How to Clean a Yoga Studio Floor: A Step-by-Step Guide

Whether you own a yoga studio or you’re merely working at one, it’s a good idea to get familiar with how to clean a yoga studio floor. Instead of wasting countless hours following unnecessary routines, there are quite a few cleaning secrets you can use that make the process of cleaning a yoga studio floor a piece of cake. 

So, how do you clean a yoga studio floor? The cleaning of a yoga studio floor depends on the kind of studio flooring. Hardwood, vinyl, bamboo, and cork flooring are the most prevalent in yoga studios, and you can clean them using brooms, mops, store-bought chemicals, or natural mixtures combining water, vinegar, and tea tree oil.

In this article, I will explore the process of cleaning and having a spotless yoga studio floor that does not have the typical sweaty foul smell you often encounter in closed spaces where people exercise. I will give you the process you need to ensure your yoga studio is known for its cleanliness. So let’s begin. 

Cleaning Different Types Of Yoga Studio Floors

The type fo cleaning methods and supplies you use to clean your yoga studio floor will largely depend on the type of yoga studio flooring.

Yoga studio floors tend to be of 2 main types:

• Floating floors with a hardwood top and a sprung under-layer
• Vinyl flooring

Floating floors are standard in yoga and dance studios as they provide a more shock-resistant surface and help reduce injury.

These days bamboo and cork flooring are prevalent in yoga studios as well. Also, you will find certain yoga studios with peculiar choices of flooring such as carpets (Bikram yoga) or rubber flooring (standard in gyms and fitness studios).

In this guide, we will focus on the most common hardwood and vinyl floors that will require a mop and standard cleaning supplies. The methods explained in this guide can also be used to clean the rubber flooring used in gyms and fitness studios.

Before we get into the step-by-step guide on how you can clean your yoga studio floor, I will cover the tools and other supplies that you’ll need. 

Tools & Materials To Clean Yoga Studio Floor

Here are all the supplies that you’ll need to clean the floor of your yoga studio:

• A mop and a mop bucket. Use any mop or bucket made for commercial cleaning. However, if you’re looking for a higher-quality cleaning setup that is sure to clean every inch of dirt and grime on the floor, I recommend the O-Cedar EasyWring Microfiber Spin Mop from Amazon. 
• A broom and a dustpan. Again, any broom and dustpan pairing will work. If you need an affordable and effective option, go with the AmazonBasics Dustpan Broom Set. 
• Cleaning solution for the mop bucket. There are plenty of chemical-based cleaners that you can choose. If you want an effective natural option, go with Aunt Fannie’s Floor Cleaner Vinegar Wash. However, many yoga studio owners whose opinions I respect, tend to use a simple mixture of water, vinegar, light natural detergent, and tea tree oil to create a cleaning solution.
• Yoga mat cleaning spray. While yoga mats technically aren’t part of the floor, they’re still something you’ll want to clean in conjunction with your floor cleaning routine. The ASUTRA Natural & Organic Yoga Mat Cleaner is an excellent non-toxic option. 
• A mineral deposit cleaner. Sometimes a yoga mat cleaning spray isn’t enough to get the job done. If you notice small white spots that remain on your yoga mat even after wiping them down, you’ll need a mineral deposit cleaner to get rid of them. I recommend this Mineral Deposit Cleaner from Zebra to help you remove mineral deposits from sweat. 
• A sponge. You’ll be using this to scrub off the mineral deposit cleaner from the yoga mats. I recommend using a Non-Scratch Microfiber Sponge to ensure your yoga mats don’t get damaged during the cleaning process. 
• Cautionary “Wet Floor” signs to put up before you start working. If there will be other people present in the yoga studio when you’re cleaning, setting up some Wet Floor signs might save someone from a nasty fall (and protect you from a nasty lawsuit).  

How to Clean Yoga Studio Floor: A Step-by-Step Guide

Once you’ve gathered everything that you need, it’s time to start cleaning.

Ideally, it would help if you cleaned the yoga studio floor after each class. Your students will sweat on their yoga mats, but the sweat will drop on the floor as students move around and leave the room. 

However, if you cannot clean after each class, the best time of the day to clean is right after the last session of the day leaves the yoga studio. If you do it before the doors open, you’ll have to wait for everything to dry before you begin classes. 

Once you’ve decided on a time, follow these steps to thoroughly remove all dirt, sweat, and any other unwanted residue from your yoga studio floor:

Step 1: Clear the yoga studio floor of all obstructions

Remove the yoga mats and anything else covering the studio floor. You can clean the yoga mats once you’ve cleaned the studio floor. 

Step 2: Grab your broom and sweep the entire area from end to end

It would be best if you never tried to mop a floor that has yet to be swept, as you’ll wind up with a soaked, debris-filled mess all over the floor.

Step 3: Mix the cleaning solution of your choice in the mop bucket and start to mop the floor

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need much water at all to create an effective mop-cleaning solution. You also don’t need to soak the floor completely to clean it. Just get enough water and cleaning solution on there to attract the dirt and grime into your mop. 

Pro tip: Work your way from the back of the room towards the front of the store, using side-to-side sweeping motions as you go. Never backtrack and walk through the water, as this is a needless waste of time and increases your risk of slipping. 

Step 4: Wait for 20 to 30 minutes until the floor is dried, and then move over to the yoga mats

Cleaning the yoga mats can be a bit tricky as they often slide around. Start by disinfecting each of them with your choice of a chemical cleaner or natural remedy. Don’t forget to clean both sides, even the parts that your members aren’t touching; although their sweat might not be contaminating the bottom, the dirt and grime covering your floor will!

Step 5: Next, get the mineral deposit cleaner

As I mentioned before, yoga mats often get covered in small white mineral spots from excess sweat that builds up. Use a mineral deposit cleaner to scrub down the spots with a sponge. 

Step 6: Finally, go over all of the yoga mats one last time with the disinfecting cleaner

This process will prevent bacteria from growing within the next few days, but it also removes the unpleasant scent that some mineral deposit cleaners have. You could also choose to wipe each mat down with a few drops of essential oils if you want them to smell great for the next day’s lessons.

After you’ve completed all of the steps, put the yoga mats back in their spots, and put away the cleaning materials. 

You could also make your job much easier by requesting that all members bring their own yoga mats. If you’re willing to do that, all you have to do is follow step one and step two as you would with any other hardwood or vinyl floor. 

Whatever you do, make sure that the floor is dry before any yoga mats go back on it. Otherwise, the leftover moisture can be a breeding ground for more bacteria.

Cleaning Hot Yoga Carpet Flooring

Bikram yoga or hot yoga is trendy, and Bikram yoga studios have carpet flooring, which performs better in high temperatures and humidity. The biggest challenge in cleaning a hot yoga studio floor is not the process of cleaning but maintaining a high frequency of cleaning.

The carpets that cover the floor in Bikram yoga studios are special carpets with fibers in the weave packed very densely together so that no sweat is absorbed. In effect, these carpets are better than wood flooring in terms of not absorbing sweat and moisture. 

So, you can follow the same process explained above to clean hot yoga studio carpet floors. However, consider increasing the frequency of cleaning as the amount of sweat created during classes is significantly more than that at a traditional yoga studio.

NOTE: I have written a detailed guide on how to clean yoga mats. Cleaning your yoga mats is as crucial as keeping your yoga studio floors clean. Review my article to get the complete process of cleaning and having great smelling yoga mats.

Additional Cleaning Tips To Clean Yoga Studio Floor

Cleaning the floor of your yoga studio isn’t too challenging. However, there are a few pieces of advice that could make it even faster. Here are five ways that you can speed the process along and get back to work quicker:

1. Create a schedule and stick to it. Trying to fit a spontaneous cleaning session into your workday is almost impossible, especially if you have everything booked. Clean yoga studio floors daily since so many people are using them.
2. Try to use chemicals and other cleaning supplies that nobody is allergic to. If you notice that someone is uncomfortable with their yoga mat, ask them about the cleaners that you’re using. To avoid this situation, you may want to start with apple cider vinegar, regular white vinegar, or essential oil solutions (20 drops per 1/2 of a gallon of water).
3. Hire a janitor or ask an employee to do the cleaning tasks for you. Assigning cleaning tasks to a specific person helps avoid the blame game and ensures that your yoga studio floors cleaning happens regularly.
4. Ventilation will help to keep humidity out of the air. Try running an air conditioner unit or leave the windows open at times.
5. Always check to see if the chemicals that you’re using are safe for the surface of the studio’s floor. Certain cleaners can ruin wood floors, carpeted areas, and so on.

Conclusion

Cleaning your yoga studio floor is an easy and quick process if you know what you’re doing. By following the steps listed throughout this article, you can guarantee a safe, clean, fresh-smelling studio for everyone who comes in.