A lot of people are constantly on the lookout for better and more effective ways to clean their floors, and it’s well known that choosing the right cleaning fluid can make a big difference to the overall appearance of your floors. Using the wrong kind of detergent can leave your floors looking dull or cloudy, or may cause sticky residue to build up on the surface.
In some cases, using the wrong fluid could even damage the floor, so it really is important to find out what cleaning fluid is best suited to the kind of flooring you have. If you don’t do this, you’ll find cleaning is more work and your floor’s condition may degrade as time passes.
Can you mop floor with laundry detergent? Many people use laundry detergent to mop their floors and it’s a somewhat effective cleaner for many kinds of hard flooring. You should check whether it will damage the specific kind of floor you have, and make sure you’re diluting it to prevent buildup or stickiness. Be aware that there are some drawbacks, and don’t use laundry detergent on hardwood floors, or other sensitive floors.
Is it Okay to Mop Floors with Laundry Detergent?
You can mop many kinds of floors with laundry detergent safely, but there are some things you should be aware of. The first is that laundry detergents tend to be quite alkaline, so if your floor is likely to be damaged by this, look for a cleaner with a more neutral pH value. Some floors, like wood, are more sensitive than others.
Laundry detergent is an excellent cleaning agent. It contains lipase and protease agents, and these are effective at breaking down chains of protein and oils, meaning they can strip grease out of a floor very effectively. Laundry detergent is designed to be good at combating tough stains and leaving the thing being cleaned looking and smelling fresh.
The whole point of laundry detergent is to clean a surface, and they will do that with your floors as effectively as your clothes. However, you should be aware that laundry detergent is also strong and powerful – and while you might want that for your floors, you don’t want to damage them.
That means you should only use a small amount of laundry liquid. It won’t foam up like some cleaners do, but it will get the job done. However, if you use a lot of laundry liquid, you risk damaging your floors. Even if you don’t damage them, you will find that the excess detergent builds up on the floor and leaves it sticky and dull.
Overall, laundry detergent may not be the best kind of cleaner for your floors, but it should be okay to use it occasionally on most hard floors.
Can You Use Laundry Powder for Mopping?
You can mix either laundry powder or a laundry pod with very hot water to dissolve it and then mop the floor with this, but it’s often more work than it’s worth. It’s hard to dilute pods enough to be useful on a floor, and laundry powder can be messy and difficult to work with.
Both of these do have cleaning properties and they will work to clean your floor, but there’s a risk that they will leave behind a sticky residue, and they are not ideal cleaning products. It would be better to purchase a cleaner intended for use on your specific floor type, or an all-purpose cleaner.
How Much Laundry Detergent Should You Use When Mopping?
Most washing machines use about 15-20 gallons of water. That means the laundry detergent gets very diluted. If you don’t dilute the laundry detergent enough, you’ll end up with soap left on your floor, which will make it both look and feel unpleasant.
You can’t use 20 gallons of water to mop a floor, and it would be very wasteful to try, so you need to make sure you are only using a small amount of laundry detergent. Squeeze a few drops into your mop bucket and stir it into the water, and then mop the floor.
This should be enough for the powerful cleaning agents to take effect and it should also make the floor smell fresh and pleasant. Don’t be tempted to use more; you’ll make the floor sticky. If you do use too much, you will have to rinse the whole floor with clean water after you have finished mopping, which makes extra work for you.
If you don’t rinse the floor, you’ll find that the stickiness quickly builds up, attracting dust and grime.
Is Laundry Detergent Cheap?
This depends heavily on what brands you buy and which cleaners you are comparing to. Some laundry detergents are much cheaper than others, and some cleaning products are considerably more expensive. On the whole, however, laundry detergent isn’t a particularly cheap way to clean your floors.
The advantage of laundry detergent is that it does go a long way, so you will get a lot of use out of one bottle. However, most floor cleaners are also quite concentrated and will last for a long time, so this probably won’t make a huge amount of difference.
Does Laundry Detergent Smell Good on Your Floors?
Many people love the smell of laundry detergent on the floor, which may be why this has become such a popular cleaning option. It does smell very clean and fresh, but bear in mind that that doesn’t mean the floor itself is definitely clean and fresh.
If you want a nice smell on your floor, it’s probably better to find a floor cleaner that you love the scent of, rather than using laundry detergent. This will work better, giving you a cleaner surface and providing the smell.
Final Thoughts
You can mop floors with laundry detergent, but this isn’t the best option in many cases. Some floors will react to the alkalinity. If you have a warranty on your floor, you might even void this by using the wrong kind of cleaner. Many floors won’t react badly to laundry detergent, but on the whole, it’s better to choose a dedicated floor cleaner.
