Cleaning & Landscaping Questions

A. I clean houses for a living and the person that told you about the water and vinegar in a spray bottlle is absolutely correct. It cleans very well and takes away residue build up and leaves a nice glow...and its cheap! Good luck on the crepes!

Try Murphy's Oil Soap on the floors, ours look great when we do that.

No clue on the crepe myrtle though.

Not sure about the crete myrtle, but I will tell you that Melaleuca's Tough and Tender mixed with half a capsule of Sol-U-Mel is wonderful! This will take away any build up. The other nice thing is that these are made from natural ingredients so it isn't leaving any harsh chemical build up. If you have any questions I would be glad to show you how you can get the products.

H. M.

I don't know about the crete myrtle. I have NO green in my thumb!

But I have a great fix for the floors. You can purchase it at Lowes or Home Depot in the flooring section. It comes in a green spray bottle and its made by Bruce. On the front of the bottle it says dura-luster, no-wax, Floor Cleaner. It also shows a picture of a "mop-type" cleaner you can purchase kind of like swifter, but much bigger and it works great. You can also purchase this kind of "mop" and additional washable fabric covers at Wal-Mart over in the brooms in the hardware section.
I have only laminate floors in my house and it's the only thing I use! Good luck!
N

I have tile an dlove my Swiffer Wet Jet but I use "Armstrong" for tough moppping jobs.

Hi A.,

I read the other requests about cleaning your laminate floor, and I don't think people realize exactly what laminate is! You cannot wet mop a laminate floor!! Please don't use a bucket of water & mop your floor with a cleaner (and NEVER put a wax on it!!).....laminate floors must be "damp" mopped.

I've had my Pergo floors for 8 years, and the best way I've found to clean them is the way the Pergo website suggests: 1 cup of vinegar in 1 gallon of water (I usually mix up 1/2 cup in 1/2 gallon of water for storage reasons). After vacuuming, put the mix in spray bottle, spray on the floor, and wipe with a flat dust mop. My dust mop has a removable terry cloth cover, but you can get them now with microfiber covers too.

I used a swiffer wet jet for a while too, and although it smells really nice, it left streaks and I felt the floor was a little sticky. The vinegar/water is completely streakless, and since the dilution is pretty high, the vinegar smell is minimal and dissipates quickly.

Crepe myrtles: we just lopped off last years branches over the weekend, so it should be OK to cut yours back as well.

:-) H.

Hi. I back up the Tough N tender and Sol-u-mel. Unbelievable -the best thing is that it does not use formadelhyde, abrasive cleaners or toxics. Sol-u-mel uses the highest concentracted dosage of tea tree oil which is what makes it so effective added as a booster to the Tough N Tender. The Tough N Tender reduces the surface tension of water so when you use it, it holds the dirt in suspension- so when you wipe it requires minimal amount strokes to pick up the dirt- again using ammonia or other abrasives. Private email me if you are interested in where to get these two products. Good luck

The swiffer had really dulled my floors as well! You can do a vinagar rinse (if you can stand the smell) and it should remove a lot of that filmy build up. I think the next thing is to be careful about what product you mop with and how much you use. I have switched to Shaklee Basic H2. I just spray it on the floor and use swiffer mop pads or use a rag mop (which really works best). Good luck.

I'm a "cleaning product junkie"... my new favorite for floors is a product call "Quick Shine" the great thing is you poor it directly onto the floor no mixing or measuring. You can use your Swifter to clean the floor and then with a sponge mop apply the Quick Shine... You can find Quick Shine at Walgreens.

You don't trim crepe myrtles after Feb. 26. So, yes it is too late now to do it. Be patient and trim them next year during Jan. and Feb.