How do you take care of your hardwood floors?

[earthgirl]

We have hardwood floors throughout the entire house (only 1000 square feet), which I love, but now I'm concerned about how I'm going to keep them clean once the baby is here. We can get some major dust bunnies (I blame the dog) and it grosses me out. I can't imagine putting a baby on the floor with all of the stuff the accumulates, but I know I'm not going to have the time or energy to sweep very often. I'm considering getting a Swiffer, but DH is SO OPPOSED b/c of the waste. I don't disagree with him about that, I'm just thinking I need a quick solution. Anyone have a great way to keep their floors clean? Tell me if you use a swiffer, too, b/c I want to know if it's worth it.

[oregongirlie]

Hate to say it, but it's worth it. It works really well -- especially with pet hair. I'm just about to start knitting swiffer covers to help with the waste. I'm going to use them wet and dry. I've also considered using NB size prefolds, but haven't tried them yet.

It's worth it to me because we have an old house with lots and lots of lead. I have to clean A LOT to keep it clean. My standard is that I can walk around in socks and they'll stay reasonably clean. Sweeping stirs up the dust way too much for lead safety. I also have a vacuum with a HEPA filter, and love it. But basically have to swiffer daily between vacuuming.

This is NOT good for hardwood floors, but I mop several times a week, rinsing under the faucet -- no bucket. Our floors need to be rifinished in the next few years so I'm not worried about the water right now.

We just went shoe-free in the house and it helps a ton.

ETA: My husband was totally against the swiffer but I just got one anyway and he has learned to appreciate the clean floors!

[SaraMama]

I use my vacuum every day. REALLY helps with the pet hair - I have two doggies, one who is VERY hairy. ;o)

I do a damp mop at least once a week - or whenever it gets dirty enough to need it. I have one of those flat mops that looks kind-of like a swiffer, but about twice the size. I believe I got it a Lowes in a Bruce hardwood cleaning kit...

HTH!

[swimswamswum]

We sweep when it's gross and wet mop once a week. I used to use murphy's oil, but since learning more about NFL, I just use vinegar, water and some mint essential oils. It works well and smells fantastic!

[Sharlla]

My friend has this http://www.rollomatic.com/everywhichwayfloorduster.asp and it really gets those dust bunnies and reaches under furniture

[BornInSeptember]

http://starfibers.com/mops.php

We have the starmop pro and I use it either dry for dusting/hair collecting on the floors, or spray the floor down with a light spray of water first to wet mop it. You just spray the floor with water, wipe and voila! They are SO SO good. Even get's crayon off. The microfiber cloths are awesome for using water on windows and mirrors, shining things etc.

While we are at it, I couldn't live without my Mabu cloths. I never wash them and they never get stinky. If they do get a little old smelling (more like a natural smell though- not a gross one) then I soap up my hands, soap up the cloth and rinse out with hot water. http://www.mabu.com/mabucloth.html A few times I have gotten stains on them and they have rinsed right out, but I have used a bleach pen a couple times for mustard stains. I try to use a rag for dark messes. They are awesome for cleaning up crumby messes and sticky ones, and the yucky stuff rinses out so nice because they are wood fiber cloths.

[IansMommy]

Are your wood floors finished? Ours are a high gloss finish, and we use a washcloth with warm water and white vinegar. Works like a charm, and shines them right up.

[Llyra]

You can buy some microfiber towels, and use those on the Swiffer instead of the disposable cloths. It works just fine.

I sweep my floors with a broom to get up the big pieces and then Swiffer to get the smaller dust and the cat hair. Less often, I put a clean wet dishcloth on the swiffer and wet mop with that. When it needs serious cleaning, I mop with diluted white vinegar.

[granolahead]

We sweep when the dust gets bad, which is about every few weeks, and spot-mop with water as needed (my 7-month-old is the Barf King). We only do a real all-out mop with Murphy's every six months or so. We're slackers, but the floors look fine, IMO. Good luck!

[daylily]

You can get a swiffer-like dust mop with a reusable, washable pad.
We just had our floors refinished, and the floor man told me that the best floor care is to sweep/vacuum daily, and to spot clean with one damp rag and one dry one. So you wipe a spot and immediately dry it. He told me to use water only and no products whatsoever.

[talia rose]

"bona" makes a washable swiffer like floor care system. they are swedish so are non -toxic, unlike the swiffer variety of products....they have a sinple reuseable terry cloth system, or a microfiber, with a floor care spray to use with it....

[sedalbj]

We have bruce floors, and are getting them refinished soon (waiting for warm weather so we can evacuate for 2+ weeks w/ open windows!). I have learned that there are 2 types of floor finishes. Water based and oil based. If you have a factory prefinished floor you probably have water based. That means you shouldn't use water (if you do dry immediately). If oil based, you can use a damp mop that doesn't leave too much liquid behind. We have the water based now, but when i clean i demand a clean floor which I find is very difficult w/o water, so we clean w/ water and the floors look like it (not to mention the dog slobbers a lot)! We are getting oil based urethane when they are refinished.

Swiffers do work well (we have a golden retriever) but they have chemicals and will leave a residue. High quality furniture manufacturers and re-finishers say you shouldn't use them on wood furniture because it will eventually dull the finish. I only use them in emergency. But the microfiber cloths sound intriguing, I am going to try it!

[TranscendentalMom]

I just found a stash of reusable swiffer pads on ebay - they have the velcro on back and are just like the disposables except reusable. I'm still looking for recommendations for a non-toxic wood cleaner that I can put in the swiffer jet for my bamboo floors. IMO, the swiffer jet is awesome and convenient and if you modify it with reusable pads and non-toxic cleaner its a dream!

[Mamatohaleybug]

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[pumpkin]

For heavy duty cleaning we use the vacuum on the bare floor setting.

Swiffers are absolutely wonderful for touch-ups and to keep the cat hair under control. As others have mentioned, you can just use a microfiber towel instead of the disposable cloths.

[Mamatohaleybug]

Just buy microfiber towels in the auto section of a discount store?? Is that what you are using with your swiffers?

Those using water and vinegar - how many parts vinegar to how many parts water?

Thanks!

[GooeyRN]

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[HipGal]

Microfiber sounds great - I'll bet they would get the hairs really well.

I think I read awhile ago that swiffer was good for allergy-sufferers because it picks up small particles well. But maybe that came from the swiffer people themselves... I can't remember!

Oooo... or you could get a robot vacuum. That would be cool.

[jaidymama]

A friend of mine just got a vacuum cleaner that does mopping stuff as well. She likes it because it's fast and easy and no slippery floors... it sucks it all up.. Most of all she likes that she can use whatever kind of cleaning solution she wants... I think with the swiffer you have to use their bottles of cleaning solution...

Let me get the link for the one she has. Although I'm sure there are other vacuums like it that do the same thing...
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html...sin=B000ENADUK


Another thing that helps with dust in a house is changing the air filters on your furnace regularly. They

[momto l&a]

Costco has wonderful microfiber towels.

You might want to look into chaging the dogs diet to BARF. I have heard numerious people say it changed the shedding of their dogs.