8 Easiest Ways To Clean Vinyl Floors

It seems like everyone wants to have wooden floors in their house, but vinyl floors have their own set of perks that make them a great addition to any room, as per Home Advisor. Not only are they pet-friendly, but vinyl floors are also water-resistant, which makes them extremely easy to clean. Unlike wooden or laminate floors, vinyl floors won't stain with water, so you won't have to rush to dry them. Vinyl floors should take you no longer than five minutes to clean, depending on how big your room is.

There are a variety of different ways you can efficiently clean your vinyl floors, and they range from using commercial vinyl cleaners to DIYing your own solutions. All you will need handy for this task is your choice of a mop and bucket, and then a few common cleaning products that you probably already have under your sink. Once you commit these tips to memory, your vinyl floor will be a breeze to clean!

Before you begin to mop, go over your vinyl floors and see if there are any stubborn scuff marks that need to be removed. If you're having a hard time removing a mark or stain, then your best plan of action is to bust out the WD-40 from the garage. Offbeat Bros recommended attacking the scuff with the WD-40 lubricant, and then buffing it away with a soft cloth. 

Not only does WD-40 displace water and prevent rust, but it also breaks down dirt and grime effectively, making it a handy cleaning tool. Kitchn also recommends using it to wipe away grime from grout, cleaning stains from stainless steel, toning down the shine on hardwood floors, and removing scuff marks from tile floors, among other things. Not only can you use WD-40 to grease a rusted bike chain or fix a squeaky door hinge, but you can also use it to tackle your house chores.

While you can use commercial floor cleaners to wash your vinyl floors, it's also good practice to double-check the labels to confirm that the cleaners are vinyl-safe before using them. The Spruce warns that common "mop and shine" products leave a dull film on the floor that will only attract more dust and dirt throughout the week, which is the exact opposite of what we're trying to accomplish. 

To that end, rather than using a cleaning product, take a bucket of warm water and mix it with a few drops of dish soap. This simple cleaning solution will be strong enough to effectively clean your floors, with the added bonus of not requiring you to buy an extra cleaning product each month to complete the chore. The only downside to this method is that you will need to rinse your floor afterward, or else you risk leaving soap-buildup on the vinyl (via Flooring Inc.)

If you don't want to mess around with rinsing your floor after washing it, then skip the dish soap solution and instead create one using warm water and apple cider vinegar. Just note that this is a milder cleaning solution, and might not be as effective in cleaning high traffic rooms, like the kitchen.

To create the solution, simply mix 1 cup of apple cider vinegar to 1 gallon of warm water. Bob Vila explains that the acidity in the apple cider vinegar will break down the grime on your floor the same way soap would, but without the soapy film afterward. This means that you won't have to take the extra step of rinsing your floor after washing it. You can also swap out the apple cider vinegar for white vinegar if you also want to disinfect your floors in places like the bathroom or mudroom.

If there was an accident on the floor while cooking with red pasta sauce, or a mishap while sipping red wine in the living room, then you will want to attack the stain with baking soda. If you weren't able to wipe away the splotch fast enough and a dark stain has set into the vinyl floor, then a paste consisting of 2 tablespoons of baking soda and 1 teaspoon of water will help fade the discoloration. Oh So Spotless explained that baking soda is abrasive, so it will help lift the stain from your floor without damaging the vinyl underneath. 

If the stain doesn't lift the first time you apply the paste, then try one or two more times until the discoloration begins to fade. You can also use this paste to tackle dirt buildup, since the baking soda will help break down that residue. Once the stain has been lifted, wipe away the baking soda with a clean, soft cloth.

If you feel like your vinyl flooring is looking dull, then give it a boost in shine. All you will need to achieve this is 3 to 5 drops of baby oil; you don't need to overdo it with the amount. Euro Maids suggested adding only a few drops to a gallon of warm water, and if you want to kill two birds with one stone, you can also add a cup of vinegar to the bucket to both polish and disinfect the floor at the same time.

Hunker explained that white vinegar is acidic and will break down any buildup on the floor, which is what causes the dull sheen on the vinyl in the first place. The baby oil, on the other hand, is a natural polish and will add an extra dose of shine to the vinyl once it is stripped clean of all dirt.

There are certain stains that mark vinyl floors that feel impossible to erase, like grease, ink, or permanent marker. If you're having a difficult time lifting one of these stains and no amount of baking soda or WD-40 is working to lift it, then it's time to bring out the rubbing alcohol. 

Thrifty Fun recommended cleaning the worst of the stain with Windex first, since applying rubbing alcohol directly onto it can create smears. Midland Daily News said to then pour rubbing alcohol onto a microfiber cloth, and bring the cloth down to the stain in question. You want to dab at the stain from the outside in to prevent it from growing and creating a bigger mess. Once the stain begins to transfer from the floor and onto the cloth, be sure to rotate your cloth to clean sections, so as not to restain the floor with the blotted rag.

If a vinegar solution or dish soap mixture doesn't quite cut it when cleaning the vinyl floors in your kitchen, then you might want to upgrade your cleaning solution to include Dawn dish soap. Dawn is great at cutting through grease in dirty pans, but it also does the same thing on vinyl floors. If the floor around your stove is especially hard to clean, fill a bucket with a gallon of warm water, and include a few drops of Dawn, per Apartment Therapy. This will cut through those tacky, stubborn spots, and make the cleaning process much easier.

Just make sure not to use an excess of water on your cloth or mop, as that can eventually ruin your vinyl floors. "The key here is to avoid soaking the floor since excess moisture can seep under the vinyl and cause deterioration and warping," Grove Collaborative cleaning experts Angela Bell and Georgia Dixon told Apartment Therapy.

If you feel like you can never totally get your vinyl floors clean, then there is a floor cleaning TikTok hack that will get them sparkling. TikTok user Lisa, who also runs a cleaning business called CleanHappyCo., recommends mixing a few drops of liquid laundry detergent with a bucket of warm water. Lisa uses the O-Cedar microfiber mop and bucket from Walmart, since the microfiber is what picks up the dirt from the floor, and the laundry soap is what releases the dirt from the mop, even when you're dunking it back into dirty water. "It's a great disinfectant, it's highly concentrated so it's cost effective, and it smells amazing," Lisa said in the video. In the comments, Lisa explained that laundry soap is more concentrated than commercial floor cleaner, which is why it works better for deep cleaning floors.

Keep these vinyl floor tips in mind the next time you give your floors a wash, and we guarantee that they will look cleaner than they have ever been.