i can't keep the dirt out!!!!!

[ILoveItWhenYouCallMeBoo]

ok i am at the end of my tether with this.

my living room is my onlt access to my back garden, it is a french door, i have laminate flooring. the garden is paved except for a raised flowerbed and around the edge of the garden where my garden joins the neighbours on both side there is mud taht i can't pave because it is too close to the fence and it would encroach on the neighbours' gardens. so the mud gets all over the yard. i don't even let the dcs play out tehre anymore because it is just liek a mud bath. i obviously have to let the dog out to toilet and i have to be out there multiple times a day for the bins, coal, hang teh washing, stuff from teh shed etc. so everything i walk in out there gets walked straight through my living room and on through the hall into the kitchen. my living room feels liek basically a thoroughfare between teh kitchen and the back door, i have made a rule that only slippers are to be worm inside and shoes are to be removed at the back door when you come in. i have one of those JML magic mats at the door and another runner mat across teh living room to the hall but still teh dirt carries.

what can i do? it is constant. there really is no point me cleaning it because ten minutes later tehre will be more.

[HettyAmaretti]

Argh, that sounds like a nightmare.

Building raised beds over the mud that can't be paved would help. THen you'd have to hire a pressure washer a squirt and brush until the paving was clean, the brush the paved area regularly to maintain it.

Get these sort of mats or the sort that are similar but metal for outside the doors.

There are robotic moms that are fab for hard flooring and just clean constantly, you could get one of those if actually solving the problem is too expensive.

[HettyAmaretti]

PMSL, robotic moms? I'd love one! Meant robotic mop though...

[ILoveItWhenYouCallMeBoo]

I'd love a robotic mom!!

gosh that mat is expensive!! although i really do need to do something. i cant do raised beds at the fences because the oil tank, bins, boiler and shed are at one side and the dog kennel coal, slack etc are at the other.

i think just constant cleaning of the yard is all i can do maybe.

[HettyAmaretti]

The mats are awfully expensive, but maybe a wee bit cheaper at an agricultural supplier. They work wonders and I think the metal ones are cheaper.

[HettyAmaretti]

Oh, posted to soon, in that case (no raised beds possible) how about some sort of ground cover or low shrubby planting where possible? Something hardy that'll be there all year. Ivy (a lot of work), lavender, rosemary (both will need good clipping) ummm, you'd need to ask in 'Gardening' TBH.

[CybilScissorhands]

If shoes are removed at the door how does dirt come in?

[ILoveItWhenYouCallMeBoo]

that's what i don't know cybil. the shoes come off an are left on the mat at the door but the laminate still gets as mucky as hell.

[ILoveItWhenYouCallMeBoo]

and it really is only me, the dog and the cats that use the door as teh dcs don't play out there anymore.

[HettyAmaretti]

I don't know, but it does here too - lawned garden with patio but high water table so it's always muddy, apart from about a week in august when we make our own mud with paddling pools

[CybilScissorhands]

Must be the dog

[ILoveItWhenYouCallMeBoo]

oh yes, i do blame him for most of it but he walks on the mat teh same way i do so i would think the dirt would come off his feet.

[HettyAmaretti]

My cats do bring a lot in...

[CybilScissorhands]

does he wipe his feet?

[ILoveItWhenYouCallMeBoo]

no, he just walks on the mat. i haven't trained foot wiping. i should, shouldn't I?

[Seona1973]

my sister has an old towel that she uses to wipe her dogs feet after she has been on the grass.

[ILoveItWhenYouCallMeBoo]

good idea seona. i will start keeping one there.