Jeri & Deron: I got on a rose rooting site now & made a feeble try at rooting some of the tips of GOTW .... maybe I will have beginner's luck?!Do you have a tried & true method that maybe I could understand? I also dug & transplanted the puny 'Scentimental' rose bush to a better area with more sun & better soil so hope it survives & does better! After pruning nearly 30 rose bushes, my arms look like I had a fight with a mountain lion ... scratches,blood all over & big bruises up & down the arms!! No, I have tried using long gloves but with arthritic fingers I can't work with gloves on. But then, what would a rose be without thorns?! The very old ? 'Seven Sisters' rose is by far the very worst to prune & I have at times had my whole body stuck in those canes!!

This is long, but important, so please read all the way through. My personal theory as to WHY the dirt in these pads do not like to come clean in the first place is because they are all made out of synthetic microfiber blends. This is NOT a rant about doing everything in your life all-natural so please stay with me. In the beginning of my Cosmetology education, I learned that synthetic fibers (such as those used on wigs and cosmetology tools and brushes, do Not like hot water. Only cold or at least tepid water could be used unless you enjoy having your brushes, cloths and wig hairs get all tangled and matted up in an instant, melted in some cases, or hairs/fibers fused together. It’s synthetic. It can’t take the heat. With that said, I suspect these companies insisting on using microfiber steam mop pads are setting us all up for failure from the beginning. Steam is insanely hot and WILL melt and fuse the little fibers together during use (this is why they say not to put them in the dryer). Steam blows open the fibers in an intense way which is something else I learned in Cosmo school. Steam always works better than hot water in opening up skin pores for instance. Material fibers are no different… unless that material blows up but then breaks down with said heat. Polyester and Nylon just can’t take the heat. You might ask why the heck these companies would make their pads with microfiber if that were true. I’m glad you asked - I suspect the mop companies use these materials anyway, because it’s much cheaper than cotton and will slide nicely across the floor. They know if their customers feel they have to push too hard, they won’t want to use it and will go with the other company that does use microfiber. Let’s be honest, “microfiber” is like some positive buzz word in the retail industry when actually many of us avoid it like Covid. It only has a few good qualities, none of which are involved with mop heads. Microfiber, is good only for scrubbing, acting as a water repellent in some cases, and behaving somewhat like Velcro when used for dry sweeping. Have you ever tried to remove things that stuck to microfiber material after being in the wash or dryer? It’s not fun is it? When microfiber is used in wet cleaning applications however, that synthetic material DOES NOT ABSORB. It just doesn’t. It’s synthetic. Synthetics don’t absorb like a natural fiber (e.g. Cotton) does. Try wiping dry your kitchen countertop with a microfiber wash cloth, and then try again with an all cotton and you will see what it is I’m saying. All of this to share that I finally found a solution to not only keep my microfiber pads from getting too dirty (or worse than they already are), but to also pick up dirt far better than what the pads were originally doing (I have one of the Bissell Power Fresh Pet steam mops for reference). SOLUTION: I take a damp, wrung out steam mop pad, flip it inside out (I also cut off the scent disk pocket), place it on my steam mop, then place the mop down on top of a 100% cotton shop towel and click down the flip scrubber piece in the back of my mop so that it grabs my towel. At this point, I use the mop as usual on the highest steam output setting. Why do I flip the mop pad inside out? Because I discovered that it allows the towel underneath to stay put a little better and glides across the floor better as well. I have also only ever done this with a damp, completely wrung out mop pad in place, but with a dry shop towel. After the towel gets dirty, I rinse out the mop pad and wring it out again as much as possible before placing back on my mop and grabbing another clean, dry shop towel. The benefit here, is not only are my floors getting that much more clean, but I can buy cotton shop towels by the mass for much cheaper than those mop pads AND they clean up white so much easier! If you want to bleach, then bleach. If you want to use your usual make-em-white method, then do that instead. The world is your oyster. Cheaper Works better Cleans up Whiter Easy It’s what has finally worked for me and my mop. I hope it helps some of you too.

I second floorman67. We are on a slab foundation and in various rooms we have removed old carpet and padding, old tile on slab, tile on top of vinyl and the vinyl. We installed both laminate and new tile in different rooms. Other rooms will soon have slate and carpet. Some of the previous old tile was loose in a couple of spots in both bathrooms and we wondered why, when we removed that tile and found vinyl under the tile, the places where the old tile was loose - the vinyl was also loose. The vinyl was indeed tough to remove in some spots, we chipped it out with a hammer and chisel. Some of the vinyl that was particularly hard to remove was aided with the use of a hair dryer and propane heat gun. The tile in the entry was laid with a very tough morter (possibly more cement than anything) and we had to use a air chisel to remove that. Patience and doing a little each day if you get frustrated helps. We feel we are getting much better new floor installations now that all of the previous stuff is removed.

We are just finishing up a renovation project in the kitchen part of our 4 year old house. The vinyl tile there now was basically destroyed - and must be replaced. The house sits on a concrete slab. My 93 year old mom lives with us - so natural stone or tile flooring is out of the question. I had thought about Duraceramic but am concerned about chipping and cracking. We also are considering Armalock by Armstrong - laminate flooring that looks like stone. It is a floating floor over a cushy layer. What kind of flooring would be best?