Cleaning a Ceramic Bathroom Floor

We spend a decent amount of time in our bathrooms, so it gets dirty in the blink of an eye. Your ceramic bathroom floor may darken, and the grout joints may become dirty. So, what are the solutions to effectively clean your ceramic bathroom floor?

Cleaning Your Bathroom Floor

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To clean your ceramic tile floor and restore its former shine, daily household products are beneficial. These include vinegar, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, lemon juice, and bleach. 

Use vinegar to clean ceramic tiles

To clean floors with vinegar, follow these steps:

1. Pour vinegar into a water bucket (about ½ cup for 4 litres of water);

2. Grab a clean rag and soak it with vinegar;

3. Scrub the floor, section by section, with it;

4. Rinse the floor with a water-soaked sponge;

5. Lastly, pat the floor dry with a microfibre cloth.

Since vinegar is highly acidic, it’s important to take precautionary measures. In fact, such a cleaning should only be done once. Otherwise, you risk damaging your tile floor and grout joints due to the acidity of the vinegar. Vinegar will make your floor shine and restore its former lustre. 

An alternative to the previously detailed method consists of mixing warm water and vinegar and a few drops of essential oil. Not only will this solution effectively clean your floor, but it’ll also act as a disinfectant, eliminating bacteria.

Use baking soda and vinegar to clean your ceramic tile floor

Pour a large quantity of hot water into a bucket, and then, mix in two tablespoons of vinegar and two tablespoons of baking soda. Once your mixture has rightfully dissolved, with a brush, scrub the floor with it.

If your floor appears greasy after a build-up of cleaning product residue on the floor, make another mixture consisting of half part water, and half part baking soda. ​​Spray the mixture onto the floor and let it sit for an hour. Lastly, rinse thoroughly and wipe dry with a microfibre cloth. 

Disinfect and polish your floor with hydrogen peroxide

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Hydrogen peroxide is an oxidizing agent used to clean various surfaces. Numerous commercial products that brighten or bleach clothing contain it. This disinfectant is similar to bleach and is available in 3% to 50% concentrations. 

To clean your ceramic tile floor with hydrogen peroxide, start by filling up half a spray bottle with water and a bit of dish soap. Then, fill the other half with hydrogen peroxide. Shake the bottle to smooth out the mixture. Next, spray the solution on your floor and let it sit for 15 minutes. To finish, wipe or scrub the floor depending on the intensity of the stains.

If you notice that your ceramic tile floor is becoming dull, we have a trick that’ll clean it and restore its shine. It consists of a half-cup mixture of hydrogen peroxide and a gallon of hot water. This solution can be safely applied to your bathroom's ceramic tile floor and all other surfaces.

Clean your ceramic tile floor with bleach

Bleach certainly is the most popular product when it comes to disinfecting surfaces and objects. It comes in numerous forms (liquid, tablet, powder). This product also works really well as a deodorizer. 

If your floor is very dirty, mix bleach with hot water. Scrub the floor in sections using a brush, and rinse with clean water. Since bleach is corrosive, don't use this mixture for day-to-day cleaning.

Cleaning Your Ceramic Tile Floor Grout

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Using the same ingredients, mix 4 tablespoons of baking soda with 10 tablespoons of white vinegar. You should spray this solution directly on the grout joints. Be sure to let the mixture sit for 24 hours. Afterward, scrub the floor with light pressure and rinse with water.

Here’s another solution to restore your ceramic grout. Pour one litre of hot water into a bucket, and then mix in vinegar and dish soap. Use the vinegar and dish soap in moderation: about 1/3 cup of vinegar should be enough, and approximately 200 ml of dish soap. Next, soak a clean rag in this mixture and generously apply it to the floor. Finally, scrub with a soft-bristle brush, then rinse.

Hydrogen peroxide is also highly effective in cleaning your ceramic floor grout without eroding it. To do this, make sure to spray the product on the grout and let it sit for 30 minutes. Use a stiff-bristle brush to deep clean.

This mixture is highly effective in preventing the propagation of mould, which tends to settle between the tiles. For the best results, spray it directly onto the areas affected by mould to halt the growth of said fungi.

Cleaning a ceramic tiled floor prior to painting it

When your ceramic floor becomes porous, stained, and difficult to clean, if you don’t want to replace it, a solution available to you is painting it. However, before you start painting your tiles, make sure to clean your ceramic floor. Keep in mind that paint will adhere much better to a clean surface rather than a dirty one.

Yanick Dupré of Dupré Carrelage Inc. stated that if you decide to regrout or replace the entire floor, it’s important to carefully read the manufacturer's instructions before going ahead with the first cleaning post-regrouting. You’ll need to wait for a certain period of time depending on the type of grout used.

Looking for more information to help you plan your bathroom renovation project? Check out our Bathroom Renovation Guide.