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Our entire downstairs is tile and hardwood and it's a beast to clean. We just finished our first family Christmas in our home with the whole family over as well. We have had gatherings and parties before but always ended up cursing at the tools we used. We had a sponge type mop that pushed the crud around, wiped with a towel on hand and knee, used a squirt type of push mop and then onto the Swiffer WetJet. I was able to actually pry off the bottle cap they provide so we could use our own mixture of cleaner but again it still streaked and pushed crud around instead of cleaned it up.
So I went to Kohl's yesterday and picked up a Hoover Floormate after much debate and research. With our gift cards, 20% off, and Kohl's Cash I got a great deal and picked it up for under $100. It's a simple click together assembly of the handle and front squeegee and came with a bottle of solution and a pack of surface wipes which work really well on cabinets and other things.
I started off with our Dyson to get a good suck on the loose stuff. Even though the FM has a vacuum feature it doesn't get deep into corners and lacks the power of the Dyson, going forward I'll just use the Fm for the quick suck up jobs before cleaning. Now onto the Floormate, just a turn of the big dial and your on your way. I set it to wash and the little scrubbers rotated and a pull of the trigger released cleaner as I went back and forth overlapping slightly. I got a system of passing an area with the wash trigger then back over with it off to just scrub. Then flip the switch to dry and watch it pull the leftover liquid off the floor. They dried very quickly once done and I did the entire downstairs in about 45 minutes. I had to fill the solution container 3 times and empty the bucket twice. It has an auto shutoff and it all rinses clean easily once done.
The results were amazing! No streaks, no leftover residue, no dirty spots or crud left anywhere. I should have just bought this machine in the first place but it was a learning experience. I am recommending this product to anyone with large expanses of hard floors like we have, it is totally worth every penny but search around because you can get a good deal.
Is there any concern of scratching HW floors with the little brushes?
I did a serious check on the floors after using it because of this concern. I saw no noticeable scratching or tearing up of the wood afterwards. Our family room and dining/living room are wood and all other floors are tile. The machine also has rubber wheels instead of plastic. But the bristles are not super course and are barely in contact with the floor so they do not really scrape along hard, just enough to get the surface.
It's not a tool I would use every single time on the wood as wood is very resilient and most of the time a good vacuum is enough to clean it. So I will use it on the tile always and only occasionally on wood once in awhile to get a good clean.
We had one of these at our old house. Our old neighbors put it out with their last bit of trash when they moved, it was brand new - still in the box. It had never been out of the box. All of the styrofoam, plastic wrap, packing tape, and other packaging materials was intact. I don't understand some people. Anyway, we had a split-level house and the entire lower level was ceramic tile. It worked great. We actually left it behind when we moved, accidentally. I was in a tiny downstairs closet all by itself and we forgot to pack it with the rest of our stuff.
I'm working on my second Hoover FloorMate. I wore the first one out after about 4 years and 2 houses. The new one is like the design above which kind of disappointed me as the water/solution tank is smaller as is the pickup tank than the original FloorMate so you have to fill it up/empty it more often. Still beats hands and knees scrubbing, though. I have tile and laminate flooring through the whole house and use it on both with no problems.
Just an FYI, after you run out of the original solution, you can use a mixture of white vinegar and water in the tank. I just fill up the little measuring thing with vinegar and add it to the water. Much cheaper than the solution.
I have been very pleased with the Shark steam mop. I bought it about 2 or 3 years ago; it was about $60 on sale came with 2 of the washable cloth covers. I do have a dog and I do need to vacuum or sweep first usually, but it cleans well and dries within a minute which is the best part. I recently bought replacement/additional cloth heads but these new ones are the ones that look almost like a shag carpet and although I expected them to clean better, they don't. They are ok, but the flatter weave microfiber are better at scrubbing. I just use tap water in mine.
I agree about the Hoover FloorMate. My house is all porcelain tile (because I adopt only older dogs) and I went through many different floor cleaners until I found the FloorMate. It's awesome and (important for me) almost goof-proof.
I am assuming these types of cleaners are for large surfaces. I live in a tiny cottage and have to get on my hands and knees to get around furniture, etc.
Do you move all of your furniture to get the entire floor clean?
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