Daily? You're kidding aren't you. I would say vacuum the rugs when you vacuum and use a swiffer or a broom on the hardwood in between. I do some spot cleaning with a paper towel on the hardwood, but usually use a wet swiffer once a week or so. Your standards are probably way higher than mine though.

I clean pretty much the same way as fran1523. Every day just doesn't happen in my world!

Have you thought about a central vac with an (not sure of the technical name) opening in the kickboard to sweep the crumbs into, instead of a dust pan?

I only mentioned daily because many swear by it. Honestly, if it gets done once every 2 weeks, I feel like a cleaning goddess...

just wondering about simple maintenance vs. taking 1/2 hour to vacuum because I've left it so long...

When you say a wet swiffer, which type do you mean? Are they ok on hardwood? I've always had ceramic which you really can't harm, but I'm worried about my brand new hardwood.

Thanks :)

I've got hardwood everywhere other than the kitchen - and I've got a dog - Husky - which means I should vacuum or sweep every day. BUT I usually sweep every 2-3 days (or daily if I'm having company).

We use a system by Bona, Swedish floor finishing company, for cleaning floor, it consists of a wide pad and their cleaning solution. Very effective, fast and leaves floor beautiful. To protect floors in high traffic areas we use floor mats by Chilewich. By far the most effective mat we have used or seen. They lie very flat and do not curl so there is no tripping and they can be washed or hosed down. They also have a very upscale look, they lend themselves more to a modern look which is no problem for us

We've put Chilewich mats in our new home, too, and love them.

We use the Bona system as well and love it. That and my little Roomba! Love my Roomba!

Jodi-

Bona makes the best hardwood finishes as well. Their "TRAFFIC" finish is a water base but uses a catalyst mixed in that makes it extremely strong. Better than any oil base. It can be tinted or pre-stained to any color.

The most important thing about hardwood floors is to keep them swept or vacuumed. Dust etc scratches the finish. The other important thing is to keep water off them. (an occasional damp sponge or rag with diluted vinegar is o.k.)If water gets on them, wipe the water up immediately. Don't 'scrub' or you'll scrub the finish off. The Bona system is probably the best, avoid wax because if you have to do a touch up you'll have to clean and sand first.

I keep a broom and dust buster handy for all the crumbs, sand, dust. I agree keep them free of sand is best to avoid scratches and mop up any spills when they happen. Other than that, I use a microfiber type mop and just spray water on the floor and clean, though I may check into the Bona system.

I "dry" swiffer every couple of days. Bona once a week. Vacuum area rugs once a week. No wet swiffers, No wet mopping, no Murphy's Oil soap per my guy who just refinished my floors. Like Alexr said, it's the tiny dust, etc that scratches and dulls wood floors. Bona is the best system for wood floors. You can get it a Bed Bath and Beyond

I just had new HW put in the kitchen, so will be paying much closer attention to that then I did in my other rooms with HW. I try to have my DH and kids always remove their shoes when they come home (we unfortunately don't have a mudroom). I also use the dry Swiffer alot, or even a damp rag to get the sand/grit/cat hair out. I've never heard of Chilewick mats...are they like gel mats? Where do you purchase them?

We love our roomba too! It runs everyday while we're at work and easily moves off and on our area rugs. It really does a great job at keeping the hair down. In fact it picks up so much cat hair that I always wonder how my two cats aren't bald...

My HW floors installed 4 years ago are my pride & joy. I'll endorse sweeping every-day-in-theory and mopping weekly or so with Bona, but the rest of this post is a rant against Swiffer (and similar disposable systems).

First, Swiffer (damp) cloths leave a visible residue on the HW. My floor installer people have told me that the chemicals are too harsh.

Second, Swiffer is a paradigm example of our disposable culture! My mop (Sh'Mop) has a terry cloth cover, reversible (I own 2), that can be washed in the laundry along with the towels. Cotton was grown to make the cover, it had no plastic packaging, its carbon footprint is virtually nil. Nothing goes into the landfill. I've used the same 2 mop covers for 4 years (spraying with Bona as needed). Swiffer means 4 to 10 pieces of chemically impregnated paper going into the landfill, plus the plastic tubs (theoretically recyclable) when you need to buy more. The Sh'mop costs $13.50, which is about equal to one Swiffer mop and a couple of refills. The Sh'mop cleans better than Swiffer IMO, so it's a winner on cleaning ability, cost, and carbon footprint. I consider myself a mainstream, not extreme, environmentalist and Swiffer is one of my pet peeves.

I'm including a link to sh'mop -- I know nothing about the website that sells it, as I bought mine locally (I think it can be found at BB&B).

Here is a link that might be useful: Sh'Mop - nondisposable mop

Re Chilewich -

I just googled them. Are you talking about plynyl? Are these plastic mats? I thought that was bad on HW.

I have Traffic on my new floor, but haven't yet found out how to care for it. Sounds like the Bona cleaning stuff would be right for it. Where do you get it?

Chilewich, they have floor mats in various sizes with a rubber backing to give it a bit of cushioning and rigidity. We wasted a lot of money on other rugs and mats before we settled on these. The wear surface is similar to or possibly identical to the mats.

Thanks for the link, Bluekit. That looks like a good product. I took one look at Swiffer a long time ago when it was new and was appalled. But what a great marketing scheme on Proctor & Gamble's part. I should have bought stock.

no question in my mind-ROOMBA!!
worth evry penny

I am so nervous about a Roomba - I've only read mixed reviews... what models do you have? it really does appeal to the lazy side of me, but the reviews are just so scary... I've read a bunch of forums on here about them, and people seem more happy with them than years ago, but I'm still nervous...

We got the Costco model in January and are quite pleased with it. We chose the Costco one b/c it's as good a deal as any, but Costco would take it back no questions asked if we decided we didn't like it after a couple weeks.

The roomba uses the lighthouses to move from room to room, so it cleans our livingroom, kitchen, hallway and backroom everyday. We still give the floors a mopping on the weekend, but that sure beats daily cleaning!

I'm with bluekitobsessed on how wasteful the swiffer can be, but we found a different solution. We use our regular dry swiffer to hold a microfiber cloth instead of a swiffer sheet. Just push it on there the same way you would a swiffer sheet. The microfibe works just as well, if not better, and it gets washed instead of trashed.

I've got a Roomba Discovery. I just start him up when I go to bed at night or before I leave for work and he does the rest. It comes with two virtual walls to keep him inside the areas you want cleaned. He's smart enough not to fall off stairs and drops and finds his way back to the docking station when his battery is running low. He does an amazing job. I've had him 18 months. Paid $150 through WOOT.com and love him! He does an amazing job and never complains. I've named him Scooter. :-)

Jodi-

sand/grit are HW floors worst enemy - w/proper finish liquids are not nearly as damaging -

We don't wear shoes inside, I spot clean as others have stated, vacuum floors & area rugs 1x/wk - bona or vinegar & water wipe down every week or every other

The other thing about HW flooring in high use/traffic area such as kitchen is they should have a new coat of poly every yr or 2 - they rough up the top layer & put down a new layer - this can only be done if the floor has no oil based products on it and is in good condition - It's when the floor wears that you need a whole refinishing -
I just had my kitchen HW floors done (been down for 2 yrs) $125 for 300 sq feet -

good luck

We don't usually wear shoes in our house, so any little crumb left on the floor becomes very noticeable on our bare feet (and, obviously, I don't want to see the crumbs either). I do have a daily cleaning suggestion that works well for us: I use a very handy cordless, light vacuum cleaner (with full handle, not like dustbuster; ours is a Eureka cordless Quick-Up), which we keep plugged in and hanging on wall in nearby laundry room. I could not live without this thing -- it is so light and fast and effective. In fact, even the kids like to use it. In our new house, I am putting an outlet in the mudroom broom closet just for this type of light vacuum cleaner.

For real cleaning, we vacuum first and then use a hardwood floor "mop" (looks like swiffer but has terry cloth covers like bluekitobsessed's). We probably got that at Home Depot. And for cleaner, we use -- and, for 9 years, have been happy with -- ZEP hardwood floor cleaner (also from HD). Leaves floor beautiful and smells good, too. I might check out Bona next time, since so many of you recommend it.

I also clean much less frequently than I should, but I was wondering if the Roomba would work well for my situation.

My first floor is about 2000 sq ft and mostly hardwood with some tile. We also have a few area rugs and two dogs (vizslas). My question is does the roomba make the transition from hardwood to carpet and back again? Do your dogs interfere with it and keep it from going where it should?

I'm going to post this separately as well with a different subject line.