Just Tackled the Bathroom Floor

And OH MY is it shining! We have linoleum in here that hasn't been replaced in 10 years. It is good quality linoleum, no rips or tears. But it is dirty. It is textured, so there was dirty from people's shoes ground into it. I scrub it once a month, but that didn't always pick all the dirt up all of it. There was also a yellow tint to it, or yellowish spots. So I did some research and found out that it was wax build up. Here is what I did...


I cleaned the baseboards to remove all the dirt from the corners and sides of the wall. Then I swept to floors so thoroughly. 


And then scrubbed the floors down like I usually do to get the dirt up. However, I wanted ALL the dirt up before I shined the floor, so I tried everything, and eventually realized that the all purpose cleaner with bleach that they sale at the Dollar Tree used with a scrub brush picks up all the dirt! (I wish I had figured that out a year ago!) So I went from one square to the next, scrubbing and then using a towel to dry it up and get all the what was now mud off the floor. *Make sure to dry up all the cleaner with bleach because the next step you use ammonia and mixing bleach with ammonia makes a toxic gas.*


I filled the sink with 1 gallon of warm water and 1/2 cup of ammonia. Dip the mop in and ring it out. Mop the floors with it, which strips the old wax off the floor. I waited for it to dry. There were still some yellow spots, but the wax had already been loosened by all the ammonia, so all I had to do was use the edge of my scrub brush and scrape it off the floor. 


Afterward, I used some Mop and Shine from the Dollar General. I followed the instructions, which were pretty simple. Go one section at a time. Squeeze the Mop and Shine and then spread around with a damp mop. *If you are using the same mop, make sure to rinse until you get all the ammonia out of the mop, otherwise shining the floor will not do you any good. I wish I had pictures, but the yellow is very faint, like a film, so pictures won't do good. However, I have had two visitors today and both commented on how shiny and new the floors looked.  Honestly though, I didn't think there was any way to get all that up off the floor, and it was so simple, time consuming, but simple. The bigger areas are the hardest, especially if they have more of a yellow film that yellow spots, but it is still possible.