Cleaning a Tile Floor

Funny you should post this (I'm gonna sound like a commercial) but last week we were bemoaning the hair on our floors and our struggles to keep control of it as the brooms and swifters just seem to move it around. We have a Chocolate lab and 2 cats all exclusively indoors and the hair blows like tumbleweeds across of tile and laminate floors. But we bought a rug rake at Petsmart last week (17 dollars) and OMG, it is wonderful!! There are little rubber nubby teeth on it and they have a little electromagnetic charge to them and it grabs the hair and makes little balls out of it. We run it thru the corners and pick things up. We bring it all to the middle of the room where it makes one BIG ball and just pick it up. We do the rugs too. It picks up everything- not just pet hair. (We are three girls in my house and we lose hair too!) It is also easy to rinse it off if you need to. Highly recommend it. We're using it every other night and it has made such a difference.

Hi J.,
I have tile floors in a large hall and kitchen, a hairy dog, a cat, a 12 yr old and a 3 yr old and a back yard full of dead grass. Needless to say my floors are digusting after a few days. What has worked for me after all these years is using the suction hose on my vacum and going around all the baseboards, corners and edges of carpet. That's where everything accumulates. It sounds like a hassle and it is but not as much as sweeping it all. Then I run the vacum over the middles of the floor. I recently bought a Shark steam mop. It works really well without all the chemicals. You do need to put some elbow grease into it though and then go over the edges with a wet towel b/c it collects lint and pushes it around, but it does get the dirt. Best of luck to you!!

J., we put tile floors in our house and I loved them. The installers told me to clean with vinegar water, which works beautifully (and cheap); I never swept, only used swifters or a cloth dust mop. Enjoy your lovely and healthy tile flooring.

Good Morning J., I am a grandmother too of 14 and most of them are pretty good about not making messes.. but this is what we do.. We have laminate floors and tile too.. I use to clean house for a long time, over 8 years..and I have used different vacs.. I personally use a shop vac in the house it gets the dog/cat hair up and don't throw around the dirt as some vacs do..I just vac and then put it away and use a swifter on my floors or mop them depends on how I feel as of that day..the tile in in our bedroom so it don't get really dirty and keep the grout lines clean is a big job if in the kitchen or busy part of the house.. there is a steam mop I forget who makes it that is suppose to work I have not used it... good luck and many blessings on the grandchildren, Have fun with them...S.

I bought a iRobot Scooba (like the rumba for carpets) that is made just for hard floors. I have tile throughout the entire house and two dogs. This is great! It cleans and picks up, just charge it and let it go. I do block the rooms while cleaning so it will stay in one room to complete the area, but other than that... it's great! Good luck!

Hi J. I have a swifer to mop the floors with I still have to sweep but when I love mopping with swifer. It picks up what dog hair and dust that was left behind. It sticks to the swifer pad. I saw that swifer in making a vaccum for floors so that can take the place of having to sweep floors. Hope this helps.
S.
A little about me I have been married for 11 years we have 4 children a boy 10 and 3 girls 7, 2,and 1. We recenty became childrens pastors and I have an online travel biz. I enjoy making hair Bows and Jewelry so I sell them on the side

I see you have many responses, but thought I would add one more. I use (and have for 17 yrs) a canister type vacum. They are hard to find sometimes. I found my last one at Home Depot, you can find them on line too. They are reasonably priced and work great for me. I vacum, mop and done.

A cheap little stick vac w/o the beater brush works better on tile floors, it's the beater brush that throws things around. (If your big vacuum has a setting for hard floors try that ( It turns the beater off) to wash i just use a swiffer wet with the bottle on board. Love it and it is so easy! It makes you want to wash your floors!

I use a swiffer for dusting the floor (dog hair catcher) and then a Shark steam mop - love them both!

I sell the carpet rake and two stick vacs at my store. The Vacuum Shop in Round Rock at South Towne Plaza on S. Mays, just north of Gattis School Rd. Call for directions. I also rent a floor scrubber that turns circular that cleans grout. You can put bleach water, vinegar and water or detergent while using a floor scrubber. There are hard bristles that do the cleaning... However, what color was your grout to begin with. Sometimes, builders use gray which gets darker over time.
Hope this helps...