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Cleaning Hardwood floors
I need some help here ladies!! Our new house is ALL hardwood floors and while I LOVE the look, I can't keep them clean! We have 2 FAT cats that shed like CRAZY and a tiny dog that sheds too, but she is so small she doesn't really add much to the hair mess.
I have never had hardwood floors before so the only way I clean them is to 1st sweep the entire house with a broom and dust pan to get the majority of the hair up. then I use a Swiffer Vac to get up any leftovers and for mopping I just use amonia free Windex and spray it on the floor and go over it with a microfiber mop. The mopping procedure is what the floor finishers told me to use.
I am looking for a good vacuum or something to suck up everything that is good on the hardwood. I am willing to spend a few hundred bucks if I have to, but I really need some recommendations on what to get.
TIA!
Re: Cleaning Hardwood floors
I have nothing on the hardwood floors. We had them for a while and I could never keep them clean. I would pretty much kill myself trying. We now have concrete floors -- (we live in a urban loft in the city) and they are a bigger pain. While you can clean them with anything -- nothing seems to keep them looking fresh.
Good luck!
I have a Dyson and I use the hose to suck up the dust bunnies and hair balls. Sometimes I'll use a regular old broom and sweep everything into a corner and then use the vac. I'd rather do that than bend over with a dust pan, besides I always have little bits that don't make it into the pan. We have area rugs downstairs so I use the Dyson on them, upstairs is all carpet. You might not need something that expensive if you have all hard woods. I burned through a vac every other year or so b/c our dogs are just so hairy (and big!) so the Dyson was worth the investment, IMO.
For actual cleaning-I usually don't
. Our floors are not in good shape, if they were I'd care more about keeping every speck of dirt off of them. When they do look awful I use a mop and warm water. Sometimes I use a little Dr. Bronner's soap. I tried the swifter and I liked it, I just don't want to pay for the refills. I've heard that Clorox makes a similar product that you can refill yourself, other people like Bona products (they're pricey). Bona makes something similar to a Wet Jet. Some people love the Shark steam vac. I've heard that you shouldn't use it on hard wood floors but I'd still like to test it out. It's $100 plus though, too bad I can't just rent one for a week and try it out!
Oh, another thing, brush & comb the pets as much as you can and even bathe them if they'll let you. Easier said than done though!
With a dog, two cats, and two kids in the house, I feel your pain. I use my Dyson Animal on the bare floor setting and vacuum my hardwoods once or twice a week. Before cleaning the floors, I use an electrostatic mop to remove dust and anything the Dyson did not get to. I have the Bona floor system with the electrostatic and a microfiber mop pad (not the one that looks like a wet jet). I spray on the Bona cleaner and mop with the microfiber pad. It leaves them looking great. About once every 4-6 months, I go over them with Holloway House Quick Shine Floor Finish (WalMart has it) to add shine and to make them easier to clean.
I had one of the Shark steam mops at our other house because we had a huge area of WHITE tile in the entry, kitchen and 3 baths and they were SO hard to keep clean!! Anyway, I didn't like it at all!! I felt like it just made any dust or dirt that happened to be left behind in to a dirty water and pushed it around, it didn't soak anything up in the pad because the pad was already saturated from the steam! I bought it at Kohls and then I ended up taking it back!!
I have a shark cordless vaccuum from BBB. It was somewhat inexpensive- maybe $60 or so? It has both a carpet and a floor setting but I never use the carpet beater. I don't know the exact model, but it's purple and gray if that helps
I got it as a bridal shower gift, but it's perfect to zip around the house (even my 4 bedrooms are hardwood) without having to plug in. Sometimes it doesn't get into the corners and edges too well, so I usually still go around with a dry swiffer cloth after vaccuuming.
Jenn & Jason
September 27, 2008
We sweep about once a week, and mop (just regular old rag mop, nothing fancy) about once a month. Sooner on both if there's a mess.
we have high polish hardwood on our entire 1st floor (with 3 cats) and its the bain of my existence. They are beautiful, but so freaking hard to keep clean.
I use a combination of things. I use my swiffer vac for a quick cat hair pick up. We just bought some sort of hardwood floor sweep to supplement the swiffer vac which we havent received yet.
For cleaning, I have a Shark Steam mop that I use occasionally and I also have the Bona hardwood floor cleaning system. The Bona is amazing! Its a little pricey, but the floors come really clean and it comes with a polish that really shines up the floors.
HTH!
est. 10.10.2009
Do you feel like this scratches your floors? Ours aren't too shiny to begin with, but everytime I'm using it and hear it dragging across the floor it makes me wonder. We are getting new floors installed soon so I worry about messing them up.
We sweep and vacuum regularly because we have three cats. The one thing I did purchase this summer was a Haan steam mop. It's the most wonderful...ever. I threw away my swiffer and I can clean each room in 2-3 minutes without having to change or clean the pad on the bottom. Steam mops are okay for some hardwood floors it just depends on the finish. Certain finishes should not use steam mops.
Sorry about all the hair everywhere, my cats shed but it's not overwhelming...of course, I sweep everyday. I would purchase a hand vac as well, they are great for picking up fluff balls in the corner!