Cleaning of Wood Floors

[Harry]

I just returned from 7 weeks in Asia and really liked the wood floors in
my hotels. My wife and I are considering ripping out the carpet and tile
in our 3000 square foot home and putting in wood floors. We liked the
look and feel of wood floors.

Is it hard to clean wood floors? Is the care and upkeep hard? We live in
Florida - just the two of us in our 50s. It is my job to keep the house
clean.

Our home is on a concert slab - but it is high enough and never gets
water on it.

Harry

[Vox Humana]

"Harry" <harry@everhart.com> wrote in message
news:harry-F04830.11443624082005@comcast.dca.giganews.com...
> I just returned from 7 weeks in Asia and really liked the wood floors in
> my hotels. My wife and I are considering ripping out the carpet and tile
> in our 3000 square foot home and putting in wood floors. We liked the
> look and feel of wood floors.
>
> Is it hard to clean wood floors? Is the care and upkeep hard? We live in
> Florida - just the two of us in our 50s. It is my job to keep the house
> clean.
>
> Our home is on a concert slab - but it is high enough and never gets
> water on it.

We removed all the carpet on the main floor of our house and have NO
regrets. I find the laminate flooring that we installed to be very easy to
clean. Wood floors would be equally easy to clean. Most of the time I just
use a Swiffer mop. I generally just attach a microfiber cloth to the mop
instead of the Swiffer cloth just to save money and I find it to be
satisfactory. You could use any type of dust mop you like. When the floor
need to be cleaned (as opposed to dusted), I use a steam mop. I have the
Eureka deluxe steam mop but there are a variety of such devices on the
market made by companies like DeLongi, etc. I like the steam mop because it
is self-contained like an upright sweeper, uses only water - not chemicals,
has no moving parts, makes no noise, and leaves the floor practically dry.
The cloths can be tossed into the wash and reused. For spot cleaning, you
could use a Swiffer wet mop or the Wet-Jet mop (or similar product).

[Phisherman]

On Wed, 24 Aug 2005 11:44:36 -0400, Harry <harry@everhart.com> wrote:

>I just returned from 7 weeks in Asia and really liked the wood floors in
>my hotels. My wife and I are considering ripping out the carpet and tile
>in our 3000 square foot home and putting in wood floors. We liked the
>look and feel of wood floors.
>
>Is it hard to clean wood floors? Is the care and upkeep hard? We live in
>Florida - just the two of us in our 50s. It is my job to keep the house
>clean.
>
>Our home is on a concert slab - but it is high enough and never gets
>water on it.
>
>Harry


It is very easy to keep a wooden floor clean. I use a swivel-head
dust mop twice a week. However, if you live in the strand tracking in
sand can be a problem. In that case, removal of shoes before entering
the house can be the solution. Wooden floors are often recommended
for people with allergies.

[Vox Humana]

"Phisherman" <noone@nobody.com> wrote in message
news:v8mpg1dm116h60ed1utc6sonfshhket76a@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 24 Aug 2005 11:44:36 -0400, Harry <harry@everhart.com> wrote:
>
> >I just returned from 7 weeks in Asia and really liked the wood floors in
> >my hotels. My wife and I are considering ripping out the carpet and tile
> >in our 3000 square foot home and putting in wood floors. We liked the
> >look and feel of wood floors.
> >
> >Is it hard to clean wood floors? Is the care and upkeep hard? We live in
> >Florida - just the two of us in our 50s. It is my job to keep the house
> >clean.
> >
> >Our home is on a concert slab - but it is high enough and never gets
> >water on it.
> >
> >Harry
>
>
> It is very easy to keep a wooden floor clean. I use a swivel-head
> dust mop twice a week. However, if you live in the strand tracking in
> sand can be a problem. In that case, removal of shoes before entering
> the house can be the solution. Wooden floors are often recommended
> for people with allergies.

I would recommend that if there is sand, that the OP avoid the pre-finished
flooring that has a bevel on each edge. I lived in a house with such a
floor and every bit of debris found its way into the grooves. In an area
with sand, this would be very bad.

[win-ho-lee]

Vox Humana wrote:
> "Phisherman" <noone@nobody.com> wrote in message
> news:v8mpg1dm116h60ed1utc6sonfshhket76a@4ax.com...
>
>>On Wed, 24 Aug 2005 11:44:36 -0400, Harry <harry@everhart.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>I just returned from 7 weeks in Asia and really liked the wood floors in
>>>my hotels. My wife and I are considering ripping out the carpet and tile
>>>in our 3000 square foot home and putting in wood floors. We liked the
>>>look and feel of wood floors.
>>>
>>>Is it hard to clean wood floors? Is the care and upkeep hard? We live in
>>>Florida - just the two of us in our 50s. It is my job to keep the house
>>>clean.
>>>
>>>Our home is on a concert slab - but it is high enough and never gets
>>>water on it.
>>>
>>>Harry
>>
>>
>>It is very easy to keep a wooden floor clean. I use a swivel-head
>>dust mop twice a week. However, if you live in the strand tracking in
>>sand can be a problem. In that case, removal of shoes before entering
>>the house can be the solution. Wooden floors are often recommended
>>for people with allergies.
>
>
> I would recommend that if there is sand, that the OP avoid the pre-finished
> flooring that has a bevel on each edge. I lived in a house with such a
> floor and every bit of debris found its way into the grooves. In an area
> with sand, this would be very bad.
>
>
One big difference with wood floors is that there is NO place for the
dirt to hide. Every hair that falls from your head,grain of sand or
crumb becomes an eyesore that stands high above the glossy plain of your
floor.

[Vox Humana]

"win-ho-lee" <whl@corrupt.gov> wrote in message
news:y-6dnZ2dnZ0Z9pDWnZ2dnXcqkN6dnZ2dRVn-y52dnZ0@taconic.net...

> One big difference with wood floors is that there is NO place for the
> dirt to hide. Every hair that falls from your head,grain of sand or
> crumb becomes an eyesore that stands high above the glossy plain of your
> floor.

I see that as an advantage. With carpeting, the crumbs, dirt, and dust
mites are all there, even if you can't see them. You will never be able to
remove all the dirt from carpeting because some of it works its way into the
pad and below to the subfloor. With a hard surface you can easily remove
the dirt and sanitize the floor with steam or chemicals. There is no
potential for odor retention. Once the floor is clean, it is like new.
Carpeting only gets worse and worse with time. I find that it takes only
minutes to go over the floor with a dust mop. Vacuuming the carpet takes
longer and is noisy and kicks-up a lot of dust that settles on your
furniture.

When we removed our carpeting I was horrified at the amount of dirt that had
worked its way into the padding and down to the subfloor. Also, with pets
there are occasional accidents. You can't totally clean-up pet accidents on
carpeting. Our dogs are housetrained, but they would vomit yellow bile-like
foam periodically the would permanently stain the carpet. Since replacing
the floor with laminate, they have stopped vomiting and they ear and skin
allergies have dramatically improved.

[Lobo]

"win-ho-lee" <whl@corrupt.gov> wrote in message
news:y-6dnZ2dnZ0Z9pDWnZ2dnXcqkN6dnZ2dRVn-y52dnZ0@taconic.net...
> One big difference with wood floors is that there is NO place for the dirt
> to hide. Every hair that falls from your head,grain of sand or crumb
> becomes an eyesore that stands high above the glossy plain of your floor.

Wood can be finished with a satin finish. Doesn't show the dust as
well...except when the sunset sunbeams are streaming across the floor ; )

I love our wood floors. Finishes are so good now that maintenance is easy.
Go to a commercial cleaning/restaurant supply place and get a really wide
dust mop ... like they use at half-time to dust the basketball floor. Or
get a Roomba.

We haven't been sick since we moved into this house (also has hot water heat
so there's no dust blowing around as with forced air).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Delete the obvious to reply to me personally.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[smithfarms pure kona]

On Wed, 24 Aug 2005 16:01:36 GMT, "Vox Humana" <vhumana@hotmail.com>
wrote:
lotsa snippage........
>
>"Harry" <harry@everhart.com> wrote in message
>news:harry-F04830.11443624082005@comcast.dca.giganews.com...
>>, I use a steam mop. I have the
>Eureka deluxe steam mop but there are a variety of such devices on
the
>market made by companies like DeLongi, etc. I like the steam mop
because it
>is self-contained like an upright sweeper, uses only water - not
chemicals,
>has no moving parts, makes no noise, and leaves the floor practically
dry.
>The cloths can be tossed into the wash and reused. For spot
cleaning, you
>could use a Swiffer wet mop or the Wet-Jet mop (or similar product).
>

We have sheet vinyl floors and a new puppy and it is our rainy season.
So the pup goes in and out through the cat door and I am finding it
nearly impossible to keep up with the sponge mop. The sponge mop is
crumbling quickly and I can't find anything hardier that I can use on
a daily ( sometimes twice daily) basis so...about this steam mop.
Could you use it daily? Is it a hassle to operate? Thanks for any
information!

aloha,
Thunder
smithfarms.com
Farmers of 100% Kona Coffee
& other Great Stuff