suggest a vacuum/cleaning tool for bare wood floors?

ctmom05

Member
We pulled up the rugs in our house because they were old and worn out. The floors are still bare and they accumulate more dust bunnies and dog hair than I thought there ever could be in any one place!

We've been sweeping, sometimes twice a day. Our vacuum doesn't do a good job on the wood floors, even tho it has height settings. The whole process seems very inefficient.

There must be an option that I have not looked into yet, but I am not sure what it is. I want something that will do a thorough job. Does anyone have a suggestion on something that's worked for them in a pet house with bare floors?!?!?
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
I'm listening, too, because we've got laminate throughout and so you see ALL the dirt and animal hair and it accumulates quickly. I've got a hepa vacuum, but to get the best results I have to detach the hose and use the nozzle -- which means a LOT of bending over. Not efficient AT ALL! I had a stick vac, but it wasn't a hepa and didn't have the suction power the regular upright has.

Actually, what I want is a MAID! :rofl:
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
For wood: Use a dry ragmop misted with furniture polish - that will catch the fur but don't overdo the polish or YOU will go sliding. On the laminate, same dry mop, but water instead.

They have a Swiffer product for this but in my humble opinion the ragmop is cheaper AND works better. Even in corners.
 

SRL

Active Member
I went looking everywhere for one of those Swiffers and can't find one anywhere in town. Most of the stores carry the refills but not the actual product.
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
You can buy a Swiffer-type mop and just use a towel rag in place of the Swiffer cloth. Then you can use whatever cleaner you typically use-- Murphy's makes a reasonably priced squirt-on cleaner that's good for wood and laminate surfaces. Method makes a really nice-smelling one, but it's a bit more expensive.
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
Murphy's Oil Soap is the only thing I will use on our wood floors. The stuff is awesome.

I put a towel rag on my old Swiffer mop a while back & that works too. But... For daily pet hair... I just "dust" with the ragmop. Easier than sweeping in my humble opinion.
 

Marcie Mac

Just Plain Ole Tired
Having 4 dogs which, if you don't clean up every day or other day, you could literally stuff a cushion, I was spending a LOT of money on Swiffer products.

I went to the county fair a while back, and bought a PVA mop they were demonstrating- I LOVE it - has deep grooves in the mop head - if you just get it damp, it picks up everything, and is so easy to clean under the tap - the heads last a very long time. I use it pretty much daily, and once a week do the Murphy Oil soap on the laminate. If you google it, there are lots of places that sell it, and I think I paid 20.00 at the fair, and that was for the mop itself and two mop heads. Best investment I ever have made as far as cleaning mops go.

Marcie
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
I have all wood floors (except kitchen linoleum, ugh) and three small dogs that don't shed so much but do love to tear up tissues and drag in sand from outdoors.

I vacuum/sweep and then do a damp mop using wood soap like Murphy's or I use my swiffer using an old chamois cloth/wash cloth dampened with water and the cleaner of choice spritzed on there and just go through the house to pick up what the vacuum/broom leaves behind. I sweep everyday and do the damp mop about twice a week and it keeps things down to a minimum.
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
Those microfiber cloths are good too. Had difficult child 2 clean the bathroom this weekend and the only chemical cleaning product he used was toilet bowl gel!
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
Dollar General and Family Dollar are a great source for those Swiffers -

Also you can google for a coupon from SC Johnson or PM Tiapet - but you can get a $5.00 off coupon easy -

Then - you can spray the bottom of the swiffer with Pledge.....
 

witzend

Well-Known Member
Don't use regular furniture polish, you could fall and break your leg or neck it will be so slick. Use the dustmop sprayed with Endust. It doesn't have any oils in it and will create an electric static that will pull in fur and dust.

There are also small inexpensive floor vacuums that work pretty good for spot cleaning. I have the Eureka Boss Stick Vacuum and it really works well. I have to use an extension cord because the one it comes with is short, but it has really good suction.

http://www.amazon.com/Eureka-166DX-Lightweight-Stick-Vacuum/dp/B000B7BWGS

Sweeping stirs stuff up too much. It seems like the floors are so much dirtier when you can see the furballs rolling around on them, but imagine how much was grinding into the carpets. YUCK!
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
Don't use regular furniture polish, you could fall and break your leg or neck it will be so slick. Use the dustmop sprayed with Endust. It doesn't have any oils in it and will create an electric static that will pull in fur and dust.

VERY True!!! When my girls were younger, I would have my house cleaned every other Friday so I could have 2 weekends free a month to play. Well, the cleaning person used my furniture polish on the floor and all of us nearly broke our necks!! I had to re-wash the floors. I asked her to stop using that and she looked at me like I was mad in the head. Ugh. Finally got her to do it the right way. I didn't realize Endust didn't have oils. I will have to try that.
 

eekysign

New Member
Roomba! Roomba! Roomba! Best investment I ever got. It's that little floor-cleaning robot, looks like a big disk? You can set it to vacuum your floors every day and you don't even have to be there. And there are invisible walls you can buy that keep it from going into areas you don't want it doing.

I turn it on, it beeps cheerily, then wanders around the entire ground floor (all one room flowing into another) sweeping up everything, and eventually gets tuckered out and crawls back onto its charger.

It's really, really hard not to a) love it and b) think of it as a pet. :p
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
WOW - thanks for the hint about Endust - I didn't even think about brands!

Old English makes one without oils, too. ('S What I use.)
 

skeeter

New Member
Do NOT use any polish type spray, either wax or Endust, on laminate. It will streak.

We have laminate except in the entry way (slate) and kitchen (it's getting pulled this summer and will have terracota put down).

For the laminate, I first use the dry Swiffer, and push all the dog hair ahead of it, then pick up the cloth and hair. I follow up with the wet Swiffer (not the style with the spray bottle, just the wet cloths). With our dogs, I can literally do this daily.

Of course, I work for the company that makes it, so I get it in the bonus store!
 

ctmom05

Member
The floors I am trying to clean of dog hair and dust bunnies are truly marginal wooden floors; they had carpet on them for umpteen zillion years. We're not in the position to replace the carpets or do the floors over - I simply want to keep them free of debris.

Whether a mopping product streaks, or the vacuum isn't fully featured is of little consequence to me, my task at hand is to keep the flying dust and fur under control . . . . .
 
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