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How to Clean Vinyl Floors Easily (Secret Tip!)

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How to Clean Vinyl Floors Easily!

This is a post that I wrote quite a few years ago about How to Clean Vinyl Floors. It was hugely popular and I know that so many people said that they could not believe how well this worked and how much it helped them. So I’m reposting it again for those of you that haven’t see it yet. I no longer have vinyl floors and we no longer have kids at home, but for those of you that do, I hope this helps! Now back to me from the past …… Well, I have to say this post is a little embarrassing, however this is such a great tip that I just can’t keep it to myself! We’ve been in our home for close to 9 years, we bought the house new, from the builder, and didn’t have the budget for expensive flooring in the kitchen, like wood or tile. So the best we could do was to get an upgraded vinyl. I really liked this floor in the beginning. I loved my black and white vinyl floor, with it’s check pattern. It has a subtle marble effect on it, that actually even fooled my Mother in Law into thinking that it was the real deal, when we first moved in! But over the years it got harder and harder to keep it clean. Four teenage kids and one Dog took their toll on it. The stains and dirt were really ground into the… pores? … crevices maybe? … of the vinyl, and it looked filthy and nasty, as you can see by the photos!

Cleaning Vinyl Floors

 

Vinyl Floor before and after

Here you can see how disgusting it was! I have to say that I’m my defense, I have a cleaning service come in and mop my kitchen floor twice a month, and they have done this for years. There have been at least 5 or 6 different ladies from the service that have cleaned it, and each year it got worse, no matter how hard they tried! (It needed a deep clean though and not just a surface cleaning.)So it wasn’t just my sad lack of cleaning skills, or at least not in this case! Anyway, one of my girlfriends told me about something that she used on her vinyl floors that worked like a charm. I tried it out on the vinyl tile above and was surprised at how easily it removed the grime and scuffs!

How to Clean Vinyl Floors Supplies

And surprisingly enough you only need one product to achieve this miracle and it’s not a vinyl floor cleaner! And surprise, surprise it’s also not white vinegar, or apple cider vinegar, or baking soda, or Ammonia, or rubbing alcohol, or soap mixture, or wax … not even dish soap, or any other type of floor cleaning solution.

Want to know what it is?

Here’s the secret! It’s this surprising product HERE that you may already have in your house, but probably never thought about using on your Kitchen floor!! How crazy is that?!!
I was absolutely floored (no pun intended) when I saw how well, and how easily it lifted that grime right up!

Additional Supplies:

You will also need a bucket and a mop. And a Vacuum Cleaner or Broom.
Make sure you scroll all the way down to see how clean the floor looks after. And read all of the comments at the bottom of the page, left by other people that experienced the same miraculous transformation on their floors too.

Instructions for How to Clean Vinyl Floors:

Step 1: Before you start mopping, make sure you vacuum or sweep with a broom really well to get up the dust bunnies and such.
Mopping Kitchen Floor

Here’s my step daughter, (aka Cinderella,) moping the floor with a bucket next to her. Yes, that’s right… I’m part Fairy God Mother.. part Evil Step Mother! haha! Actually my husband was the one that made her mop it, in order to work off the cost of a speeding ticket, that she acquired. I placed the Green Cinderella Pumpkin on the counter, so that it would show up in the scene,  just to drive the Cinderella part home! Haha.

Scrubbing Bubbles

Dirty Vinyl Kitchen Floor
Step 2: Anyway, back to the floor, move all your doormats and let’s go! All we did was spray the Scrubbing Bubbles onto the floor, working on a few sections at a time. Make sure the foam covers the vinyl pretty evenly and wait about a minute, or so,  for it to work it’s magic. Then use a wet mop and warm water to wipe up the grime. We have a fairly large kitchen, so it took about 3 cans to do the whole thing. You’ll need to change out your rinsing water fairy frequently. It’s pretty amazing how it just lifts the grime right off of the vinyl! You can really see how much dirt came up, in this photo. We could have made mud pies right there in the kitchen! Yuck!
Clean Vinyl Kitchen Floor

Ta da! It’s like a brand new floor again! No more grime or scuff marks. We actually did this a few months ago and it still looks great, so you wouldn’t have to do this every time you mop, only every now and again if you see a build up of dirt. This flooring has a light marble effect to it, in gray, so what you see on the photo above is not dirt, it’s the marbled pattern.

How to Clean Vinyl Floors

I can’t tell you how happy I am with my floor now! I thought I was going to have to replace it, but now I don’t have too. Yay! Let me know if you try this, I think you’ll be surprised at how easy it is!

Please keep in mind I have only ever tried this on Vinyl Floor, so I can’t comment if it would work on other types of flooring, and it may not be appropriate on other types of flooring. I would NEVER use it on Wood floors for example! I would think it would be fine for vinyl planks, but I haven’t tried that either. Make sure you test in an inconspicuous corner, to see how it works with your specific flooring.

Also, keep in mind that this is not a natural product. It does contain chemicals so keep that in mind if you are sensitive. I do prefer natural cleaning products, but when the situation is dire you do what you have to do!

P.S. I was NOT paid to do this post and I bought my own cans of Scrubbing Bubbles, just wanted to share this awesome tip!

P.S.S. Someone had asked me what brand my flooring was, I believe it was Armstrong but I’m not positive about that.

Does this work with a Generic Product?

I have tried a Generic version of Scrubbing Bubbles before that I think I purchased at the Dollar Store and that worked too, so if that’s what you have on hand, go ahead and give that a try. I don’t know if it works with all off brands as I certainly have not tried them all.

I hope you found this How to Clean Vinyl Floors post tip helpful and that it works for you too!

10 Cleaning Tricks for Cleaning With Salt

For even more cleaning tips check out this post by Jessica from Mom4Real… 10 tips for cleaning with Salt post HERE…

Vintage Cleaning Tip - How To Clean Your Oven Naturally

And another great post by Jessica …. How to Clean your Oven Naturally HERE.

And I highly recommend Jessica’s Blog for all things cleaning at Mom4Real HERE. She always has the best cleaning tips!

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Comments

  1. Derek Dewitt says

    My wife has been looking into some vinyl floors for the kitchen but wasn’t sure if she could maintain it well. I like that you let the cleaning product soak into the crevices before mopping. I’ll have to pass this along to her. Thanks for the help!

  2. Linda Love says

    Well, God Bless America!!! It worked like a charm! Our floor isn’t even a year old yet, but no matter how many times we mopped, it would still look dirty. Thank you for finding the perfect solution. I also put in a claim with the manufacturer. Makes no sense to sell me a floor with an inadequate cleaner. Thanks again!

  3. Cheryl Knowles says

    Thanks for sharing such a wonderful article. One of the best cleansers for vinyl flooring is apple cider vinegar. The acidity in the vinegar helps remove dirt and grime without leaving a buildup of soap or wax. Simply mix one cup of cider vinegar with a gallon of hot water and use a damp mop to clean, rinsing the mop frequently with hot water.

  4. Josh says

    When cleaning your vinyl floors DO NOT Use Acid. While acid will quickly rid stains and dirt, it will also break down the quality of the vinyl easily.

  6. Dana says

    Do u think I could use my steam mop to mop up the scrubbing bubbles, or do u think it would ruin it? I’ve tried everything as well, and I’m beyond excited to try this! Thank u so much:)

  8. Valencia says

    Thank you for sharing this tip. I needed a process to clean some extremely dirty floors. The longer the solution soaked, the less scrubbing I did. The product worked like a charm!

  9. Karen N. says

    We’ve lived in our house for 7 years, not sure how old our floors are, but they’ve been dinghy with everything that I’ve thrown at them. Tested a spot after searching Pinterest for how to clean grimy vinyl and it brought me here. I can only say that I screamed when the dirt came up and the Hubs came running. Great tip, thanks so much for sharing. (Now I don’t have to rip up the kitchen floor… got a tip for cleaning carpets? LOL)

  10. Anita says

    I wish I could think of something extraordinary to say……., OMG!!!! Apt. floor in an old mill, vinyl beige tiles with grooves. Six years of trying to get it clean. We were first ones to rent this apt., and there only 2 adults here. We had a build up of the strangest grey on our floor. There are trains behind us, so it might be that, I just know it was impossible to clean. The floor in the middle, was the color of cement. And I did not think of a picture, till all that was gone ! This is actually the only thing I have tried from the net, that actually worked! Good luck all, just try….we all might not be crazy.

  11. Sydney says

    Wow. So excited to come across this post/blog!
    I live in a 1936 charming apartment – love my hardwood floors and tile Black & Tan bathroom, however, the linoleum kitchen area, never looks clean…

    Going to give this a try – was going to ask my landlord to replace the kitchen floor or spend some cash at HomeDepot. It’s embarrassing.

    Thanks you, everyone for your comments.

    Kindly

  12. Lana says

    Dear Newly-Made-Friend — TRIED AND TRUE — I have one of those vinyl floors, washed or not, looks exactly the same — SOOOOOOOOO GLAD I ran across your post about the Scrubbing Bubbles — I washed, rinsed and let my floor dry in sections — the difference between the washed and unwashed was ridiculously unbelievable — my floor has NEVER looked that clean — THANK YOU SO MUCH for the tip!

  13. Kathryn Olson says

    Amazing. I tried all sorts of things on my 50 year old bathroom floor using lots of elbow grease. This worked ‘so’ much better than anything else. The bubbles did the job. Wonderful.

  14. Joan says

    Thank you so very much for this info! I did my kitchen tonight and it looks fabulous! I can’t believe how clean it is! I have tried so many things but this really worked with a little help from a Mr. Clean Eraser.

    Thank you!!!

  15. Jacquie says

    I just did my entrance way and wow it works amazing. I mean, really clean. I rinsed and rinsed and still had product in the mop each time I rinsed. Maybe I used too much? I will do the kitchen next, but first I want to make sure the floor isnt sticky like the one gal said above. How many times do you rince it?

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