Cleaning ceramic tile floors
 

I'm having issues cleaning my tile floors. Yesterday I have use vinegar, hot water, 1tablespoon dish soap & washing soda mix in a bucket. Use a sponge mop and by the time it was dry there was white spots, streaks and the floor still felt dirty, to the point that you could not slide around with just your socks. SOOOO today I re cleaned just a few areas just with hot water & vinegar, and it was worse. The streaks were gone but you still could not scoot around in your socks. What am I doing wrong or does anyone have a great solution to get a clean look and feel.
Thank you

I will be watching this thread for answers as i have a similar problem. Your floor cleaning solution sounds like the one i was going to try, but probably not now. I've been using pine Sol and the grout is still dirty. I can't get down and scrub it either

Well, we live in Dallas area and we have Mexican Tile in our kitchen and partly in Den. I used a dark grout, but we sealed it with 20 year sealant and we just mop with murphys soap. Or a little dawn.

We have ceramic porcelain tile thru out our house. I vacuum and then I mop with a small amount of dawn or pine sol mixed with water. Tiles are brown with dark brown grout. Our tile is not slick even when wet. Besides who wants to be like Tom Cruise and slide across the floor in white socks and briefs...lol.

Do you know exactly what your tiles are made of? Are these new floors or old floors? I ask because I think cleaning methods vary depending on the composition of your tiles.

I use a steam mop twice a week (I have a lot of tile flooring). Seems to work ok for us. But occasionally the grout needs a little more attention which is a huge task.

A steam cleaner seems to do a pretty good job of cleaning grout. There are some videos on Youtube that demonstrate this. (It won't necessarily get out stains, but it does a good job of getting out dirt!) Once grout is clean, I believe it's a good idea to seal the grout.

In UK my mothers friend used to clean the church tiled floors on her knees with fairy soap a scrubbing brush and wipe clean. Those tiles always had a lovely shine. Not sure about the sock part as the church isle not the place to try.

I use normally use Mr. Clean or Pinesol or any other commercial floor cleaning product. Dilute in a bucket of water and use a sponge mop. We have darker tile with a dark grout. Sealed the grout with a silicon based product. 10 coats (yes 10!) of that stuff with a kiddie paint brush but well worth it. It's been over 20 years and you can still see the seal on the grout an no dirt!

Thank you for all of the suggestions. I do have a Hann steam cleaner. I will try that to see if this will make a difference. I do not have an issue with the grout it is just the tile it's self.

Same thing with me, It is not the grout that is a problem but some of the tiles that seems dull and not sparkling

Same here. We put ceramic tile in our great room thinking it would be easy to clean. I was told to vaccum the tile then mop with water and vinegar, nothing else. The tile looks ok except where the sun shines on it, then you can see tons of streaks. It is embarrassing! I have even used two buckets, one with the water/vinegar and one with clear water to rinse, but that didn't help. I hope someone has a solution for us here!

could it be that your water is hard and that is what is leaving the streaks?

I have a steam cleaner and it does a wonderful job on that film but, it doesn't immediately get the film up. Mine takes several times with the steam to finally lift the film. Mine is a shark steam cleaner. For the grout, about once a year I use scrubbing bubbles and a toothbrush. I work in small sections and don't try to get it all done at once. When we moved into our house I had my husband convinced that the grout was brown. A few days later he mentioned, Why is it gray next to the wall? Oops.

I found the best way to clean my ceramic tile floors was to simply sweep or vacuum thoroughly first then use a mild detergent in a bucket of hot water (and I keep the cleaner on the light side - too much is the main cause of cloudiness and streaks on your floors when you are done.) Also, make sure you are not using a sponge mop - it just pushes dirt and grime into your grout. I use a chamois-type mop and it works great! :)

I also use my steam mop to clean them about every second or third cleaning and that does a great job too!

Hope this helps some! :)

Without knowing if your tiles are terracotta or glazed etc. It is difficult to advise. I use a steam mop on mine and have good results.

My tile is a light beige tonal ceramic tile and the grout is epoxy grout. This grout doesn't stain so no sealing is required. It is light like the tile- or at least it was. Now it is darker and I know it's because it is dirty. I mop all the time and it doesn't seem to get clean. I want to see if the rental place has a steam cleaner for tile floors and try that.

I do the same but then rinse with clear water after scrubbing. I use a narrow brush found at the local grocery store in cleaning supplies. It is hard work and can only do about 20 sq. feet at a time. I am hoping that some day I will get it all done at once and reseal it. My tile is ceramic with beige sanded grout. Don't like it much and have a lot of it. It is needed where I live as we are on a farm and the floor gets scrubbed once or twice a day. I am a barefoot girl and don't like dirty floors to walk on. My steam mop does a better job on the tile than the grout. It just does not get down in the seams very well. Scrubbing Bubbles does a nice job but be careful as when it is still wet it is very slick!

I, too, have problems getting my tile floors clean. Regardless what I use, I have streaks. I have a steam mop and numerous other kinds and nothing seems to work really well. I am anxiously following everyone's comments hoping to find a magic solution.

Thank goodness I only have white ceramic tile in front of the front door. I use the wet swiffer cloths to clean it. They clean it hust fine. I use to mop floors on my hands and knees, now just use swiffer wet cloths.

My husband had a carton of coke cola in on the floor in my pantry. One of the cans broke and ran in the group lines. My tile is while and the grout was white but had gotten dirty looking. Where the cole ran when cleaned up the grout was as white as new. This is all I can tell you.

An old toothbrush and mouthwash...dollar store brand or Listerine or any of the others will clean the grout in tile floors.

I have had semi-shiny light tan ceramic floors in the main part of my home. I sweep, spray with Windex or homemade Windex and mop with a damp (not wet) microfiber mop. I start out in a corner and mop away from it backing up. If it was really dirty I rinse my mop and damp mop again. You have to let the floor dry before you walk on it or it will leave footprints. It only takes a few minutes to dry. This is the only way that I can come out with a clean, not cloudy floor. I have done this for over 35 years and my floors look great. I have never sealed my grout. I chose a dark stained grout in the beginning and have never needed to seal it.

Steam cleaner and water.

Just tried the listrine, brush and rinse. Did not work as well as Scrubbing bubbles but smelled much better. Also was sticky before rinsing with water and steaming. But is does smell great! I will keep watching for more ideas. I am about to call in the professionals and then seal. Has anyone had professional steaming done on their tile floors?

I just tried the Listerine, brush, water and mopping with steam and water after. Did not do as well as Scrubbing Bubbles but sure did smell better. It was also sticky until I damp mopped and steamed. I am about to call in the professional steamers. Has anyone used a professional steam cleaner and did it work. Then I could seal the whole thing again all at once. Then again maybe I should have started this cleaning job 3 years ago. Seems to have gotten much worse lately..ummmm wonder if the neighbors dog coming in and out several times a day has anything to do with it! Little kids are gone except summers but the adults are still here. Can't complain they are mine and they do help me a lot. If they don't get here in a timely manner I just lean a ladder up on the gutters and they find time right away. LOL

I clean houses for others. Use vinegar, for mirrors, 1/2 water/1/2 vinegar in spray bottle). I wash floors on my hands and knees. Soda works for stains on counter tops, and of course, Miracle II products.

The tile guy told me to use vinegar/water/peroxide mix and that works well. DH doesn't like my vinegar mix and he bought a steam cleaner that seems to work well.

My last house has ceramic floors in the kitchen. I used anything I had to clean them. Pine Sol, Mop and glo, Shakley products, even Dawn dish soap. They were clean but not the grout. The grout started to look brown. So the give it a good clean and to whiten the grout I used half bucked HOT water and put in a good measure or two of Oxiclean powder. I used a deck cleaning brush on handle and scrubbed the floor. Then rinsed with clear water. The floor and grout was white and very clean again. This doesn't have to be done every time. I found I only had to do it every 3-4 months. With animals and shoes I cleaned the floor every several days. I never had any issues with the floor being slippery.

I use a steam mop on my tile.

I have ceramic tile with light grout and I use Bruce's Floor cleaner for ceramic tile. No streaks and it leaves a glossy shine on the tile that has shine. One room has more matte finish tile white with white grout and the cleaner does a great job with it. I find I don't have to clean the ceramic tile very much though, a good vacuuming is all it needs for daily up keep.

A friend told me to use ONLY WATER to clean my ceramic tile floors or else you would have streaks. The cleaning products build up then you have to strip the floors to start over.
You can use warm/ht water and let it sink into the dirt. Wipe up with a bath towel, turning the towel often to use a clean part. clean floor = dirty towel

I use the Hoover FloorMate, hard floor cleaner, love it!

Just for the grout I sprayed Spray Nine on it with a little brush to scrub and wipe away with a little water. I was amazed how the grout came up light beige just like new some 28 years ago when it was first laid. I had a large hallway and it didn't take too long to do, just hour and half. Then I sealed it but I think I will do more than three coats.

The best thing that I have found for cleaning grout is the new Kaboom w/bleach. I have silver grey grout w/my light grey marble look porcelain tile. Spray it on, I use a scrub brush on the grout, no waiting, and beautiful again. I do this several times a year for a deep clean. The rest of the time, I use my Swiffer mop.

I have the SHARK steam cleaner and it works wonderfully. I always use a light spray of something around the stove, but otherwise just plain old steam and it is fast and easy

I have used Armstrong Once & Done for years, no rinse just mop. We have tile now in kitchen and vinyl in our living room and still use it. When I had my white & blue vinyl, on a really dirty spot, I would spray ahead of time, let it soak until I got to whipping up that spot.

Two words -- steam mop.
Now, the remainder: I have ceramic tile and quartz tile...have used the sponge mop / rag mop / bucket of water with "you name it" and it was always a MESS! Got the steam cleaner ... problem solved. Be sure to use distilled water. The floor and the grout look great.

When my grandson was a little one crawling, and even now as he's 2 1/2 and quite stable on his feet, I always steam the tiles before he arrives. That way, I know he won't get any cleaning product residue on his sweet little hands. Mud the dogs dragged in, perhaps. But no cleaning product residue.

BTW, I have an Australian Aussie and a mutt, neither of which I can train to wipe their feet before they come into the house. Ha!

I had all ceramic tile in my last house. I just used a mild dish soap. I usually did them on my knees as that is my preferred method of scrubbing. My daughter uses a steam mop and says it is the best thing she has ever used to clean her tile. I only jumped in here to say that I discovered that Windex is amazing to clean the grout if it gets grimy. I would spray some on, use a brush then use just water to wipe it clean.