... what is your cleaning method? How often do you clean?
We recently moved into a 3000+ sq foot home w/all hardwood floors. I love hardwood, but I'm finding that it's really difficult to keep clean. I dry mop w/a microfiber cloth everyday and steam mop (love my Shark!) every other day, but there's still stuff constantly sticking to the bottom of my feet and it drives me crazy 
I don't want to spend 24/7 cleaning the floors...
What do you do?
GOLD / pineapple / 12662 posts
I also have a Shark . . . I have a cleaning crew that comes at least every other week, and I just Shark/spot sweep in between the visits. Now that I think about it, our floors stay remarkably clean.
Is it just random debris that is sticking to your feet?
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
Our new place will be 3400 all hardwood too! I have a plan.
I have a shark vac + steam in one. Will steam the floors 1-2x a week. For touch ups I plan on using the dyson dc35 or dc56.
I get on my hands and knees at least once a day to hand sweep the floors. Kids are messy! My floors get dirty and crumby 5 mins after I clean them!
pomegranate / 3759 posts
Our house is about half your size! We swear by our Roomba though.
blogger / coconut / 8306 posts
My dad is in the hardwood floor business. He sells the equipment to install and maintain the floors. I worked for his company for 7 years.
He hates shark mops. Hates.
He swears by the Bona cleaning system.
We have the bona system for laminate floors (I'm on his short list for having laminate instead of true hardwood....) and vacuum daily. I use my dust mop every other day to help reach under the couch. We also have two cats, so pet hair collects. I use their cleaning solution weekly.
Its about the same process for hardwoods, though if you have kids you'll likely clean more frequently like I do.
Now that we are all out the house my parents clean their floors once a month.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
We're pretty strict about where we eat, so food is only in the kitchen, where we have tile.
Rest of our home is hardwood and we've not had any issues keeping it clean/debris free. I was expecting our floors to show every speck of dirt, but they're super clean between the cleaning lady visits.
grapefruit / 4671 posts
@Mrs. Jump Rope: I am a huge Bona fan!
I vacuum with my Dyson and then mop with Bona. I wouldn't use a steam mop on hardwoods.
cantaloupe / 6730 posts
Just swiffering, normally. I'd read that it's not good for hardwood floors to be mopped, so I only do it a few times a year. Are there any practices you can change to keep dirt from getting in? Shoes off in house, only eat at the table, pets only in certain rooms? I mean if you could get it down to steam mopping once or even twice a week, it would cut down on the amount of time you'd be spending.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
I think the issue with steam mops is that the heat can cause the wood to warp and also possibly erode the glue? But that would be true of laminate as well, no?
GOLD / pineapple / 12662 posts
@Mrs. Jump Rope: Ahhhh . . . I just did a little googling! Looks like I will setting the Shark aside for just our tile (bathroom) floors! You learn something new every day!
wonderful pea / 17279 posts
@Mrs. Jump Rope: Does this Bona system work for engineered hardwood too?
Right now we sweep and dry mop. The cleaning staff uses some solution that makes the floor shiny and stick for a day or two.
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
@MsLipGloss: how will you keep the floors sanitized? Omg does this mean I need to mop with water+vinegar?!
GOLD / eggplant / 11517 posts
I wear cushy flip flops around the house because I hate that feeling too (and being barefoot on the floors hurts my back)
As for cleaning, they never feel clean to me... In our next house I want carpet lol
blogger / coconut / 8306 posts
@MsLipGloss: the heat and steam warps the wood. The same principle apples the laminate floors.
His business is mainly industrial and commercial (his client base is mainly schools, gymnasiums, colleges, etc) but we are open to the public. Lots of homemakers would come in and complain that their floors were warped and we would would have to explain...
blogger / coconut / 8306 posts
@chopsuey: the bona cleaning system has a sanitizer in it
GOLD / pineapple / 12662 posts
@Mrs. Jump Rope: @chopsuey: Welp - there you have it! Looks like another trip to Tar-jay this weekend!
blogger / coconut / 8306 posts
@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: yes but it's engineered so I believe it's *technically* laminate.
honeydew / 7444 posts
I probably wouldn't use the steam mop for the hardwood floors.
I second @Mrs. Jump Rope: recommendation for Bona.
GOLD / squash / 13576 posts
@MungBean: Good lord, how do you find the time to do that? Clean the floors every day.. I'm happy that I clean the floors 1 time a week.
blogger / coconut / 8306 posts
@chopsuey: you don't want to put water on your hardwood or laminate floors. It can seep through the cracks.
pomelo / 5509 posts
@Mrs. Jump Rope: I'm so glad you wrote this because I did some research and opted to register for Bona products instead of a Shark steam mop for our floors. We have all hardwood, even in the kitchen. I'm glad I (hopefully) made the right decision!
blogger / coconut / 8306 posts
@IRunForFun: you did! I personally know one of the bona reps and swear by their products myself. We wouldn't use anything else!
GOLD / squash / 13576 posts
@MsLipGloss: hahahaha same thing came across my mind.. another trip to target!
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
@Mrs. Jump Rope: eep! Good to know!! Is the bona system safe for kids? No harsh chemicals?
pear / 1698 posts
We have a roomba, which picks up most of the stuff that sticks to our feet and the fur balls from the pets. I occasionally use the shark steam mop if there is stuck on stuff.
GOLD / wonderful coconut / 33402 posts
@MsLipGloss: I just added to my Target list as well. I have been using the Shark.....
cantaloupe / 6751 posts
@Mrs. Jump Rope: yikes, thank you for letting me know!! Gonna go pick up the bona today when I go to target. Glad I've only been using the steam mop for two wks. ETA: Which Bona system would you recommend? I'm looking online and it looks like there are several different kits/solutions...
@littlek: yeah, it takes up sooo much time :T I try to limit to the heavily trafficked areas (kitchen , living rm, dining rm) but it is still a lot of work...
@Grace: I think it might be that I'm too anal about my floors too. We don't wear shoes in the house and I try to limit LO to just eating in the dining area but with dogs and a toddler, there's just crumbs and stuff everywhere. Sigh.
blogger / coconut / 8306 posts
This is the product we use. I'm not sure if it can be bought in stores.
It's available on Bona's site.
http://www.mybonahome.com/products/hardwood-floor-care-system.html
ETA: This is the hardwood floor version, NOT the laminate. Not the exact product we use, but you know what I mean 
Double ETA: Here's the laminate
http://www.mybonahome.com/products/stl-floor-care-system.html
cantaloupe / 6751 posts
@Mrs. Jump Rope: thank you! Another question - do you have to spray your entire floor? It seems like it would take a loooong time to spray everything. I'm wondering if I should get something like this to disinfect after dry mopping? http://www.mybonahome.com/products/hardwood-floor-mop.html
blogger / coconut / 8306 posts
@MungBean: No, I spray the microfiber pad. You don't want to over-saturate your floors! We have about 1000sqft of flooring and I need to spray the pad twice to clean the entire floor, including underneath the couch and TV.
We've had our floors since April and I still have almost an entire bottle of solution.
GOLD / wonderful coconut / 33402 posts
@Mrs. Jump Rope: This is what Target has
http://www.target.com/p/bona-ultimate-hardwood-floor-care-system/-/A-11044368?ref=tgt_adv_XSG10001&AFID=Google_PLA_df&LNM=|11044368&CPNG=Appliances&kpid=11044368&LID=PA&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=11044368&gclid=CN_WhfHMjLkCFSho7AodrAEAWQ
cantaloupe / 6751 posts
@Mrs. Jump Rope: OK, got'cha! Thanks so much! I learned so much today. You're gonna be my hardwood go-to guru from now on (PS - you should totally do a blog post on this!)
GOLD / wonderful coconut / 33402 posts
@Mrs. Jump Rope: Sweet! I will order it there then. I just saw it says Target doesn't sell in stores anyway.
blogger / coconut / 8306 posts
@MungBean: It would be the worlds most boring blog post LOL
My dad has been in business for 30 years and sells all kinds of machinery. I know way too much about warranty repairs and flooring and MSDS sheets!
pomelo / 5228 posts
We have cleaning people every other week, and we try not to wear shoes in the house (only slippers). We also have a Scoomba (water Roomba) to run after parties if needed. We're pretty tidy people (and no kids yet) so I think that makes it easy.
wonderful pea / 17279 posts
@Mrs. Jump Rope: our floor has a layer of hardwood on top and made of composite stuff underneath, the floor can be sanded down and restained. Would a bona work in this case?
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