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How to Get Rid of Sticky Floors From Alcohol

How to Get Rid of Sticky Floors From Alcohol?

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Sticky floors are a huge pain in the butt, especially from alcohol.

You are hanging out with friends, enjoying, drinking soda and alcohol and someone spills it on the floor.

You try to do damage control fast by removing the spill with a cloth but it isn’t very effective. 

The stickiness remains and your floor’s texture is hampered.

In this article, you’ll learn why the floor gets sticky after an alcohol spill, what materials you’ll need to remove the stickiness, how to remove the stickiness of natural stone floors, ceramic floors as well as wooden floors. 

And then finally, how to keep your floor clean for a long time without it taking too much effort.

Why Does Your Floor Get Sticky After an Alcohol Spill?

Alcohol is made by adding a lot of sugar and when it spills, the sugar gets stuck onto the floor. The alcohol we drink, c2h6o contains massive amounts of sugar. 

And if it spills on the floor, not only does it get sticky but it also dries up quickly onto the floor. 

Making it very hard for you to clean it up quickly. 

This fast evaporation of alcohol on the floor happens because the molecules of the alcohol don’t stick together as strongly at room temperature as water molecules do, which means the alcohol evaporates more quickly than water does. More molecules fly away, and they carry more heat energy with them.

A scientific study says that alcohol dries up in as quickly as 15 minutes. 

Materials Required To Remove Alcohol From Your Floors

  • A clean mop. Rinse it with normal water beforehand. As there may be some dirt or debris left from the previous mopping. You don’t want that to carry over this time around.
  • Warm or hot water depending on how strong the stickiness is. If there’s a slight spill go for warm water. But if the stickiness is rough then you will need hot water.
  • A bucket to carry water. Make sure you keep recycling the water in the bucket. As dirty water can often ruin the texture instead of cleaning it further.

How To Remove Alcohol Stickiness from Natural Stone Floor

A natural stone floor could be marbles or granites.

They are highly sensitive floors and can get dirty fast if you spill alcohol onto them.

This happens because marbles are calcareous stones and they’re made from calcium carbonate. 

Which reacts very quickly to acid, in this case, alcohol. However, it is fairly easy to remove the stickiness of alcohol from a natural stone floor.

Just follow the steps below and your natural stone floor will be as good as new:

  1. Sweep the area with a soft bristle broom where you see stickiness. This will make sure that any dust or dirt particles which may be stuck on the floor is swept away.

You don’t want the floor to get any scratches when you apply harsher force later.

2. Then take a soft towel and dip it in warm or hot water depending on the stickiness of the alcohol and start rubbing the floor.

This should weaken the stickiness a bit.

3. Now take a bucket, fill it with warm water and take the appropriate amount of floor cleaning solution. In this case, since you’re cleaning a natural stone floor, so make sure that the cleaner is pH neutral.

Remember to never clean a floor with an acidic solution. It’ll ruin the texture forever.

4. Now after you’ve added a pH neutral solution, dip the mop inside it and start cleaning the floor.

5. Then dump out the bucket and fill it back up with clean warm water.

6. Rinse the floor completely with clean water. If there is cleaning residue left on the floor, it can be sticky as well and make it seem that the original spill was not cleaned up.

7. Let the floor dry up and see if the stickiness remains.

8. If the stickiness does remain, take half a cup of household ammonia and mop the entire area with it.

8. Dump out the bucket and take clean warm water.

9. Rinse the floor again with clean water.

This harsh process should be able to erase the stickiness of alcohol from a natural stone floor.

How To Remove Alcohol Stickiness from Ceramic Tiles Floor

As already stated above alcohol dries up very quickly. And it’s even faster on ceramic or porcelain floors. 

Because of the nature of these floors. But, on the positive side of things is that it is fairly easy to remove alcohol stickiness from these types of floors.

So, if you have ceramic or porcelain flooring, you need to be very attentive to the following advice.

  1. First of all, wipe up as much alcohol as you can with a towel.

2. Now take 4 cups of warm water and add a mild soap such as dishwashing liquid into it. 1/4 cup should be fine. Then take half a tablespoon of baking soda and mix them all.

3. Then dip a soft towel in the solution and start rubbing it over the alcohol sticky area.

If you have an old toothbrush you can also use it to scrub off any hard sticky areas which may remain after rubbing with a towel.

4. Rinse and repeat this process with new clean water and dry the area with a new part of the towel.

This process should be able to help you remove any alcohol stickiness from the ceramic or porcelain floor.

How To Remove Alcohol Stickiness from a Wooden Floor

When alcohol spills on a wooden floor a white stain appears on it. 

But do not worry.

Chances are the sealant on the wood is probably damaged and not the wood.

And if you follow the below advice you should be able to clean the sealant from alcohol.

5 Steps to Remove Alcohol Stain and Stickiness from a Wooden Floor:

  1. Pour a few drops of cooking oil on a soft cloth. Lemon oil or other traditional wood oils are preferred.
  1. Gently rub the oil over the stain. Apply very little pressure. We want to make sure we save the sealant as well.
  1. It may take a minute of rubbing the oil in for the stain to fully disappear. Add more oil to the cloth if needed.
  1. Once the stain fades away, wipe off the excess oil with a dry part of the cloth.
  1. If needed, clean the area with a new cloth to remove any remaining oil.

How To Keep Your Wooden Floor Clean Long Term

  • If you have a natural stone floor only use pH-neutral cleaning solutions.
  • Use a sealant to seal ceramic and porcelain floors. This will make sure that the natural and original texture of the tile always remains.
  • If you have a wooden floor, make sure that you don’t apply too much oil. As that will create a lot of moisture which isn’t good for a wooden floor.
  • Steam mops work very well with all the 3 kinds of floors. It works well on wooden floors too.
  • Cleaning your floor with clean water and a clean mop will go a long way with keeping it clean. Always change your bucket after you mop once.
  • And rinse your mop before every mopping session.
  • If you have natural stone tiles, then seal them. Sealing can be a very effective way of making your natural stone tile last a lifetime. Natural stone floors are porous. This means they have holes, which makes them highly susceptible to spills, cooking oil, dirt, and grime. This stuff will enter natural stone that has not been sealed properly, creating stains and making it harder to clean and maintain. Sealers impregnate the stone, which means they seal the holes so liquids and oils don’t enter the stone’s surface, but remain on top of the stone for hassle-free cleaning.
  • Never use a bathroom cleaning solution on these normal room floors. These cleaners create a lot of scum and may end up making your floor dirtier.
  • Make a habit of using warm water while cleaning. It’s highly effective in cleaning hard stains and sticky areas. 

Summary

It is fun to enjoy time with friends and family from time to time. And drink in the process.

But more times than not, you may find your floor sticky with alcohol spills.

The first thing you need to do is not to panic or waste money in trying to hire professionals.

Remember – It’s just sugar and water.

And you can easily clean it if you follow the above steps.

Recognise what type of flooring you have. 

Natural stones, ceramic or porcelain tiles, or wooden floors. 

Each floor has a different method of cleaning because of how different their textures are.

But if you follow this article, you will clean your floor of alcohol stickiness in no time.

Now, please comment below and let me know which type of flooring you have installed and did the above advice work for you?

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