Cleaning & Organizing
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Need your input: The BEST hardwood floor cleaning method
Hi all - we are closing on a new house on Friday. This house has all hardwood floors except in the bedrooms. I have read many of your previous posts and am now more confused than ever. I was all set to get the Eureka Envior Hard Surface Steamer, but then I saw a post about the Hoover Floor Mate. I have 2 young children (one is a crawler) and a dog (a shedder). I understand that I need to vacum before using a steam cleaner. I just really want to keep clean floors.
I our old house (all hardwoods), I used a sponge mop with vinegar and water. But the mop does get pretty gross after a while.
Please share with me your favorite methods, equipment, etc for cleaning hardwood floors.
Re: Need your input: The BEST hardwood floor cleaning method
I was told NOT to use a steamer on 'real' hardwood floors for fear of taking up the varnish.
Just good ol' Mr. Clean in warm water. I use a Libman mop, where I can re-wash it over and over agian. And they now have those where you can get the swiffer style, spray and what not, but are reusable.
We have all hardwood floors too. I suggest a mop and water. The mop does get nasty after awhile but you just have to rinse it and change the water in your bucket and your good to go.
The company who finished our floors STRONGLY recommends against using anything but water on them because it can damage the finish.
Hot water and a Quickie microfiber mop/broom that I picked up at the grocery store. I put the hot water in a spray bottle and work my way around the room. With a spray bottle I can control how much water hits the floor without having to wring out the dirty mop.
I use it for sweeping and mopping, so I bought extra pads. I put one on for spot sweeping during the week (litter trackings and cat fur balls) and put a fresh one on to mop. They're re-usable so I just throw them in the washer (along with my mf dust rags) when they're dirty. If I'm mopping and the head gets too gungy, I just change it out part way through and keep moving.
http://pandce.proboards.com/index.cgi#general
I have the Eureka EnviroSteamer and I love it! I hated using a mop- the mop was just so gross after one use. I just don't feel that a mop and bucket can ever be as sanitary as steam that is hotter than boiling. I like that I can use multiple cleaning pads and just throw them in the washer rather than feeling like I'm just mopping dirt from one place to another. We refinished all our floors with a poly top coat and haven't had any issues using the steam mop on our floors.
An American Girl's Travels
We use washable microfiber pads that velcro to the mop head. We use a green spray-type cleaner made specifically for hardwood floors. Ours are the new pre-finished type, and the pros told us not to use vinegar/water or strong detergents as it will causing our finish to grey over the years.
Also were warned never to soak the floors with water, wipe up spills immediately and never use a steam mop as the water will get down in the grooves where the wood is obviously unfinished which will cause warping and lifting. If it was comletely sealed floor I suppose we could do whatever we wanted with them...