What Is Your Favorite Hard Floor Cleaner?

I had the hoover scrubber thing and it's okay for light dirt but laughable if you have dogs that run through the mud. I just use a regular mop but I still use hot water plus the cleaner for the hoover because I really like the smell.

Hi Congrats on your school scores and the new home! sounds like you have a lot of good things happening in your life right now. Good for you.
Now as to the floors, if they are truly hand scraped WOOD, and not a laminate of some sort, water is not your friend. Just invest in a good large regular mop that has a removeable head, so you can toss it in a washer. Then use water and vinegar mixture. Put in a few drops of essential oils of a scent you like. DAMP mop only. Do not saturate the floor with water! It will cause your joints to swell and will cause your floors to squeak and eventually weaken the joints in your floor. Plus if you use other products that are meant for laminates they will dull and damage the finish on your floor. Use a product espcially for your wood floors occasionally to keep the finish on them pretty. Water and vinegar are good things for your family and the eviorment. Our kids are on the floors a lot.
As to the tile, there again don't drown your floors with water. If your groute is not sealed, water saturation will weaken the groute joints. Damp mop again with water and vinegar and it will keep your floors clean of all but the heaviest dirt. For that try a green product and a scrubby brush. I clean my grout lines once or twice a year with bleach and scrubby brush.
I love wood floors, they are my favorite surface to live on, we had tiger oak in a home we owned some years ago that we renovated. George Fornby of the famous Fornby products family gave these instructions for wood floors, he had helped us to refinish them and bring them back to thier former glory. I always received great feedback from people visiting our home.
Good luck there are so many great products out there, I am sure you will find something that will work for you.

I love the Swiffer sweeper and Swiffer wet mop because I live on a farm and have a ton of pets, so I need products that are easy to use daily. I like the suggestions that others have made for deeper cleaning though. Swiffer is great for me becasue I can get it out and use it anytime and it gets the floors clean in no time at all. We only have carpet in 2 rooms in the house, the rest is hardwood, so I use Swiffer stuff everywhere all the time. Enjoy your new home!

I have hardwoods throughout my house, and I currently use Mrs. Meyer's cleaner. Method good for wood works well also. The swiffer wet jet solution leaves residue on the floors plus it is not environmentally friendly. I use Mrs. Meyer's in my Scooba currently. The old fashioned mop works also. I highly recommend getting a roomba, though, to get in between moppings. You will notice the dirt a lot more than on carpets.

We love our Swiffer sweeper and Swiffer mop. They're cheap, easy to use, no prep or cleanup...just right for both hardwood and tile. Good luck with your move!

Also, just wanted to congratulate you and your school on your high test scores! That's no easy feat for Title I! You guys must have worked really hard!

I use Basic H2, non-toxic, excellent cleaner on my wood floors, my tile floors, spot removal on carpet, woodwork, countertops...and the list goes on. It is great "green" stuff and will help keep toxic chemicals out of your house!

www.shaklee.net/healinghappens

I wanted to second the water and vinegar and add to NEVER use steam on wood. Steam will open the pours of the wood and cause swelling and warping of your floors. Always stay away from heated, even tepid water on wood.

Congrats on the move! :)

We recently moved into a house with hardwood floors and had no clue the best way to clean them. But after some trial and error we found that what works best for us is to use the hard surface setting on our Wind Tunnel vacuum, and then clean it with a product called Bona. You can find it at special dealers, but we bought our starter kit at Bed Bath & Beyond. You can learn more about it here: http://www.bona.com/en/US/Bona_products/Consumer_Products... (sorry, I don't know how to create a snazzy hyperlink on mamasource)

Hi S.! First, I vacuum all of my floors with the hardwood brush attachment (I have a Hoover canister vacuum) and then I mop with a "flat mop head Swiffer" and white vinegar diluted in water. I like my flat head mop, because it turns 360 deg and it fits even underneath my fridge. It comes with two reusable/washable, fitted terry cloth heads. For spot cleaning, I use a spray bottle with diluted white vinegar. Occasionally, I nourish my floors with hard wood orange oil, which I also use on my wooden furniture. We have a no-shoe policy in the house, so our floors are never that dirty, but just mainly dusty. Good luck with your move.

I too love Bona X. We got our kit at Ace Hardware in Coppell.

Hi S.,

I love the Bona products! I have a small house cleaning business and that is all used - I also order the microfiber mops from them and they are great!

Thanks,
M.
Casabella Cleaning