On your hands and knees is the only way to really get it clean. (Ow.) Ammonia in warm water, a scrub brush, a couple of hours, and numerous sore muscles later, you'll actually have a clean floor.

I wouldn't use floor wax on tile; that's for linoleum.

The powdered kind, on my tile floor. It works like a charm. I don't know about wax though.

The liquid kind doesn't seem to work as well.

with an old toothbrush, rags for the corners, on my hands and knees. It is the only way. But it is clean, very very clean.

That's a high pressure steamer that infiltrates the grout with very high temp steam and then sucks up the dirt it forces out. The good part is that such a device does exist and you can rent one for about $100 a day. The bad news is that you have to get on your hands and knees to do it. No scrubbing involved but there is no long extension wand to allow you to do this standing up.
I've heard that this really works and the Stanley Steamer guys offered to do it for me-- for $400.
sigh
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Rags and scrubbing pads. On your hands and knees. You'll need lots of ventilation and probably a gas mask.

That's the only way I've found that really works on lots of grime, other than calling a professional.

My mom hated sponge mops because they really did a crappy job of cleaning up after 5 kids' messes. But working on hands and knees was not an option after spending 12 hours on her feet as a nurse.

Her solution was to super-glue a couple of those flat green scrubbie pads to the (new, dry) sponge head, them trim off the excess.

With average use, it might last a couple months. If you're cleaning up years of grime, it'll probably last long enough to do the floor.

What has worked for me is a strong bleach solution. Puddle it on the floor and go away for a while. When you come back, rinse with lots of water. Works on the tile; works on the grout.

The other possibility is using the TSP (trisdium phosphate) you used to clean the walls. That should work just fine, too. The key is puddle it on and walk away.

There's nothing worse than pushing around a wet mop or rag with dust and hair clinging to it. Well, there are worse things, but you know what I mean.

How you clean it depends on what kind of tile--ceramic, stone, vinyl, etc. If they are old, special care might be needed if there's grout.

Either go to the flooring department of Lowes or HD, and ask about products, like finishing products. Some tiles require sealants, I don't know about wax, but you don't want to chance making them slippery or you'll end up falling.

Clorox is heavy duty and does a great job, but it will bleach everything it touches, even diluted--this includes your clothes and your walls and the cleaning tools. It is not to be considered an all purpose, like for the walls. It can be hard on old grout, as can the toothbrush. You might end up facing a re grouting job, but then we've left the natural world of Mrs. Clean's spic and span and entered the murky realm of restoration.

Or google, including the type of tile...for example, "clean tile floor." These are a few results, not necessarily the best:

HERE

HERE

HERE

HERE

When you're done, you can come over and show me how you did it!

screw cleaning. just replace the tiles.

What kind of tile? Ceramic, porcelain, terrazzo, terracotta...?

What shape is the grout in?

For that matter, what shape is the tile in?

You say it is a tile floor; what then does floor wax have to do with anything? Has the tile been waxed?

Photographs may be helpful, just to have an idea of the scope and complexity of what you're dealing with. If this is a small bathroom floor with lots of obstacles, then hands and knees with a good stiff scouring sponge and a toothbrush is by far your best approach. If, on the other hand, you're re-doing the 2,000 sf Great Entry Hall....?

orange essential is a great de-greaser. A neutral soap (like the coconut oil liquid soaps sold in health food stores) with a splash of orange essential oil works well too. (You can get old stickers and labels off glass with orange eo). Swish it around on the tiles, let it set 10-15 minutes, rinse and repeat. Use a mop, unless your Swedish mother is coming and will be peering at the floorboards.

Bleach isn't a cleaner per-se, it is a sterilisant and color remover, but as it doesn't have lifting action (soaps glom onto dirt and pull them into the water, bleach does not), it may be fine in a rinse but it won't get dirt the way a soap-or a detergent- will. Hence the scrubbing bleach lovers need to do. And bleach eats sponges pretty quickly too.

If you have really hard water, a detergent may work better for you than soap. I make my own liquid soap, and add a bit of orange to it for floors & walls, etc., but you probably don't want to take the time to get lye & make soap before you do the floor!

wood ashes. Melt about three pounds of lard. While you're waiting on the lard to melt, boil half a gallon of water and stir into the ashes. Let stand 10 minutes, then pour the water off through a strainer; discard the solids as you would any hazardous stuff. Save, and handle with care, the liquid; this is lye.

Mix it into the melted lard over a medium flame and stir, constantly, until it becomes stiff. Pour it up in something like a (never-to-be-eaten-from-again) sheet cake pan and smooth it over. Set it outside to dry and harden (not in direct sun, because the oil will stay melted). This can go as fast as a couple of hours or take as long as a couple of weeks. Once it's completely dry and hard to the touch (your finger won't sink in if you lean on it), cut it into bars -- you now have lye soap.

It will probably be a brownish color.
It will probably smell a little odd until you get used to it.

We can admit that we're killers ... but we're not going to kill today. That's all it takes! Knowing that we're not going to kill today! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0

Beware -- making this stuff, the smell is enough to gag buzzards.

We can admit that we're killers ... but we're not going to kill today. That's all it takes! Knowing that we're not going to kill today! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0

but you need a fat and the lye to saponify to get soap. But a lot of fats work, including beeswax, coconut oil, etc. And you can use Red Devil lye from the local hardware store if you don't want to do the wood ash thing.

be careful with that stuff, though. It's very alkaline and can burn you.

If you want another soap recipe, let me know and I'll post one. (The lard one works. Smells funny, like Sarah said, but will clean anything.)

Oh, and be careful with those wood ashes on your tomatoes. Wood ash changes the pH of the soil. Are you trying to fill bugs or slugs or something? If slugs or snails, a copper strip really does work.

And for cleaning the floor...okay, one night I was up late because I couldn't sleep. I saw a commercial for a Miracle Broom. I ordered two. And damn, they weren't lying. These things are amazing. I just finally killed one scraping up concrete dust in our new strawbale house.

You'll still have to get down on the floor to get any edges with an old toothbrush, but you can scrub, rinse, and squeegee the whole thing using the Miracle Broom. They sell 'em at hardware stores now.

I am such a hick.

Well, there was a fire in the apartment above mine at the end of 2006. My apartment was almost destroyed by water from the fire dept. My walls deteriorated for 6 months. Then I had all the plaster dust from repairs. I have wood floors which seemed to change color from the plaster dust. I also had tile in the bathroom which was thick with plaster dust.

I had to get on hands and knees. But I used Murphy's Oil wipes which did take up layers of plaster dust. And years of layers of New York dust. No other kind of mopping or cleaning worked. It just moved the stuff around the floor. I had to do it three times a few feet at a time. But it did restore the wood for the most part.

You don't have to get on hands and knees. I would buy a stiff deck brush (available at your local marine store), these screw on a standard broom thread and will allow you to really lean on it and will get into cracks and grout. Use Tide (or your other favorite detergent) and then bleach. Or you could use a product I found called Greased Lightning. I don't know what is in it (I believe alkali), but it really cuts through the grime.

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Good luck Lambert. You're a hard worker.