Adventures in floor care

[beltainelady]

I made the mistake of using Orange-Glo on my laminate floors. It looked nice and clean at first...and then the haze showed up. After doing some research, I bought a bottle of Awesome cleaner from the Dollar Tree and went to work at stripping off the residue.

It's taken three days and countless hours of scrubbing, mopping, rinsing and shuffling around with towels on my feet. The floors look better, but there's still a hint of the haze. I figure I can keep using the Awesome stuff until the haze is gone and then go back to using good old vinegar and water. You should have SEEN the gray crap I was scraping off the floor! Good thing I hadn't been using it for years.

Well, at least I got in my workout for the Biggest Loser challenge I'm doing on FB. *sigh*

Comments

[wild-heart.livejournal.com]

What the hell happened? Did the Orange-Glo melt a few layers of whatever finish is on the laminate?

We've got old hardwood floors that desperately need refinishing. All I use is ammonia and warm water - everything else leaves a haze. The worst, however, is if I'm using some kind of spray furniture polish and any of it mists onto the floor. It gets so slippery that you can easily wind up taking a spill or twisting an ankle.

Meanwhile, I constantly pull large splinters out of my feet. :-(

[beltainelady.livejournal.com]

The Orange-Glo ended up being more of a wax than a cleaner. It left a build-up of goo that turned hazy. And when you have little puppy footprints all over, it looks dirty.

I'm going to go back to vinegar and water, and use the pad that came with the Orange-Glo. At least the mop is useful.

[wild-heart.livejournal.com]

Let me give you Ruth's anal-retentive Tip for Floor Care. ;-)

I'm funny about mopping floors. I mean, really. As soon as you put the mop to the floor and then back into your mop water, your water is now dirty.

I use a Swiffer mop for my floors. Yes, the fairly cheap kind that you get in the market. I do NOT use the Swiffer wet pads because they're disgusting and stinky and leave a film.

You know those big packs of microfiber cloths you can buy in places like Walmart or Sam's Club (Sam's Club has the best price by far)? I fill a bucket with hot water and ammonia and put a bunch of the microfiber clothes in it. I have a separate bucket/plastic tub to the side. Grab a cloth, wring out most of the water, attach to Swiffer mop thingus just like you do the dry mop sheets. Wash a section of the floor. Drop the now dirty microfiber cloth into the second bucket. Repeat. Use an old towel to mop up any extra water. When done, toss the cloths and towels into the washer.

If you've got stubborn spots, corners, base molding, or whatever that needs a little scrubbing, well, you've got a whole bunch of cloths ready to go.

[beltainelady.livejournal.com]

LOL. I'm the same way about using a mop. The Orange Glo came with a washable pad, and I have one of those microfiber cloths as well. I've actually found some patterns for knitting reusable pads for a Swiffer as well!

Since I can't use ammonia on the laminate, I'll be doing essentially the same thing but with vinegar.