The Best Ways to Clean Tile Floors

Combining half a cup of hydrogen peroxide with one gallon of hot water is perfect for tile floors. Since hydrogen peroxide is so mild, it's safe for any type of floor, including tile floors. And also there’s no need to rinse.

While the other, lighter methods of cleaning tile are great for routine cleaning, sometimes deep cleaning tile is required. First, sweep the tile to grab any dirt on the floor. Next, give the tile a thorough mopping to clean light spills. Then, proceed to spot clean any areas that are still dirty. Mix baking soda with warm water to make a paste then apply the paste to the area you need to clean and gently rub with a soft cloth.

Wipe up any remaining baking soda residue then rinse the tile with clean water and dry promptly.

Like many things in life, prevention can do wonders for keeping tile looking beautiful. Prevent it from getting dirty by taking shoes off when you enter the home. Use door mats, inside and outside, to wipe shoes and boots to prevent dirt, mud, liquids, and for all of you in colder climates, salt, from touching the tile flooring.

A microfiber mop is perfect for quick dusting tile floors. It's gentle enough to not harm the tile, but also effective enough to pick up any dust or dirt.

Refresh the grout on your tile floors with a grout-staining product made by Mapei called "Grout Refresh." 

As Made2Style explains, OxiClean is a non-toxic oxygen bleach that "works wonders" on tile grout. Fill a bucket with six cups of warm water, throw in two scoops of OxiClean and mix it until it dissolves.

Let it soak on the floors for 15-30 minutes and then scrub and mop up.

You can use Clorox Toilet Bowl Cleaner with Bleach to clean your light grout. The Clorox cleaner is a gel that can be applied to grout lines easily. Let the gel sit for 10 minutes, then scrub the gel with a hard plastic bristle brush. Holiday Sparkle advises that you then let the cleaner sit for 5 minutes before mopping it off completely. 

Whether you’re cleaning ceramic tile, faux tile, or peel-and-stick tile, there are a few things that are not recommended, regardless of the stain or dirt you need to clean.

• Don’t use abrasive cleaners like steel wool or scouring pads. It’s tempting to use these to remove stuck-on stains, but these methods can easily scratch tile permanently.

• Be careful with bleach. Bleach is great for whitening things but in cases where you have colored grout, bleach is an enemy to fear. Only use bleach on things you want to turn or return to white. For getting deep cleans on things that bleach is too strong for, turn to specialized cleaners like Formula 409.

• Don’t scrape. If you’re dealing with a sticky bit of dirt or gum, pulling out a metal scraper to remove it seems like an effective cleaning method, but metal can easily scratch tile. Opt for a plastic scraper, like an old credit card, instead.

• Treat marble floors very carefully. It's really easy to ruin marble tile with improper cleaning methods, using ammonia included, so when in doubt, hire a pro to do the job safely and effectively. 

If you’re looking to clean just one area or made a small spill, spot cleaning is the answer. Grab a soft cloth and a spray bottle filled with a mixture of warm water and either vinegar or a mild detergent like dish soap. Spray a bit of the solution on the area, wipe with the soft cloth and dry the area. If you're cleaning up any pet messes however, use something like Clorox Pet Urine Remover to make sure it's not just truly clean, it smells clean to a more sensitive pet's nose.

The same theory goes for if you spill a liquid on the floor. Cleaning it up promptly is the easiest way as letting it sit could stain the floor and require more work to clean later.

According to Vintage Restyled, you can just use a simple recipe to clean your grout: 2 cups water, 2 cups white vinegar, and 3 tablespoons baking soda. Be prepared - the vinegar and baking soda will bubble all over the place, so you might want to mix the water and vinegar and then just spread the baking soda on the grout.

Let it react, and then use a scrub brush to clean.

Before you take any action on cleaning your tile floors, it’s super important to know exactly what kind of tile you have. Using cleaning methods that are not suited for your specific type of tile can damage the tile and require costly repairs. If you have the paperwork that came with the tile, read it.

If you’re not sure of the tile type, find out. Taking time to learn more about your tile is essential for proper cleaning.

For more robust cleaning, wet mopping tile floors is the recommended plan. Wet mopping can be added to a routine cleaning process or used when deep cleaning is needed. After sweeping up any dirt or dust, wet a mop with a solution of warm water and a mild cleaner like dish detergent, then mop the floor.

Rinse out the mop and go over the floor again with plain warm water. Dry the floor promptly.

As Neelam’s blog advises, all you have to do is spray Resolve carpet cleaner on grout, wait five minutes, and scrub with a brush. Then you just wipe it away with a cloth.

You can use WD-40 to clean mastic off tile floors. Just make sure to wipe the floor clean after you use it.

A scouring stick can be used for cleaning stubborn deposits and stains on porcelain, ceramic tile, concrete, and iron.

Though rust is one of the least-often-seen stains on tile, it can happen and learning how to remove rust stains from tile is important. Be careful with products advertised to remove rust as they can often be abrasive. Rather look for a liquid chemical, like a lime and rust remover, or very carefully use kerosene to remove rust.

Dab a soft cloth with the rust remover or kerosene — but not both; never mix chemicals! — then gently rub the rust stain. When the rust is removed, use a different damp soft cloth to rinse the area then dry it thoroughly.

An iRobot might just be the easiest way to keep your tile floors clean. According to Bed Bath and Beyond, the Braava jet 240 Mopping Robot is designed to clean hard floors, including tile. You can also attach a cleaning pad and the "robot automatically selects wet mopping, damp sweeping, or dry sweeping." 

Spot clean small spots with a Tilex Tile and Grout Pen. It's perfect for all those small spots you can't reach, too.