My kitchen floors are over 40 years old. They’re brown. They’re dated. They’re boring. They have not exactly reached desirable vintage status yet but I have my fingers crossed that the style, pattern and color will make a comeback before I make the investment in new floors. Until the time they are replaced or people are knocking on my door to see my amazing floors I want to keep them clean and shiny and in this post I share how you can get awesome results with minimal expense and minimal effort.
How To Clean Linoleum Floors
First, I sweep the floor to remove dirt, crumbs, hair, etc., using a broom.
A plate is seen as a suggestion in my house.
me: “shouldn’t you have that sandwich on a plate?”
them: “nah….It will be gone soon….why waste a plate?”
crumbs falling out of their mouth and hands onto the floor
me: *sigh*
Now back to sweeping and brooms – years ago I switched from a standard broom to a rubber broom. Rubber brooms are wonderful. They don’t scratch the surface you’re using them on and they pick up more than regular brooms. You can even give them a static electricity type charge and will have them pulling stray hairs off the floor like a big ole roll of super-sticky tape. They are awesome – so much better than regular straw or poly brooms (and a lot more fun, too, just don’t get tempted to hold them next to your head- germs YUCK).
After Christmas I shared how easy it is to clean pine needles off of and out of carpeting with a rubber broom – (you can check out that post here as well as a groovy impromptu video – me, late at night after my sons and I took the tree down with me wearing some fab slippers….there’s a pom pom missing from one of them because that’s how I roll).
After sweeping the floor I use a small handheld whisk broom to get dirt out of the corners and small spaces where the broom won’t reach.
Next, I use a Swiffer on the floor to get the last of the dust and dirt. Since I’ll be using a product to “shine” the floor as well I want to be sure to pick up as much as possible from the surface since I want a noticeable shine.
Now that the surface is properly prepped I get a bucket of warm water and a sponge mop to clean the floor.
To the warm water I add whatever Even if the label on the cleaner indicates that rinsing is not necessary I always do! After
Dump the dirty water, rinse out your bucket and start with fresh, warm water. I also thoroughly rinse my sponge mop before rinsing the floor.
Go over entire floor with the fresh warm water.
Allow the floor to dry.
How to Get Your Linoleum Floor to Shine and Sparkle
Once again, dump your bucket and thoroughly rinse out your mop.
Get a fresh bucket of warm water and start the shining process.
My first choice for floor wax is no longer available 🙁 but a close second, and the one I’ve been using lately is Holloway House Quick Shine.
I squirt the Quick Shine on the floor covering about a 3 foot by 3 foot square. I then use a damp mop to spread the Quick Shine over the area evenly.
When the entire floor is done let it dry thoroughly and enjoy the shine! The sun was shining as I took the after picture and the floor really does shine this much – I love it….now to keep my kids out of the kitchen. 😉