Hardwood floor cleaning

[sillygoosegirl]

DH just put a big scratch it MIL's kitchen floor trying to vacuum it. Even though they've had hardwoods for like 8 years, they evidently don't own a hardwood safe vacuum. MIL says she normally sweeps them and it would never have occurred to her to vacuum hardwoods.

I grew up with hardwoods, and have had them in a couple apartments. I've always vacuumed without a problem. I was vaguely aware that not all vacuums are safe for hardwoods, but I figured after 8 years surely whatever vacuum they owned would be safe for hardwoods! Maybe this is why MIL always says the hardwoods are hard to take care of.

MIL isn't upset, or if she is she isn't showing it. This is their second house with hardwoods and these ones weren't in great shape when they moved in, but DH is kind of upset at himself.

Anyway, now I'm curious if it's common to sweep rather than vacuum hardwood floors. I think MIL is nuts, obviously. And no, she doesn't sweep because she has too much time on her hands. Most of the time she neither vacuums nor sweeps anywhere in the house, including the kitchen.

[rubytue]

We always vacuumed our hardwoods without the brush spinning Actually, we vacuum every floor. I'll use the spinning brush on tile sometimes. I like to think it scrubs it a bit.

And what the heck is the name of that brush?!

[sillygoosegirl]

He switched the attachment to what claimed to be in "floor mode" rather than "carpet mode." We couldn't find anything sharp on the underside of it. It seems like with where the wheels were (middle and back), it must have hit the wood with the front corner of the plastic head or something. Nothing else seemed like it could have done it.

[dexteroni]

We mostly sweep with a broom / swiffer, but we do vacuum sometimes. If you keep up with it regularly, a vacuum usually isn't required. Plus a vacuum doesn't get the tiniest dust-size particles, and it doesn't get all the dog hair.

[h]

We don't vacuum our hardwoods. I find sweeping/swiffering to be more effective and easier than getting out the vacuum, and I do worry some about the vacuum scratching the floors even in floor mode. My parents have had hardwoods my whole life, in several different houses, and they have always just swept. My MIL doesn't vacuum her hardwoods, either. I would have thought that most people sweep or swifter rather than vacuum.

[Deleted]

we have had hardwoods for two years - we have never vacuumed them.

we sweep them regularly and steam them for a deep clean.

[definitelyO]

I sweep, swiffer, mop my hardwood floors. I've never used a vacuum on them (and they are the entire first floor of the house)

[dexteroni]

Jul 7, 2012 13:01:37 GMT -5 @fivedogs said:

We have too many dogs to use a swiffer - I would have to change it every 10 feet.

If it's been a few days, I'll sometimes do a first run with a paper towel to catch most of the fur, then the swiffer cloth gets the rest and does the actual dusting. But as long as I do it every other day a swiffer cloth is fine. We only have two dogs, though.

[picaflora]

We use a swiffer most of the time. It works way better on getting up the dog hair than a vacuum. If DH brings in a bunch of dirt or grass from the yard I'll run the vacuum over that spot, and they get mopped with Murphy's every 3ish weeks or so.

[chessie]

Jul 7, 2012 15:58:48 GMT -5 dexteroni said:

Jul 7, 2012 13:01:37 GMT -5 @fivedogs said:

We have too many dogs to use a swiffer - I would have to change it every 10 feet.

If it's been a few days, I'll sometimes do a first run with a paper towel to catch most of the fur, then the swiffer cloth gets the rest and does the actual dusting. But as long as I do it every other day a swiffer cloth is fine. We only have two dogs, though.

Simple, a vacuum that can handle dog hair and use it every other day to keep hair in check. Swifer is not made to handle hair at all.

[chessie]

We vacuum them with the dyson animal on a regularly basis every 2 days maybe? For quick clean ups swifer..but for more intense clean with the bissel dry/wet vacuum made to deep clean all surfaces. Swifer does a crappy job cleaning, for a little spill its fine. We have 2 dogs, and the hair is nuts, we are always vacuuming with helps keep the floors clean. Every few months we will do a hand scrub to get even deeper clean.

[thedash]

I don't vacuum our hardwoods but I do vacuum the big area rugs and then use the attachment to suck any dust bunnies from under furniture and the corners of the room. Then I clean the wood with Bona cleaner and a damp microfiber cloth. I rinse out the cloth 3-4 times in the course of cleaning my medium sized living and dining room.

[dexteroni]

Jul 7, 2012 16:10:49 GMT -5 chessie said:

Simple, a vacuum that can handle dog hair and use it every other day to keep hair in check. Swifer is not made to handle hair at all.

Huh? The Swiffer does a great job of picking up fur. And it gets dust and little particles way better than the vacuum.

[chessie]

Jul 7, 2012 16:22:25 GMT -5 dexteroni said:

Jul 7, 2012 16:10:49 GMT -5 chessie said:

Simple, a vacuum that can handle dog hair and use it every other day to keep hair in check. Swifer is not made to handle hair at all.

Huh? The Swiffer does a great job of picking up fur. And it gets dust and little particles way better than the vacuum.

Never found that case here, our entire house is hardwoods and tile. We have two large dogs, bringing in dust, hay, and other stuff. Before the Dyson i was sweeping 2-4 times a day dog hair. Swiffer pushes the dirt around, never really picked it up is what I have found. If it works for you great, for me never has.

[dancingirl21]

We have dark hardwoods that were put in brand new before we moved in, so they were in perfect condition. I vacuumed with a stick vacuum that said it was safe for hardwoods, but noticed that the wheels were making very small, light scratches. We quickly switched to a sweeping/swiffering routine and do a damp rag mop when needed (probably every other month). I will say we don't currently have kids or pets and we are very careful with our floors since they are nearly flawless, so I'm very curious what will happen when kids/pets enter the picture.

[lys]

If your MIL is nuts, then so am I. I sweep and then damp mop with water only.

[CloudBee]

Hardwood safe vacuum? I have never heard of such a thing. I grew up vacuuming hardwood floors, and now do so in my own home. I didn't realize some of the vacuums out there would scratch. I vacuum, and Swiffer maybe once a month to get the dust out of the corners.

[Deleted]

I know you didn't ask, but Bona makes a product that may repair the scratch.