5dropspine essential oilor tea tree essential oil, or your preferred essential oil scent
Instructions
Add the hot water to a bucket, then the liquid castile soap and essential oil.
Gently stir the ingredients together (you don’t want a ton of bubbles).
To Use:
Dip a mop into the solution, then mop the floor. Do not saturate the floor while mopping. Once the floor is clean, discard the dirty water and fill the bucket with 2 more gallons of hot water (no soap this time), wipe the floor with the mop and clean water.
Notes
This solution may be safe for sealed wood floors and other common household surfaces (I use this on our tile) since the pH of castile soap is around 8.9 (a pH of 7 is neutral). Always spot test first (a couple of times) before applying any cleaning product to a full surface! I've also learned, from some major trial and error, that's important to talk to a floor expert about the best way to clean a particular floor (what kind of ingredients/methods to avoid in particular), since there are so many different types of floor surfaces today. Any castile soap variety will work. I just happen to have unscented castile soap on hand as I was photographing this post. I've made this floor cleaner with tea tree, peppermint, lavender, and orange castile soap. I prefer to use 2 tablespoons of castile soap to 2 gallons of hot water. If you feel this ratio is too soapy, then reduce the soap ratio to 1 tablespoon of castile soap to 2 gallons of hot water. If your test spot has a soapy residue, then you know you'll want to tweak the ratio. If you're still not happy with castile soap on your floor, then I recommend using Sal Suds, which is a heavy-duty (safe) detergent. You'll only need about 4 drops of Sal Suds versus 2 tablespoons.