HOuses that are easy/harder to clean

[Mosman]

A friend of mine commented that I always seem to pick houses that are difficult to keep clean.
Are some easier than others ? We do tend to go for bungalows or single storey houses, is that where I've been going wrong ?

[rubyslippers]

why would a single storey house be harder to keep clean?

[Mosman]

I guess because the dirt gets into every room maybe rather than shoes coming off to go upstairs, oh I don't know I was hoping somebody would say yes that's right a two storey one is much easier get one of those !

I've had a shoes off at the front door policy for 7 years, nobody does it all the time DH is the worse offender but when they do their socks are black, where does this dirt come from ? (wooden floors at the moment, no carpet).

[kitsmummy]

Single storey would definitely be harder.... My parents live in a bungalow and i've noticed that no rooms are safe from dog hair, whereas in my house there is no dog hair upstairs

[Mosman]

Thank god for that I was worried then there was no escaping

[rubyslippers]

oh i see

[FergusSingsTheBlues]

Any house with kids and dawgs.

[Mosman]

Yes we have both lol

[FergusSingsTheBlues]

My flat is 150 years old and gets dusty v quickly, think is brick dust coming in through air vents. Maybe age of house is also a factor?

[BettyandDon]

Anywhere with no hallway at the front door.

In theory a smaller place gets dirty quicker as the space is used more often. Goes for how often you are in the house aswell I suppose.

[CEvert]

I find that worse houses to clean are those with lots of little ornaments, pictures, items around the place that collect dust.
Keep the place minimal and you will be able to clean the place with one big wipe.
I hate it when there are so many things to pick up, to dust and wipe, if I were to clean a place with lots of ornaments it would simply drive me mad and make me want to break them all. LOL.

Wooden floors are great.
One of these www.swiffer.com/ and I am happy.

[mumblechum1]

Mine's hard because we have open fires and a log burner, so there are clouds of ash coming into the room every time I clean out the fires. We also get a lot of spiders so the combination of webs & soot/ash drives me insane.

I have to hoover my ceiling and walls every week. That's not normal is it?

[expatinscotland]

IME, a house with little built in storage is harder to keep clean. I love single story homes. I find them far easier to keep clean because everything is easier to access and it's easier to see dirt, IYKWIM.

[CEvert]

@mumblechum It should be easy to clean if the place is minimal. I see too many homes where people keep junk and call it homely! LOL

[mumblechum1]

I hate minimal. A friend of ours has a minimal house (no curtains, cushions, rugs or even pictures). Feels like a dental surgery!

[FogClearing]

I think carpets look cleaner, I think tiles look dirtier.

[LauriesFairyonthetreeeatsCake]

Mine has all these negatives - 600 square feet, so tiny - with 3 people, a springer hairy bastard spaniel, 3 hairy bastard cats and a wood burner which throws out filth like you wouldn't believe.

Also it's cluttered because its so bloody small.

[LauriesFairyonthetreeeatsCake]

And not one storage cupboard. Not one.

[wendybird77]

I don't think it is to do with number of floors, but the layout and things like floors. My mum had a white tiled floor in our kitchen when I was growing up - she mopped it daily and it was always a mess. I've learned from that and choose flooring that hides dirt, worktops that hide crumbs and furniture that is easy to clean. I'm about to buy a big rug that will hide the crumbs as well. Stainless steel sinks that don't need bleaching / scrubbing to keep looking clean, only keep the amount of stuff that we use and can comfortably store, etc. Have just cottoned on to shoes off at the door though - that helps too.

[Mosman]

Do carpets look cleaner because they are holding all the filth in the fibres though ?

So I reckon a porch must help. Dark coloured tiles or light ? wooden floors until the stairs and then carpets upstairs and no food or animals beyond the stairgate. I'm also very tempted by an internal vacum thingy that the kids might manage by themselves.

[Mosman]

Or if not the stairs then some differentiator between the living space and the bedrooms.

[RichManPoorManBeggarmanThief]

Ours is quite easy, and is all on one floor (apartment). Wooden floors. Shoes off at the door (yeah I know this is controversial, but we live in Asia and here it's the done thing), LOTS of floor-ceiling built in storage in the bedrooms, big cupboards under the sinks so not lots of clutter in the bathrooms. Also, I pick furniture with clean edges (no bevilling or whatever they call it for dust to gather). I am a fascist about no eating in the bedrooms and ideally sitting at the table (on sofa with plate only) We do have to hoover every day to keep the cat fur under control (white cat, dark red sofa) but doesnt take long. I wouldnt say we're minimal, but we dont really have ornaments- just framed photos.

[RichManPoorManBeggarmanThief]

when I say wooden floors, I mean smooth wooden floors- so similar finish to parquet (i.e. completely smooth surface), but it's actually varnished wood planks

[FergusSingsTheBlues]

I dont get this fear of carpets tbh....if you hoover daily, get them cleaned annually, forbid on-pain-of-death eating outside kitchen and insist on shoes off at door, how do they become germ infested deathtraps?

Ive lived abroad most of my adult life. I love having carpet, so much cosier.

[BettyandDon]

In reply to Fergose....my carpets have been ruined by: having a cat; washable felt pens; a husband who always spills his drink; having to move the buggy in and out (no hallway); having a real chimney that leaks soot sometimes; using the wrong stuff (fairy liquid) to try to get stains out. Our kitchen is far too small for a table so occasional toddler foodstuffs / drinks end up on it. My DC are terrified of the dyson too so hoovering is traumatic. I need to use a rug doctor every 8 weeks min to maintain my sanity and my god do I wish I had kept the wooden floorboards! My carpet is by far my worse ever purchase .

[frostyfingers]

I wouldn't choose to have my kitchen as the room you walk through from the main door to the rest of the house - bloody nightmare! Not only do you get the general grime carried through, everyone dumps their stuff on all the surfaces. Our last house had an l shaped galley kitchen off the utility room which was the only way to get to the rest of the house and the dust that seemed to accumulate was awful. It was a much smaller house which I thought would be easier to keep clean, but it didn't seem that way. The rental we are in now is much bigger and I think the dirt must spread about as it doesn't seem to look dirty so quickly.