Any Suggestions???? Need Help

[laundrymom]

Maybe a bit larger rug by the door?

[Cat Herder]

I use a Shark bagless Vacuum for hardwoods and the swiffer wet jet for daily mopping. The swiffer solution refills were kind of pricey so I fill a spay bottle with diluted Lysol and spray the floors by hand. (the swiffer sweeper refills work great for dusting by hand, too)

I do have the huge commercial mop and rolling cart, but use it only on Fridays.

I have Golden's, no carpet, DH, 4 cats and 3 teens so my home sounds similar.

I do have the tennis balls on my kitchen chairs to keep the teens from scarring up the wood when they slam the chairs around or scoot them back.

I had the gliders but if the big kids/teens tip the chairs in the least (and they will ) they break off. I even tried the ones you nail into the leg itself and the plastic sections broke away from the nail leaving the nail head to carve a chunk out of my floor in two places.

I do wish you good luck, though. It is a never ending battle...

[countrymom]

I too have a small entry way, I think you need to buy a better rug. Also, everyone knows that you can't step off the mat with your shoes on. I have that little vaccume from walmart, its awesome, but I get tired of cleaning and sweeping all the time.

[MyAngels]

All i can tell you is that my hard surface floors are the exact same way! I sweep my kitchen/dining area atleast 3 times a day. My dog's hair also collects on chair legs!
My only suggestion for the dog hair would be to be diligent about brushing your dog so they don't shed as much hair. With that being said, I don't do that, so don't know if it would really make a difference or not.
No advice, but know that you are not alone

Brushing your dogs will definitely help. We had a golden retriever who shed like crazy, so we started having him groomed regularly and field cut (that's a short cut for anyone who doesn't know). It made a huge difference in the amount of hair in the house.

[dEHmom]

Brushing your dogs will definitely help. We had a golden retriever who shed like crazy, so we started having him groomed regularly and field cut (that's a short cut for anyone who doesn't know). It made a huge difference in the amount of hair in the house.

i have a golden and he almost never sheds.
i hear shedding has something to do with lack of certain things in their foods (omega???) some dogs can eat garbage food and be healthy enough, and others can eat good quality food and still lack certain things.

it's our short haired dog that sheds. it's strange.
my golden loses a few hairs here and there.


strangest thing.....my living room smells like my husbands nasty ass socks. he is not home, and i cannot find a stray sock anywhere. WTF!!!!

[daycare]

I used to have african slate flooring.. I lived in a very dusty area and had similare issues as you are having.

I know this sounds weird, but i used to run a huge box fan in the dusty are of the house so that it would all blow to one corner of the house. So instead of having to sweep non stop everywhere I only had to sweep up in that one area it blew too...

[ammama]

I have a dog and cat too, who both shed terribly. I have just started swiffering several times a day - I leave it out in the open, and either I, or one of the dck's sweep up. They love using it

I have thought about getting a roomba, but I heard they really didn't last long. After some of your reviews, maybe i'll try to pick one up from Kijiji.

[Blackcat31]

If you get a Roomba you can serve two purposes at once....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebhDbvnLdDE

[dEHmom]

i bought one of those dollar store swiffer style heads, and then attached it to a spare broom handle i had. i make sure there's a clean cloth attached, and the daycare kids always sweep up for me.

and i agree with pp who said they make great dusting clothes. that's what i use too. although i buy the great value brand clothes, not the actual swiffer brand.

i used to love my swiffer wet jet for quick tidyups but when the economy went south it was just too expensive, especially since the dcks and my own kids always loved spraying the thing. i too also just mix my own lysol and water in a spray bottle for counter cleaning, and floor cleaning and just wipe it up with the mop after.

i have an old kitchen floor. it's the ones with all the dimples in it. my dad informed me that when they started those floors there was a machine you could rent/buy that spun and cleaned all the dirt out of the dimples. when we moved in, the floor was flat, no dimples. i always just assumed the brown/black specks on the floor was part of the coloring (brown flooring with black speckles). looked like it. then one day i had to scrub with a hard bristle brush a bottle of syrup that was dumped out. and then i discovered it wasn't flat, it was dimples, and the dirt had just caked in there over so many years (previous to us buying the house) that it never came clean.
the swiffer does not do a good cleaning job for a deep clean, just surface cleaning.

[Michael]

Make sure you have both an outside hard bristle door mat and an inside absorbant door mat.

Patio Coco Coir Doormat - Heavy Duty Outdoor Mats



Mr Brush Step Door Mat



iRobot Roomba 4210 Discovery Vacuuming Robot

[PeanutsGalore]

I have all hardwoods and tile and no entryway at all. No shoes on the floor, PERIOD, END OF DISCUSSION! And it's still a neverending task to keep the floors moderately clean, but I recently purchased the shark vac then steam machine, and it works wonders.

It's a lightweight (and v. cute!) vac specifically for non-carpeted floors and will not work on carpet at all, but it picks up all the fine dirt and dust tracked in on hardwoods that seems to just move from one spot to another when you sweep. To steam the floors, you stick a plate with a really super-absorbent cotton pad on the bottom, poor water in, and get to it.

I do the house thoroughly once a month, high-traffic areas thouroughly once a week, and spot clean as necessary. My bare feet have never been so clean. The machine is made of awesome. $149 on sale at Sears, and you can pick up a service contract for about $20 to replace it if it breaks. Well worth the price.

I'm one of those rare people who think that animals belong outside, so I can't help you with the dog issue. The laser-trick sounds fun, though!

eta: water is usually said to damage hardwoods, but the steam dries super-quick, so no issue. If you have really old hardwood floors with a wax finish though, that might not work with the steam. Modern day finishes are fine with it.