How do you get/keep your floors properly clean?

[TheDevilWearsPrimark]

I'm sick to death of them. No matter how much I clean the DC end up with filthy feet just from walking around.

We have oak floors in the living rooms and hallways, slate in the kitchen, rubber in the bathroom and bamboo in the bedrooms.

My main bug bear is a pure wool 'shag' rug in the DC's room , a well meaning present but it sheds so much.

I tend to hoover every other day, then use a manhatten mop to get dust up and a microfibre cloth over a cheapy sponge mop every other day. But it's still filthy.

My MIL swears it's because we are in London and keep windowsopen as often as possible. Can grit from the air really make that much filth?

Help

We don't but I never ask guests to take their shoes off.

they'll be wearing socks soon enough and then you won't notice the dirt

i mop once, maybe twice a week.

hoover a couple of times a week.

there's not mch you can do about it. especially if you have lo's. as it's too dangerous to do it when they are up. and it's a toss up between sleeping, ironing or doing floors when kids go to bed in this house.

your not the only one. i brush several times a day though.

Would one of those robomop things work for you? I mop slightly less than daily, and find it takes no time at all, but then that's just the kitchen floor. Could you put a runner in front of the doors to mop up excess dirt (I can machine wash my door mats, so I have pale ones to remind me when they're dirty).

I sweep the downstairs floors at least a couple of times a day (laminate in lounge/dining room/porch, lino in kitchen, tiles in playroom) used to use one of those cloth sweepers but now use normal broom and dustpan and brush. At least once a day get the huge feather duster thing and quick sweep under sofas (can't understand how so much dust accumulates under there)

I mop most days when dd's in bed, but I am a clean freak and there isnt a point in a day when one of them hasnt dropped food/drink somewhere (mainly dining room) and dd2 hates wearing a nappy but is only 19months so hasnt mastered the potty (although to be fair shes been on it loads today). I use hot water and zoflora which doesnt leave them smeary and also doesnt make them to slippery

oh and mop bathroom every day as they splash loads at bathtime and hoover landing,stairs bedrooms 3-4 times a week

ooh intrigued by the bamboo bedroom - our dc's have cork (white stuff not the old type) but was looking for some alternative for ours

drives me nuts vacuum daily and wipe kitchn floor 1000000 times a day - never seems clean - shoes off at door

Blimey, thats a hell of a lot of wiping the kitchen floor NotanOtter.....I have a sneeky suspicion you may be exaggerating somewhat.... maybe?

well it FEELS like it then !!

or should i say

My parents live in the centre of Edinburgh - and the dirt that comes in when the windows are open is incredible - I agree with your MIL.

I now feel like a pig!

We have wood and stone floors downstairs and carpet upstairs.

I hoover the rugs twice a week and the upstairs once a week.
The floors get swept twice a week with a broom and then mopped every 1.5/2 weeks. ts such a large area I cant be bothred to do it more.
eandh- I cant believe you clean under your sofa every day. I need to borrow you.

Oops, slattern stumbles in on wrong thread.

I never hoover, mop or sweep. Ever.

My cleaner does it once a week. If it gets dirty, it stays dirty until she comes the following week.

Me too kbaby!!
I also have one of those wool rug - a present also, it is such a pain and the hairs get everywhere no matter how much hoovering it gets.
My stepmother has a floorwasher for her slate floors - the whole of the downstairs is slate and the dog, 3 cats, my dad etc make it very muddy, leafy etc! Its a fab machine

I brush my floors permanently, I am surprised I don't have brooms for hands.

I have Amtico downstairs (Walnut in the hall and 2 living rooms with rugs and Limestone in the kitchen/dining room) and it doesn't seem to be as bad as I thought it would be. Dead easy to clean, quick brush a few times a day then will hoover and mop it every 2/3 days. Upstairs get hoovered once a week, I have 3 floors and it takes me forever to do it so any more and I would be verging on a nervous breakdown.

I do agree with your MIL, the dust from living in a city doesn't half add to the dirt in the house. We have moved from living in the country to a town and it is near the sea. The dust is horrendous compared to the country.

Have to add, we had slate floors in our last house and they seem to keep dirt in them permanently. No matter how much I scrubbed them, they would still be dirty. Stone floors collect dirt and keep it in the porous bits of it. Whereas Amtico etc is very smooth and only needs a quick wipe and it is spotless.

Your slate may need to be resealed. When was the last time you did it? I spent a whole day doing ours once but it was worth it, it kept the floor from getting as grubby.

seriouly thinking of robomop now

I haven't got one but I reckon a steam cleaner would be good for hard floors.

We've got loads of slate and oak flooring downstairs with tiled bathroom floors and have just bought a vax hardfloor cleaner.

Its really easy to use, it vacs, then pop cleaner/water in and it wets, scrubs and sucks up dirty water. I did the kitchen and utility and am at how dirty the floor was. I am now a domestic goddess so shall have to change my name!

I've found mopping is useless on the slate, before this I've had to hand scrub and wipe to get clean - I really like this vax!

I did wonder about a robomop, I think I remember a thread on here praising them?

Hopeless, how do you find the slate. We are having bathroom done and thinking of putting slate tiles on the floor would you recommend?

I have to say TDWP- the pollution will make a big impact- when we lived in Paris, our floors were disgusting- sooty, and needed regular mopping.