Durable and easiest to maintain carpet?
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
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- 7 years agolast modified: 7 years ago
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Tile - easiest to clean, durable, stain resistant
Comments (1)Through body rectified porcelain....See MoreEngineered wood vs laminate : durability, renewability question
Comments (5)laminates cannot be refinished in any way. Eng. hdwd can be screened and recoated adding a new coat of finish without sanding. The aluminum oxide finish on eng hdwd is similar to the low maintenance ao on laminates but can be recoated. Wear warrantys are the amt of traffic needed to walk thru the finish down to the bare wood. When people discuss 'wear' what they are seeing is a diminished gloss in traffic areas. This is when recoating comes in handy. I agree that hdwd adds value where laminates don't....See MoreWhat is the easiest thing to do that will keep my house clean?
Comments (12)Lots of great tips given already, but my best tip is not to let it get dirty/untidy/cluttered in the first place. In other words, take care of issues with a few spare minutes before they get out of control, rather than having it overwhelm you After it's out of control. Think - PREVENT DEFENSE..... -Do dishes and clean the kitchen immediately after each meal (takes 10-15minutes) - you can relax after it's done and not have it as a negative thought eating you up the rest of the evening. Take another 5 minutes to sweep the floor so it doesn't get tracked all over the rest of the house. BTW - dish cloths and dish rags are ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL, as are dust cloths, brooms, vacuums, and any number of other cleaning items ;-). There are also not any gender-specific household chores. I think the best training my husband got was being a janitor at a number of businesses and schools while he went to college. The man can out-clean me any day of the week! -Eat together at the table, not all over the house at different times - (you won't have to take time to locate dirty dishes). -Put dirty clothes in a laundry basket/s (they will be all in one place when you need to start the laundry). We use 4 baskets located above the w/d on a shelf, and automatically separate clothes into whites, lights, darks, and kitchen towels. We air dry any wet items on a drying rack before tossing them into the laundry baskets to prevent that "sour" smell from wet items. -Do laundry on a regular schedule - and never run out of underwear! -Develop the do it NOW habit - don't just lay things down on the first convenient flat surface available intending to put it away later - put things away where they are supposed to go so you can easily find it later, hang coats/jackets in closets, shoes belong in your closet - not cluttering up the front entrance... We're not a shoes OFF family, which is a much debated issue on message boards ;-). Our flooring is designed to be walked on by us and by our guests/visitors (we have a rug outside and inside the front door to wipe shoes on). In fact, I'd rather visitors DIDN'T remove their shoes! My sister-in-law always went barefoot around the house and she always had warts on her feet, and her doctor told her it was because she was spreading the virus by going barefoot. - Go Figure - Keep your shoes on, please, we don't need your warts! So different strokes for different folks - but shoes don't belong at the front door entrance, whether you remove them there or not. -Get rid of/eliminate/prevent clutter - We don't take a daily newspaper or any magazine subscriptions, so that's a great way to save money, and we don't have a stack of them (usually left unread) to try to get-around-to. We had a friend who hated cleaning their bathroom. If they eliminated the 40 bottles of stuff lined up around the tub like a race track, it would make using AND cleaning the tub a breeze. The same went for the vanity that was completely covered with "stuff". Think of storage options to keep things clutter-free for easy cleaning - better yet, don't have "stuff" that causes clutter. -Deal with mail immediately - put "junk mail" into the recycling, put bills/correspondence in one place and take care of them a.s.a.p. -Tidy the public spaces of your home before retiring for the evening - takes 5 minutes - so it's turned a negative into a positive and a mess won't be greeting you the next morning. -Make beds each morning - it takes about 1-minute, and you'll have a positive space to retire to at night (btw - a 4-year old can make their own bed if you teach them how and don't make it complicated - and expect it to be done each day). -Identify problem areas, as already suggested. Most problems can be avoided or corrected with 5-minutes of regular attention that become good habits - and everyone participates in good habits. Reward good habits - everyone likes a little praise when it's deserved. If we keep the house clean this week, it won't take us as long to do the regular housework on Saturday, and we will have time to go out for an ice cream cone if we all do a good job all week! -Children should have a list of things they do just because they are part of a family. Pay them for things above and beyond their normal chores. Example: our kids got paid 25-cents per bag for leaves they raked (1980's prices :-), or helping with cleaning out the garage, or helping in the garden -- but taking their dishes from the table to the sink/dishwasher, helping do dishes, keeping their room clean, helping prepare a meal or setting the table, feeding/walking any pets, etc., was part of being a family - a good social skill and common courtesy. When our children were old enough, they planed and cooked one meal each week, and hubby did one on the weekend. We were all busy, so shared responsibilities made them a little lighter for all of us. -It's good manners to leave something in good or better condition than when you used it, so everyone has a positive experience. So if you splashed a few drops of water on the mirror, go ahead and wipe them off - rinse out the sink/tub/shower when you're done, or any number of other day-to-day things. If not you, then who? I AM my own housekeeper, so why would I want any more to do than is absolutely necessary? -It shouldn't take more than an hour to clean the entire house once a week, even less if you divide the tasks between 3 people, especially if you use "prevent defense" between cleaning days. Everyone in the household needs to be involved - they all dirty it, they can all help clean it AND keep it tidy. If they can mess something up, they have the skills to clean it up, especially once it's been defined as something they need to control and they have been instructed how to accomplish that task. The same motor skills that it takes to take toys out and play with them, remove a book from a shelf, take the blankets down to go to bed, can all be done in reverse. Unfortunately, that half of the equation is often ignored. When my son was going to college and living with different roommates, he often had to teach them these social skills about living as a "family", as well as how to do dishes, laundry, clean a toilet/bathroom, mop a floor, take out the trash, cook, and any number of other skills he'd been doing since he was a child. -If all else fails, get up 30-60 minutes earlier so you can take care of a portion of the list of things-to-do we all have to do, until you get a routine established. Your family will benefit from all you do, and all you teach THEM how to do. A friend with three children bemoaned the fact that she was a poor housekeeper because her mother was. I told her that was a lame excuse. After all, wasn't she in charge of her own activities, not her mother? Didn't she have the option to do the opposite? And if she didn't change the "poor housekeeper" model for the family, how did she ever expect her children to be good housekeepers? -Grainlady...See MoreCork Flooring durability thoughts
Comments (5)Now that I'm on a key board and not a tablet, let me explain what is needed to keep cork flooring going for 25 years. I will work with the 'traditional cork polyurethane finish' that I used to sell (I'm no longer in the flooring business...but still keep my fingers in the pie because flooring is a fascinating business). The traditional polyurethane (not polyacrylic or acrylic or PVC finish...yes...that's vinyl) finish is the one that requires refreshing of the finish ... a couple of times. And it is the finish that ACCEPTS more finish as it ages...the others mentioned above DO NOT (booooo! hissssss!). Icork Floor's cork have this type of finish so I'll use the WHITEST floor they have = White Bamboo 1/2" cork floating flooring White Floor - White Bamboo - 12mm Floating Flooring (icorkfloor.com) Ok...you've purchased this CRISP WHITE cork floor. It has been delivered to your home. It is sitting in your living room (or den) acclimating for 1 week or so. Excellent. You pay a WOOD flooring professional to install it (not a laminate guy...they won't know how to do the finish) for $2.50 - $3.50/sf. It is a snick more expensive than laminate because cork requires SLOW and EASY install. It requires a 'deft touch'. You cannot slam a cork floor together....the edges will puff up and look like 'lippage' = 100% installer error = 100% p!ssed off customer! Excellent! Floor is in and looks DAZZLINGLY WHITE. You will have noticed the white is ONLY SKIN DEEP! That skin is delicate. Which is why I SERIOUSLY RECOMMEND (ahem...demand is the correct term but customers get 'uppity' when I use it in a conversation) the TWO COATS of the super-tough Loba 2K Supra AT finish to be applied AFTER the floor has been installed. These are the prices for WINTER shipping. Costs of product/shipping DROP for summer time: Water Based Polyurethane for cork flooring and cork tiles. (icorkfloor.com) Anyho. Your WOOD PROFESSIONAL will go ahead and clean the floor (vacuum and lightly damp tack cloth...water only). Then the pro will let the floor dry. Then a LIGHT buffing (high grit sanding pole = SUPER FAST = SUPER CHEAP!) and then vacuum/tack cloth again. Floor dries again (probably the next day). Now the pro mixes the two part polyurethane and applies it over the cork floor. They can use a low-nap roller or a T-bar. Whichever the pro feels comfortable using with the size of floor infront of them. Single rooms do VERY well with a roller. The first coat of finish is allowed to dry x6 hours and then the SECOND AND FINAL coat is applied. Pro leaves....you pay him/her for their services. They WILL charge $1/sf for the two coats of finish....be OK with that! The floor is allowed to cure for 5 days. After that you do what you want with it. Do not install rugs for the first 6 months....cork LOVES to fade so let it do it!. First 'damp' cleaning = 14 - 25 days after the last coat of finish is applied. You will follow 'hardwood floor cleaning' guidelines for polyurethane finishes. Loba has a great cleaner. Feel free to purchase it. Now you have a very tough floor ready for your life on it. 'Dimples' are what other people call 'dents'. A dimple is like your face dimple. It can go away!!!! Yep. If you have a heavy chair sitting on the cork it will cause a small indent = NOT PERMANENT. It will take time for it to 'pop' back. If that's not something you like, then go ahead and 'warm' out the dimple. You soak a cloth in 'hot tap water' = as hot as you can hold in your hand...if it causes burns on YOUR skin then do NOT apply it to cork...common sense rules here. Apply the hot wet cloth to the dimple. Let it sit until it goes cold. Inspect the dimple. If some of it still exists simply repeat. Cork does not crush. It CONDENSES and then SPRINGS BACK. That's the 'dents' taken care of. Now onto scrapes that have BREACHED the white coating (ie. showing raw/gold cork underneath). That takes a HUGE amount of effort to do this. Like dragging a refrigerator across your floor. Number #1...don't do that. Number #2...use glides under heavy pieces. If it HAPPENS that you scrape back finish to expose the raw cork...find the 'scraped' bit and see if it fits back into the spot (like a chunk is missing...go find the chunk and fit it back in). If it does then GREAT! To 'patch' cork you need the CORK bit that fell out (or was VIOLENTLY RIPPED OUT...to be more accurate) and some 'Elmer's Wood Glue' ($2.97 at Home Depot). Simply glue that bit back in. I like to use a bit of wax paper to sit over top and a 'shoe' to hold the chunk in place for 24 hours. A brick works. A book works...whatever you have on hand to hold the glued bit in place for 24 hours. I don't care. Use your imagination. If you scrape past the colour (again...someone has to be figure skating on your cork to get this to happen...shame on them!) then you simply take a bit of 'white latex paint" and paint over the the missing colour. If you have a stained cork (like it is dark brown) then use a stain pen ($5 at Home Depot) that most closely resembles the colour of your cork. Permanent markers work as well. If you have some left over poly (it is only good for 1 year in the can) then drop a bit on there...if you don't then don't worry about it. You will get it next time. After about 7 years, you will feel you want your cork to 'perk up' a bit. Great. Add ONE MORE coat of polyurethane and you should be 'done' with protecting it. With three coats of Loba 2K Supra AT on there and you should NOT have to do it again. I'm serious. You will have coated that floor in SOOOO MUCH ceramic nano-beads you would need a chisel to do any more damage. That's it. That's cork....See MoreRelated Professionals
Rochester Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Adelphi Flooring Contractors · Conyers Flooring Contractors · Elmhurst Flooring Contractors · Kirkwood Flooring Contractors · Lansdale Flooring Contractors · San Carlos Flooring Contractors · Pooler General Contractors · Saginaw General Contractors · Springboro General Contractors · Avocado Heights General Contractors · Sudbury Furniture & Accessories · Converse General Contractors · Las Cruces General Contractors · Westchester General Contractors- 7 years ago
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