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How to Make Floor Polish

Jennifer Worick, contributor

1 user recommends

Seriously, with only three ingredients, you can make a polish to make your hardwoods shine while protecting your family and pets from harsh chemicals.

Photo: Jennifer Worick

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A man who luvvvvvvssss his cat recently asked me to concoct a polish for his hardwood floor that would sweep up the dust kitties without harming his critter. Seemed like a good idea to me so here’s the result.

You’ll need:

• 1/3 cup olive oil (it doesn’t have to be extra virgin)
• 2/3 cup white vinegar or lemon juice
• 5 drops of essential oil
• Measuring cup
• Spray bottle

Step 1: Thoroughly clean your spray bottle.

Step 2: Add olive oil and vinegar/lemon juice to the spray bottle. Carefully add the essential oil; you don’t want to add too much of these potent oils, as they can impact your pets if used in too high a concentration. In fact, some are actually toxic to pets: Avoid peppermint, lemon (lemon juice is okay), lavender, tea tree, cinnamon bark, and wintergreen oil. If you are concerned, just forego the essential oil altogether.

Step 3: Shake well before each use. With a damp mop, sparingly spritz the area you want to polish and mop as usual, rinsing out your mop periodically to remove dust and dirt.

Makes 1 cup

In the future, you can find me at my website or blogs, Things I Want to Punch in the Face and Prairie Tales. My new book, Backcountry Betty: Crafting with Style, is in stores now.

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Comments (4)

JenniferStern writes: This is all excellent info for me--my new house has hardwood floors throughout!! Thanks
Posted: 8:19 am on January 6th

MineFull writes: Although this is a great alternative to commercial floor polish-I just have to add that putting any oil product (including Murphy's Oil) on your wood floors can create problems when/if you plan to refinish your floors. Wood floors do need to be recoated from time to time and if you have an oil product on the floors it will cause the finish to fail. Then the floors will have to be sanded down to bare wood and you'll have to start over. For the long run the best thing to do for your floors is to put a high quality finish (that comes in different sheens if you want shiny floors) on your floors and then clean them with water or a very diluted water/vinegar combination. Chances are if your floors are dull they may need to be recoated to protect the wood. I don't mean to debunk your great idea, but we run a hardwood flooring company and we often come across people who aren't aware of the effects of oil or wax on floors.
Posted: 7:51 am on January 6th

sassypriscilla writes: RachelPhilips - I wash vinyl and tile floors with diluted vinegar.

Will this recipe work on polished floors or unpolished wood floors?

Thanks!
Posted: 10:52 pm on January 5th

RachelPhilips writes: Lovely of you to share your idea. Being a renter with carpets and rolled out surfaces cut to size not nice wood I am wondering if
you have a version of your cleaner for vinyl floors as well?
Posted: 1:47 pm on January 5th

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