I should have an answer to this by now, but I don’t. I think the sponge at the end of the stick-type kitchen mops just push the dirt around. I use a string mop that I wring out in the sink, but that leaves a bunch of water and soap on the floor that I end up soaking up with an old bath towel. This is messy and tedious as all get out.
All I want is a clean kitchen/bathroom floor. Dopers, how do you accomplish this?
Downstairs we have laminate (fake wood) floors. I usually vacuum (or let the Roomba do it), then dry mop with a washable dust mop, the exact model of which I can’t find online for some reason. Then I change to a clean pad (important!) and use a spray on cleaning product, (spray a few sq metres, mop, move on). Sometimes I use a specific floor spray, or sometimes whatever I have on hand.
That sounds like a lot of work, but our area is small. I split it up over several days. The pads just go in the laundry. I think any hard floors could be cleaned this way.
I have a string mop that gets wrung out in a basket-type gizmo that sits atop its mating bucket. It works like a charm with zero mess. I’ll see if I can find a picture.
ETA: Kinda like this, but not Rubbermaid quality.
When I worked in a restaurant once, one of the bakers gave me a short lesson in how to use a string mop, after seeing me just push it back and forth. He taught me to move it in figure-eight patterns, starting from the wall and moving towards the middle of the room. The idea was that any loosened dirt, bits of food or whatever could be collected in one spot.
Edited to add, but in my apartment now, I generally use Swiffer wet cloths to mop the floor.
If you’re really serious about getting your floor clean, do one pass with a fairly wet mop with the appropriate amount of detergent. Then dump your mop water, rinse out your mop, and refill the mop bucket with clean water and re-mop the floor as a rinse.
Swiffer disposables for me. I know it’s all bad for the landfills and stuff, but with two cats and my ability to drip stuff while cooking, the amount of water to clean a reusable mop would be even less environmentally friendly.
Too much soap? It’s really the mechanical action and the water that’s doing the cleaning. Try less?
I also sometimes use a damp Magic Eraser with my foot as I’m mopping, when I come across a drip or smear. It helps to be familiar with this product, which can be a bit delicate/finicky.
I clean houses every day, and we use many different things. We use flat mops at times depending on the type of floor and level of soil. The most effective method is cleaning it on hands and knees, as you can really get down and scrub and wipe everything away, particularly on tile floors with large and deep grout lines. However, that’s hard on a body. A little known mop that is fantastic is the O’Cedar Microfiber Cloth Mop. I’d link to it from Amazon, but don’t know if that is allowed here and I’m new so I don’t want anyone to think negatively of such. Anyway, I posted it as you can find it there. It cleans great with the ease of a regular string mop and the cleaning ability of microfiber strands. The mop handle is light too.
If you are getting a buildup on your floor, chances are you’re using too much product. Stay away from products that are supposed to leave behind anything that supposedly protects or shines. Honestly, simply using water isn’t bad. Steamers are okay, but you have to be careful of what you use them on and how long you leave it in one spot. Then again, one of the benefits of steamers are supposed to be the germ killing qualities of steam, yet it may not be advisable to keep the steamer in any one spot long enough to make the temperatures on the surface of the object being cleaned hot enough to actually kill anything. We also found them to leave streaks when we tried them in the past because clients insisted on their use.
Just a few tips for whatever they are worth to you.
I use my swiffer mop but with reusable microfiber cloths. Laminate floors. I dunk the cloth in a large bowl of hot hot water with a cup of white vinegar and a few drops of dish soap. Wring out cloth, and put onto swiffer, tucking into the pinchy corner things.
Mop a bit until the cloth gets nasty. Remove from swiffer, rinse in sink and resoak in vinegar soap water. Reattatch to swiffer and keep mopping.
I can also use the cloths in the swiffer dry, as dust mops or to dry the floor. They go right in the laundry to get clean.
I have vinyl floors and hated the buildup that I was getting from commercial floor detergents. The best solution I found was a sprayer type mop with a removable micro-fiber cloth. I simply soak the cloth with white vinegar before mopping. I also fill the spray bottle on the mop with vinegar and as the mop cloth dries, spritz some more vinegar in front of it. Vinegar is distilled so it doesn’t leave a buildup on the floor and it’s pretty effective at sterilizing. After mopping, I remove the micro fiber mop pad, rinse the vinegar out of it, and throw it in the washing machine.White vinegar is relatively cheap at Walmart if bought in gallon jug sizes.
If I was the type to feel ashamed that my husband does the floors (and so much more) I would but I am not the type, but I love him to bits and appreciate it because my back just wouldn’t handle mopping and vacuuming any more.
Take your forty bucks, and offer it to someone who will mop the floor for you. Unless your negotiation skills are hopeless, you should be able to get a few other miscellaneous items of housework done, as well, over the course of a couple of hours.
I use bleach and water with a scrubbing brush on my knees maybe once a year. The rest of the time I use a mop and bucket with a little lemongrass scented tile cleaner. It looks pretty clean, until I decide it’s time for the bleach again and then it becomes obvious how much crap has built up.