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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

How to keep tiled floors clean

11 replies

BoofTheFloof · 14/09/2021 09:39

We've recently extended the ground floor and knocked through some rooms to make a big family space- seating area, dining area, kitchen. There are big doors opening to the garden and we have 2 dogs a d 3 children. I also cook a lot.
I'm finding it really hard to get the ceramic tiles properly clean. It's a big expanse of tile and the grout is already grubby. I mopped the whole floor yesterday but have just wiped up a small spillage with white paper towel and it's clear that there's still dirt on the floor.

I bought a vax hard floor cleaner but the tank empties really quickly and it leaves loads of grubby water on the floor. Not impressed.

What's the best solution here? We need something that lifts and removes dirt across a big space quickly. Would a steam cleaner work? Presumably I'd need to keep changing the pads? Im even googling hiring an industrial cleaning snd polishing machine but im not sure that's a long term solution!

Im fully prepared to throw money at the problem l.

OP posts:
MaisyMary77 · 14/09/2021 09:51

I’ve got a shark steam mop. Absolutely excellent. Only thing I’ve used that actually gets my floors clean.

BoofTheFloof · 14/09/2021 10:09

Interesting. I'm
Looking at the shark steam and scrub. Anyone tried it?

OP posts:
mommybear1 · 14/09/2021 14:12

We have a similar set up to you OP. I've tried various methods - vielda spray mop, good but takes a while - Karcher Hard Floor cleaner, excellent but hard work and it broke after less than 2 years - now we have a robot mop, a Braava Jet called Connie I love her 😍 I purchased an extra battery and mop heads and I set her off every day and just change the pads/batteries as needed. Put a drop of Method floor cleaner on the pads and the smell is amazing 🤩 I keep her going till she comes back with a clean pad then I know the floor is done. I'm a bit geeky and tend to "zone" her my kitchen has 5 zones and when she has done one zone and her pad is clean I set her off in the next one. Hope that makes sense! I have a robot vac that goes round at night to pick up the bits and Connie does the mopping in the day. I'm not a fan of steam mops I used them in my old home with a smaller kitchen and just didn't find them effective.

newyorkbreakfast · 15/09/2021 09:26

I've tried mops, a Shark steam cleaner and every brand of floor cleaner. The only thing that gets the stubborn stains off is literally scrubbing with The Pink Stuff (£1 in Sainsbury's). It's a painstaking, tile by tile process that I only do about once a month. The rest of the time, it gets mopped twice weekly with a regular floor cleaner and it looks acceptable.

DoormatBob · 15/09/2021 09:35

Spray with a degreaser. Mop up.

I worked as a cleaner in my college years. Some of these modern gadgets just don't make sense. Fundamentals never change.

chickensafari · 15/09/2021 10:11

Did you seal the grout? That’s the first thing I would do- straight away as the grout will darken in certain areas and make the floor look patchy and dirty. You can buy a bottle from tile shops, I painted it on with a paintbrush but you can buy spray cans too. My DD knocked a glass of red wine on ours and it didn’t stain the grout.
Then I would just get a spray flat mop with microfibre pads, and get loads of extra pads. It’s so quick and easy to flat mop and dries quickly, quick enough to do every day in five or ten mins. It doesn’t need to be clean enough to eat your dinner off, just clean enough.

chickensafari · 15/09/2021 10:14

If the grout is already grubby you can buy special grout cleaner- then seal the grout and it won’t take on any grease or stains. Repeat every year or two to keep it looking good.

BoofTheFloof · 15/09/2021 21:09

Thanks everyone. He grout is sealed but in high traffic areas (in front of the oven sink and fridge) the grout is now a different colour.

I think a plan is to buy grout cleaner, scrub floor heavily with grout cleaner and the degreaser mentioned upthread and then reseal grout.

I am almost definitely going to buy the new shark steam and scrub as it seems to combine steam cleaning with washable fast rotating pads and I'm hoping it will be something I can quickly run across the floor every few days whilst only needing to deep clean once a month or so.

My mum pointed out that the tokes always tend to look clean- it's just I know that they're not. Perhaps I'm fussy. Being home all the fine is t helping.

OP posts:
DominicRaabsTravelAgent · 18/09/2021 14:57

now we have a robot mop, a Braava Jet called Connie I love her

I never even realised these were a thing! Connie sounds amazing Smile

Davros · 18/09/2021 23:30

I didn't know about Robo mops either. I think I'm in love!

sammyspoon · 23/09/2021 10:17

We have a Neat steam cleaner which works pretty well and a tool called a fuginator which is excellent for cleaning grout

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