Got you on that one Steph loud and clear. We have two of those some ones here. I vacuum the floors to get the dust dirt and hair up then I mop with good old vinegar in the mop water. Have to do it all almost daily. I might not mop daily but I do vacuum.

One thing that really helps is we put gravel in their dog yard and that helps keep some of the dirt off their coats. They also have dog houses they usually sleep in when they are out there and I also put an old piece of carpet for them just on top of the gravel. When it get funky I will toss it. I recycle my small living room carpets this way.

thx shades - (sigh!). I was so hoping it'd be easier to keep clean over here w/out carpet. I've seen more hair/fur in the past 2 wks than I think I saw inside the old place in 14 yrs (yrs of my girl w/me).

I did buy a mop (a 2nd one since the 1st was STOLEN!) and my sister gave me a skinny looking thing that recharges - like a battery operated dust mop I guess. I'd better plug it in and see if it works...I'm sure I'll need one on a stick/handle also w/ the pads on the bottom.

I think w/in another wk or so I could have free wall to wall 'carpet' in here!

I have 2 dogs and hardwood floors or tile in every room. A broom, a swiffer and a steam mop are my best friends. It's a NEVER ENDING battle.

Here is a link that might be useful: This is the steam mop I use

thx 1blue... have you used it on any vinyl? I'm going to have vinyl and laminate. on amazon it says it's good on wood, laminate and tile. no mention of vinyl...

maybe they shouldn't be used on vinyl? maybe no steamers on vinyl?

Steph we have Congoleum and seems I looked it up and it said no steamers. Why I went to the vacuum, mop with vinegar. A steamer would be wonderful but I would still have to vacuum. The vinegar cleans well and smells really clean. Not harmful and no rinsing. Well I do not rinse.

shades - could be then that I got my doubts on it from times i read up on the 'care' of some different vinyls I was looked at.

these days I'm thinking I might put down some of that allure stuff in the LR/DR/hall because I can easily replace a piece if I need to. in the LR/DR not much will show of it anyway as I plan to have 2 area rugs in there (thank goodness I have a good Oreck upright!).

I will put sheet vinyl in the wet areas - baths and laundry/mudroom. For now I think I'll keep the laminate in the kitchen. It's cut off at a strange angle but I have a few spare planks of it so I think I can straighten it out. That'll be another thread down the road!

I have a sponge mop and central vac with a dust bin, and I have a dry mop thing with a washable microfiber cloth on it. I use a product called rain dance which we get from a local store that supplies cleaning products to commercial cleaning firms. Our floors are vinyl and it is never ending, but at least it cleans well and looks good when it is clean.

thx Annie - I've got a sponge mop now and a small vacuum (Oreck; have an upright also but it doesn't have attachments).

I need to get one of those swiffer type things so I don't have to wet mop up dog hair or run the little vacuum every day in every room. I've been wanting to mop my bathroom (it needs it) but I can see it has dog hair and other stuff that should be swept up someway first.

I'm planning to go to W in the morning and hope I can find a swiffer thing (just basic) to run around the room every day or 2. My sister gave me some cloth things I can use on it and some of her dhs old socks to use. I have some microfiber clothes I can use also. It seems one of those things would be much easier for cleaning. Short of spray gluing puppy.

are any other brands good also?

My swiffer is my best friend, lol! I have 7 furry kids that live in our house and swiffering is a daily must! I should have bought stock in swiffer pads. I have a vac that I also use on our tile, but I do a quick swiffer once a day. The dust and hair I pick up never cease to amaze me. I live in a rural area of Phoenix and the dust is just crazy. I also have to dust daily. My air conditioner guy says that because of our location no air filter system will help at all with the dust. It's more of a silt. I guess its the price we pay to live in the desert with our horses, dogs and cats.I use a spin mop to mop. Best invention ever, I love it! I have a floor cleaning machine but much prefer the spin mop.

I have not heard of a spin mop before. Interesting.

I bought the linked mop awhile ago and totally love it. Since I have issues with my hands and can not wring a mop this works great and no water gets on my fragile skin and it does not hurt my joints to wring it.

Guessing it is similar to the spin mop.

Here is a link that might be useful: New Mop

"rural area of Phoenix "

me too - I know the dirt! What's a spin mop? i probably need one...

anyone use flicker? I just opened an acct there but don't know how to get a pic from there to here... they don't have codes over the pics like photobucket does!

I use flikr, but I'm not as eloquent as buehl.

Posted by buehl (My Page) on
Fri, Feb 11, 11 at 14:11

Flickr:

From the album/photostream page, click the picture you wish to post.

The picture will appear in an individual picture view

Click "Share This" in the menu that appears above the picture.

Click "Grab the HTML/BBCode"

From the size drop down menu, select the size you wish to post.

Default is "Medium". [Note: There may be more than one "Medium".]

When posting a picture, it's usually best to choose a size that's no more than 400 in either direction, smaller is better...as long as it's easy to see/read in the smaller size!

For legibility, you may have to post bigger pictures, especially for layouts.

Click the "HTML" radio button

Now, place your cursor inside the box above the size drop down menu ("Copy and paste the code below:") and select the code.
Use the keys to "select all" in the box or drag your cursor to select it all manually.

Copy the code (use the keys)

Paste the code you just copied into the "Message" box of the post where you want the picture to appear (use the keys)

Return to step 7 in the first post (where it says to "preview")

Here is a link that might be useful: Posting Pictures thanks to buehl from the kitchens forum

thx jessica - I tried it and it works!

shades - I do have a mop something like that. have had it for 15 yrs or so. just never used it and forgot about it. i carpeted everything in the old place. (ugh)

the sponge mop I recently bought has a lever about mid handle that i push to squeeze out the water.

If I get a swiffer type thing I should be ok - at least for now.

I currently still have carpet in the main part of the house, which I don't vacuum often enough. When I get around to cleaning the hard floors, I do it on my hands and knees...but doubt that helps you! Soon we'll have mostly laminate and I'll have to figure out a better plan.

Some of the professional cleaners that shop at my Ace swear by Libman. I love that Libman now has a knock-off Swiffer Wet Jet (so you pick your own cleaner -water & vinegar!- rather than getting stuck buying bottles from Swiffer) as well as a dust mop with washable microfiber pads. I had a Libman Wonder Mop at an old apartment that I liked.
Libman Freedom Spray Mop

Libman Washable Microfiber Mop

My old Libman Wonder Mop

Here is a link that might be useful: Has anyone tried these? I want some!

jessicaml, I have not seen those for feet. I have one for your hand and it works really well. I want the feet ones too. How fun.

My sponge mop is like this one....easy to squeeze the water out and small enough to fit under toe kick and such.

My sweeper is something like this one...the cloths are removable and washable, not disposable like swiffer.

My mother used to have one of those swiffer damp mop things, but it always left the floor sticky....

annie - is that center handle bulge what is used to squeeze out the water?

I like the reusable clothes also. that's why my sister gave me her dhs old socks and I've collected a stack of old rags to use on one.

desertsteph -

That mop that annie posted -- you grab the handle and pull it up, and it folds and wrings out the mop head. We have a mop like that and it works well.

Our floors are cork, pavers and tile. I use an old-school jiffy dust mop for getting up the pet hair every other day or so. Once week I vacuum the few area rugs and the corners, baseboards, etc.

W didn't have a swiffer so I bought an O'Cedar. It's a bit wider than I would have liked for getting into smaller areas. I didn't want to wait to get one tho. I thought if I find I need something skinnier I could put a sock on each end of my mop or even cover it with a microfiber cloth.

As you pull up on the handle in the middle, it pushes 2 rollers down, one on each side of the sponge and that's what wrings the water out....you dont have to bend over too far and the sponge is soft when wet so it does a good job of cleaning....only thing is the sponge dries hard so you have to soak it in the bucket for a few minutes before you can wring it.

that sounds like how my mop wrings out the water. i really needed something that didn't require me to bend down.

Steph you can just hold the handle closer to you and the mop head over the bucket up higher. You do not have to bend to do this. Bring the handle up to you.

When our laminate was installed in the kitchen, DR and LR, we were told NO swiffer wet mop or steamer. Only DAMP mopping with water and vinegar. Water and steam are the enemy for laminate floors.

I won't be using a 'steam' one. just the dust mop type. maybe slightly damp. very slightly.

Christmas 2010 I bought myself a Roomba to clean our hard floors. My kids promptly named "him" Thomas. Thomas does an amazing job at cleaning our wood laminate--even getting all the kitty hair our two girls "deposit" that floats around and lands in corners and under things. Anyway, Thomas vacuums the floors while I do other things. I also have a plain ole Swiffer to do quick little turns on the floor.

When Thomas is done zipping around, or when I feel like it ;), I clean the floor with spritzes of Glass Plus and a microfiber mop.

When I want to vac the floors myself, I use my Shark Navigator Lift Away Pro. It easily transitions from rugs to floor, and then to carpet. Plus when you lift the canister off the vacuum head, it becomes a canister vacuum with different attachments. I love it!

boy, someday I'd love to have a Roomba!

"boy, someday I'd love to have a Roomba!"

LOL A Roomba would choke ,gag and die in our house. I have to vacuum every day. Still get a big gob of hair.

yeah. I have so much puppy hair that if it had legs I could take for a walk...lol! It's clogged my vacuum hose twice in the past 2 wks.

I used my 'dust' mop thingy - that worked good. Then I vacuumed it - lol! So it's ready to go again. and I mopped up the bathroom and part of the laundry room (part not covered w/boxes). I cleared an area in there for now to put the dog food bin. I put it on top of a large rubbermaid type bin til I figure out what it will finally 'live' on. the food bin won't fit in the pantry. Maybe that's just as well tho.

I mop on my hands an knees: a rag and warm water. The man who finished my parents' hardwood years ago told them to use nothing but water, so I've always done the same. On tile, I add vinegar to the mix. But, no fancy tools here. However, my SIL swears by her Shark steam mop.

"I mop on my hands an knees"

I can't do that. I might never get back up. puppy would think I'm a statue...

I do have to take a rag around the edges - the mop doesn't seem to get that close to the baseboard. I think I'll work on doing that with my foot most of the time.

Oh, it hurts like crazy! If I try to do the whole house in one day I end up walking funny when I'm done. Haha!

You'd think I'd wise up and invest in a mop...but, it's one more thing to store, and I get more elbow grease in it when I'm up close and personal with the floor. Haha!

Just today I purchased and used my brand new Hoover Floormate. I can't tell you how much I love love LOVE this thing. $139 bucks and I'm thrilled. We have ceramic and it hardwood only - it vacuums, spin mops and dries. I used my "good" vacuum and then started with the Floormate. It was fantastic, the floors are dry. Now, I will admit to going overboard while using it. I cleaned until the water was clear - but my floors have never looked so good.