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Newbie living with hardwood floors
The Wolfman
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So all my life in all the houses I've ever lived in, there was always carpet betwixt my toes. I've recently did a big cross country move, and everywhere here, including the place we now live, has hardwood floors. The first new bit of trivia I've learned about hardwood floors is that after walking barefoot on them for even 5 minutes, my feet become hilariously caked in crud (seriously, how the F is there this much stuff on the floor?!). I've started wearing socks, but that just sort of transfers the problem to dirty socks. I've bought a swiffer wet mop, but it still feels like I have to be cleaning these floors twice a day. Whereas I'm more accustomed to vacuuming once a week. Another nice thing we've had to deal with is the fact that our beds are on casters. Which means they can move if you turn hard enough in your sleep. We've gotten past this problem well enough with just intelligent bed positioning, like in a corner or next to dressers.
I really do like these floors though, and I am learning and adjusting. But does anybody have any tips/tricks/life lessons for dealing with them? I'm very much a babe in the woods when it comes to them.
I really do like these floors though, and I am learning and adjusting. But does anybody have any tips/tricks/life lessons for dealing with them? I'm very much a babe in the woods when it comes to them.
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Depending on where you are, area rugs can also be really nice in the winter, bare feet on cold wood floors do not make for happy feet times.
Do you know where the crud is coming from? Like, are you tracking dirt in from outside? Is there a lot of dust in the air? You just did a cross country move, is this dust accumulated from moving boxes of stuff in and emptying them? Pets?
If you can figure out how the floors are getting dirty, you can work to minimize that.
Congrats on now being able to travel by sock slides through your home though.
I'd recommend dry mops because dust will accumulate on the floor if you leave it wet.
Speaking of leaving it wet, start thinking of how to protect hardwood floors around the kitchen and bathroom. It's not good design but some houses go overboard with the coverage. Humidity warps wood. Looks like this may be a problem for you, so:
Area rugs and towels in the bathroom and kitchen are a must.
Get drying salts for the bathroom and leave the door open as much as possible
Mop and dry water spills immediately regardless of finish, especially if they reach the wall corner
Find out what finish is used for your flooring. Some finishes will have to be reapplied more frequently, and they come with a warranty usually. If your floor is always sticky your finish sucks. Get a flooring professional to evaluate it.
Also the cleaner you should use with hardwood floors varies based on the finish. My parents used vinegar and water a lot and it wasn't appropriate and caused minor warping and ruined the finish.
Summary: find out what your finish is and get cleaning advice from a flooring professional based on that.
My expertise: I am not a flooring professional but I helped my parents hardwood refloor 3 houses as part of owner renovation and it sucked
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The wet mop we have is one of those swiffer ones that says it's designed for wood floors. It doesn't actually spray out a lot of liquid, mostly just enough to get the bottom wet, and the floor is dry within seconds. But we'll definitely keep an eye out for excessive moisture. I should also mention this is Atlantic Canada and we're right on the Bay of Fundy. So the average humidity is like... 100%.
The throw rugs idea though is a great one, thanks!
We also briefly considered saying "fuck it" and carpeting the place. But everyone we've talked to has said that's not the best of ideas. And after a month, I'm inclined to agree. Our old place was a condo on the second floor, so anything you could possibly track in has to go through multiple hallways before it could ever get inside. Here we have an actual lawn outside, and I've spotted damn near everything out there, like crickets, grasshoppers, spiders, snails... and a dead skunk behind the shed that's been there for who knows how long. Fun times.
Some tips to make your life easier, things like a Roomba tend to work well for the daily cleaning stuff. You will still want a soft bristle broom for weekly cleaning followed by a flat mop. I use the Bona liquid products with a flat mop to clean my hardwood after sweeping and they get stains, streaks, and all the stuff the broom misses well.
Every so often, if you want your floors to shine, get a damp towel and go back and forth along the direction of the planks.
Broom and Bona. One is very cheap, the offer is not but worth it. Could go Roomba or just sweep at least by all eating areas daily.
Also more area rugs - usually under all big furniture that people are at; beds, couches, tables.
If you have cables on the floor or furniture that doesn't provide enough clearance (3-4") then there may areas that don't get swept.
Also, as they are robots, you will want to check them occasionally to make sure things like hair or string hasn't gotten wound up in the gearing.
Just out of curiosity, the friend that thought you were odd when you took your shoes off, is she Canadian? I always thought of "shoes off indoors" as a pretty universal (or at least universally-understood) value across the country, but maybe I'm giving it too much credit.
And like I said, over there a lot of places have carpeting, while over here it's hardwood floors.
For hardwood floors I’d invest in flip flops. For me it’s not about keeping my feet clean, it’s about soreness. Other drawbacks of hardwood are that it scratches (so lift don’t drag), it gets cold and you loose soundproofing. It however looks much nicer.
Area rugs can keep furniture in place and if not using a rug for items like chairs you may want to put felt stickers on the leg bottoms (available at the dollar store).
I was a little suprirsed about the cleanliness comments as hardwood is much cleaner overall than carpet. For me personally, I find carpet disgusting. Long term you can’t keep carpet clean and you start to get unseen mold underneath.
If you're having dirt probelms with parquet floors (ie, you need to clean more often than every week or so) there are two things:
1. A carpet in every room (except the kitchen, because anything but a thin machine-washable rug in the kitchen is disgusting). Having a carpet under the table will both save the table and function as a dust sponge. Likewise a carpet next to the bed in the bedroom can both be a nice thing for your bare feet on a cold morning, but will do the same thing. Like so
2. Check doors and windows so that your house is properly isolated. If you have a gap under the door or around the windows the dynamics with hot/cold air will push in dust from outside. Also check the ventilation filters.
If you tick those two boxes you can clean every two weeks or so if you don't mind dust in the corners. Every 3 days if you do mind, and even so the mid-week cleaning can be with a vacuum cleaner instead of vacuum+mopping.
P.S: Just mopping isn't going to solve anything. Without vacuuming prior to mopping it's usually just pushing the lighter dust into the air, which will settle back down in a few hours or so.
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Finish is important to consider. There is a chance, some of the dirt you see is the floor finish rubbing off on your socks. This happens in my parents house now because we've washed the floor so often the finish wore off. (My dad probably has OCPD.)
Do you walk through the house with food? Containing food to one area will mean that less dirt particles get places. Then you only need to clean that area regularly. For example, my family vacuumed the kitchen every night after dinner, but only did the rest of the house once a week.
When you wipe off counter tops, are you pushing dirt onto the floor, or into your hand? I know a lot of people who wipe onto the floor. This, obviously, creates more dirt.
Do you leave windows open, is your home drafty, and do you live in or near a city? Cities produce inherently more dirt. When I was living in Chicago, if my roommate left the windows open there'd be black dirt all over everything and there was just no keeping it clean unless the windows were shut.
Finally, I second everything about vacuuming, then moping. Mopping really doesn't do much unless you vacuum first, or at least sweep.
Oh, and sometimes it's good to do a just-water mop after you mop with Bona, because it gets the cleaner off and any leftover dirt too. Brushing yourself off after doing yardwork is also important. That stuff gets everywhere otherwise. And some air filters will actually help with the dirt.