We’ve done a few renovating projects on our home in the past several years, including putting in wood flooring in the main room and tile flooring in the kitchen and laundry room. And while I dream about someday overhauling the master and guest bathrooms, at this point they still have the linoleum flooring that was there when we moved in. It’s not an eyesore or anything, so I don’t have too much of an issue with it.
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However – I did have an issue with the fact that it was seemingly impossible to get those floors completely clean. The linoleum flooring is not completely smooth, so dirt and grime get ground into those nooks and crannies. Even vigorous mopping was not enough to lift the stubborn dirt in my linoleum floors! But I recently had a moment of inspiration that enabled me to finally (FINALLY) get the ground-in dirt out of the linoleum floors in my bathroom.
If you’re a regular follower of my blog, you might remember a post from a couple of months ago about getting tough stains out of your carpet using your clothes iron. (If you haven’t read it before, follow the link below to check it out!)
Related: This Is The Best Way To Remove Tough Carpet Stains
I was so impressed by the results I got using this technique! (You can see how well it worked in the photo above.) So I got to thinking about those pesky bathroom floors of mine, and wondering if the same technique could possibly help me lift out those pesky bits of dirt that were driving me crazy! I couldn’t think of a good enough reason not to try it (other than the potential embarrassment of being caught “ironing” my kitchen floor). ;-)
So I gave it a try, and it worked like a charm! Here’s how you can do it on your own grimy floors.
How To Get Stubborn Dirt Out Of Linoleum Flooring
You’ll need:
- Ammonia
- Hot water
- Clothes iron
- Clean washcloths
Directions:
Start by plugging in your iron near the area you’ll be cleaning.
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Next, mix together one part ammonia with one part hot water. Dunk a clean washcloth into the ammonia solution and wring it out a bit. You want it to be damp, but not dripping.
Lay the wet cloth out on the area you wish to clean, then place your hot iron on the towel. (It will get steamy, so be careful!) Move the iron around constantly for about 30 seconds or so, then check the underside of the towel to see if the dirt is lifting out.
If there are spots of dirt on the underside of the towel, that means it’s working! The washcloth may not lift all of the dirt out of the floor, but the ironing process will loosen the remaining dirt enough that you can easily wipe or scrub it away. (You can use the same cloth you ironed with. Or a Magic Eraser would make the job even easier!)
Continue the process until the whole area is clean. You don’t need to use a clean towel for each individual section, but you’ll probably want to switch your towel out when it starts to get grimy.
A Few Extra Tips
Try and keep the iron on top of the towel and not on your flooring. :-) I had the iron set on its highest heat setting and was ironing on top of just one cloth, and I didn’t experience any burns or discoloration on my floors. (However, if you’re concerned about it, find an inconspicuous spot of floor to do a test before moving on to a more visible spot.)
I’m not exactly sure how many people suffer from this ground-in dirt dilemma, but I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one! If you have this problem and have all but given up, I highly recommend giving this method a try! Just be prepared for the confused stares of your family members when they see you sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor with your iron! ;-)
I would like an idea about how to PREVENT this sort of porous craggy linoleum from taking in so much dirt in the first place. With dogs and people tramping in dirt daily, it’s not possible to do this kind of cleaning as often as it needs. Does anyone know of a permanent sealer of any kind to apply over this difficult flooring?
really good tips, some time i find so annoying to find some ‘stubborn’ dirt in my house, i think i will try to solve it with this tips
Why are your stains in a perfect pitch and identical across the 3 sets of tile in the before pic? I assume this was photoshopped.
That’s just the texture of the floor – it’s not photoshopped :-)
What about white vinegar? Any reason why it wouldn’t work? I’m trying to not use any cleaners with chemicals any more.
It won’t work quite as well, but vinegar should definitely help!
I don’t have ammonia. I would only buy it for this project. Do you think bleech or white vinegar would work just as well?
Unfortunately, no. Ammonia is really the perfect thing for this trick! Luckily, it’s pretty cheap – you might even find some at the dollar store. :-)
Be careful! Hot iron and ammonia can hurt your eyes, lungs, etc. You won’t be able to breathe! As a retired military wife, we used ammonia a lot cleaning our quarters I would never have mixed it 1/2 & 1/2 and never would I have used an iron on a cloth wet from the mixture. Read the bottle!
I’ve have a simple steam mop (one setting) and it gets my linoleum clean but still leaves the stains :(
I cannot wait to try this new method with the iron at home! What an idea!
I just tried this method. I have never cleaned with ammonia and was not quite prepared for the very very strong fumes. The warnings on the ammonia bottle are strong and to follow. I was trying to clean my 1/2 bath and connecting small laundry room and had to stop during it because of orders. Be careful.
i just use my steam mop set on low and this has always done a good job been doing for 4 years now no problems with floor i even have it in my kitchen so that gets done very often
Did you use the ammonia too?
I agree, this is not laminate. On my laminate flooring I use a Shark steam cleaner and it works really well.
I had the same problem from Mop and Glow – waxing over a floor that wasn’t really clean. I opened the house windows, turned on our whole-house fan and used straight lemon scented ammonia with a regular mop. Amazing. Smelly, but amazing.