on your floor and you may find it difficult to remove.
Well, it’s not an uphill battle, just follow the instructions below.
Things You’ll Need
- Candle wax remover
- An old credit card
- Scraper
Step-Step Process
- Use a plastic card (maybe an old debit or credit card) to scrape the wax thoroughly. To make sure that the card doesn’t scratch the tile, angle the card while handling this.
- Locate the scraped area and apply a candle wax remover there. It will easily remove the wax.
How Can You Clean Porcelain Tiles?
The easiest flooring tile to clean is nothing but porcelain tile. All you should do is vacuum or sweep the porcelain tile floor once or twice a week. To go with something more, you can add ¼ white vinegar to ¾ water. Then, dampen a sponge mop and clean the tiles.
Cleaning Unpolished Porcelain Tiles
To clean unpolished porcelain tiles, you can follow the steps below:
- Vacuum or sweep to get rid of loose dirt and debris.
- Apply a tile & grout cleaner on your floor. Then, stir it and leave it on your floor for around 5-10 minutes.
- Scrub away any stubborn stain with a scrub brush.
- Wipe away the dirty cleaning solution. Use clean water to rinse the surface. Finally, let your floor dry.
Cleaning Polished Porcelain Tiles
If it’s a polished porcelain tile floor, it’s even easier to clean.
- Vacuum or sweep loose dirt and debris. Using a dry dust mop here rather than using a broom is a good idea.
- Use a mild cleaning solution to mop your floor.
- Rinse your tile floor and let it dry.
How Often Should You Clean Tiles?
If you want to keep your tile floor neat and clean all the time, you must go through dry and wet cleaning 
regularly.
Dry cleaning requires sweeping and vacuuming at least once a week.
Using vacuum on any kind of tile floor is okay since vacuum comes with a soft-bristled attachment. You may find it a bit difficult to let the bristled attachment fit in any tight space, however, you will get a good outcome. You will need a dustpan and a broom as well to get the weekly cleaning job done.
And, when it’s about wet clean, you should go through this process once every two weeks. But you should do this for your bathroom once a week as germs grow much faster here.
If you do these maintenances regularly, there should not be any dirt so stubborn. In case, there is any and you spot it, put your gloves on and start cleaning it then and there.
Tips to Clean Floor Grout Without Scrubbing
If you want to clean your floor grout and don’t want to scrub, go through the steps below.
- Use hot water for cleaning the grout lining.
- Add ½ vinegar to ½ water in a spray bottle, it’s a useful cleaning solution.
- Locate the dirty grout and spray the mixture on it. Then, leave it for 10 minutes.
- Use an electric toothbrush to get rid of the solution.
- Once done, rinse the grout using hot water.
Additional Tips for Safety Purposes
If you have a porcelain tile floor, keep these things below in your mind to make sure that your floors stay in the top-notch shape.
- Try to avoid your porcelain tile floor using ammonia. Also, you should keep from cleaners that come with bleach. It’s because cleaners that contain ammonia or acid can stain your floor’s color.
- If it’s an unglazed porcelain tile, try to avoid using any solution that comes with colors or dyes on it.
- Forget about oil-based cleaning agents, wax cleaners, or sealants because you should never use these on your porcelain tile.
- Try using rugs at each of the outdoor entrances. It will keep dirt or bacteria from entering onto your tile floors.
- Do you use steel wool pads to clean tile floors? If you do, stop doing so. It’s because the loose steel particles are the reason for rust stains on the grout.
Frequently Asked Questions
Conclusion
Have you got a crystal clear idea of how to clean tile floors? Hopefully, your answer is yes as we made sure of providing you with the most relevant information regarding the topic.
Try to clean and maintain your tile floors regularly. It will seal the chances of getting them covered with dirt and debris.
Happy cleaning!
