For those who wash floors by hand

How do you do it and what do you use?

Re: For those who wash floors by hand

For my Kitchen floors (laminate tile) I use a big bucket, a sponge, a rag and Mr. Clean all Surface cleaner.

For my hardwood floors I usually use water and a drop of oil soap with that big bucket again. I use a sponge - but no rag.

As to how? I put on a pair of old sweats, banish the husband and children and start working in areas of about 1 square foot each. For the laminate I use the sponge (very wet) to dampen and loosen the dirt and the rag to scrub up and residue or stubborn spots. For the wood floors I use just the sponge and only dampen it. I don't scrub too hard and I make certain that I rinse thoroughly so that I don't pick anything up on the sponge that might scratch the floor.

I scrub by hand no more than 2x a year because I am LAZY.

Re: For those who wash floors by hand

I admit my cleaning service does it, not me.

They wash the bathrooms and kitchen floors with a multi-surface cleaner. They wash my wood floors with Murphys Oil. They use sponges and/or rags as the PP explained.

Re: For those who wash floors by hand

my mother used to swear by using an old rag (which she cut from a 1/4 of an old body towel)
with a stick (like a broom stick).
She'd wet the towel with boiling water and a little bit of laundry detergent.
With the stick she would drag the wet rag over her tile floors (she'd do 4 at a time) and would be able to get into all the little corners& grooves, and rinse the rag out every so often.
She found this worked better and easier than washing on your hands and knees. (As you can imagine-her house was spotless!)

Message edited 3/10/2008 10:30:16 AM.

Re: For those who wash floors by hand

Being I worked in the rest. business, I'm all about bleach, laundry detergent & hot boiling water (no joke). I fill up a bucket with this and start scrubbing with a rough sponge. The I dump remainder of mixture and they soak up with white towels (that go right in the wash). Love it, floors aren't left sticky and because I know Bleach kills everything, I love it!! I do this in my kitchen floor (laminate), foyer (tile) and bathroom (laminate). Obviously I sweep first. Takes about 1 hour to do.

I do this once a month. I wear old sweats and have DH take doggie out for a long walk.

Message edited 3/10/2008 10:24:01 AM.

Re: For those who wash floors by hand

I have a pack of utility rags that I use.
I get a bucket of ammonia and water, put the rag in and get to work. (we have tile)
I just started doing this and I like it sooo much better that using a mop. The floors are much cleaner.
I alternate between using the mop and doing it by hand.