Entries Tagged as 'Flooring'

Linoleum Lament

October 14th, 2008 6 Comments

Dear Home Ec 101,
I was hoping you could help me with a cleaning problem I have been having lately.  I can’t get my floors clean!  No matter if I wash the floor on my hands and knees or if I use a mop, there’s still a dirt residue that will not go away.  I usually use Clorox clean-up with bleach (1/4-ish c.) diluted in a bucket of water, since that’s what my mom used when I was growing up.
 
The floor been like this since I moved in, despite my cleaning.  It’s a beige/tan colored linolium floor, so the dirtyness is not visibly noticable until you walk over it wearing a pair of light colored socks.  Please let me know if you have any suggestions… cleaning techniques, cleaners, etc.
Signed,
The Girl with Grocery Feet

Heather says:

Linoleum can be great and affordable flooring and cute if you are after retro look, not that we are biased or anything. However, it requires the same care as hardwood. Use doormats or throw rugs and sweep daily. The sand and grit that is tracked in on people’s shoes causes tiny nicks and scratches in your linoleum. These scratches are the perfect place for dirt to accumulate.

Don’t use bleach or products containing bleach to clean linoleum. The high pH can actually damage the flooring. For regular cleaning damp mop with, drum roll please, diluted vinegar.  However, it sounds like you have a buildup on your flooring that may need several steps to remedy. Not to worry, if you do this once you won’t need to repeat the process for 12 – 18 months. 

First, carefully sweep your floor. Then mop with a very dilute solution of hot water and detergent (I like original Dawn dish detergent, but it’s up to you). The detergent will help get the dirt out of those crevices. Next mop the floor a second time, but switch to diluted vinegar, this will remove any detergent residue. Finally Armstrong, a leading linoleum manufacturer, recommends using an acrylic floor polish. The polish will help fill some of those nicks and scratches that are the source of your dirty socks. It’s very important to have very clean floors before using the polish or you will simply be sealing the dirt to your floor.

Good luck!

Submit your domestic questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

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Laminate Lament

March 31st, 2008 2 Comments

Dear Home-Ec 101,

Hi! I hope you lovely gals can help me…

My husband and I are remodeling a house, and we installed laminate, faux wood floors. We probably did it backwards, because since installing the floors, we’ve had plumbers and tilers in…and now the floors are filthy! We need advice on how to clean them. The manufacturer (Shaw *cough*) were of no help at all; they provided no tips other than encouraging us to buy their “special” laminate-cleaning product. They never addressed the fact that we’re talking about a lot of dust, drywall, and grime here. You can’t get laminate flooring fully wet, so regular mopping is out. We have a layer of remodeling dust that seemingly won’t be phased by a broom and Swiffer Wet. Also, we’re talking about an entire houseful of laminate flooring. Can you help?

Laminerd

Ivy says:

I’ve used several methods to clean my laminate flooring and I don’t have a clear favorite way to clean them. It seems to get randomly streaky even with methods I’ve used before that worked just fine. I know, weird. Here are the two methods I’ve used that seem to work the best, though.

For really dirty floors, first vacuum thoroughly using the bare floor setting on your vacuum cleaner. Then get a mop bucket, rags,  and well diluted vinegar.   Get down on your hands and knees to wash and dry the floor. Just make sure you’re wringing out the wet rag thoroughly so it’s not soaking wet. If the floor is particularly grimy be prepared to go through a few rags.  Some wet is fine, though, since you’re immediately wiping the floor dry – just be sure not to get it soaking wet. The only problem I’ve had with this is sometimes the floor ends up streaky. I’ve heard it’s because of the hard water in my area, so if you live in a hard water area, try using distilled water.

The other thing I’ve found that works really well is Windex. My only concern is while it works for my flooring, it may not for yours- test an inconspicuous spot before doing the whole floor. I’ve found that Windex works really well, without leaving streaks.  During mud season, when my floors are really dirty, I’ll do the vinegar and water routine and then go over it with Windex to keep the streakies away.

Good luck!

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Vacuuming Practices

November 29th, 2007 4 Comments

Dear Home-Ec 101,

I’m curious to know what’s the best vacuum for someone with long hair and a cat that has short hair. I’ve got a nice Kenmore canister vac, but my hair bogs up the roller constantly. And I ain’t cuttin’ my hair.

Signed,

Lovely With Long Hair

retrochick.JPGIvy says:

Back when I had really long hair, I had the same problem.  I have several suggestions, perhaps one of them will work best for you. What I did when I had this problem was to sweep the floor with a broom first before vacuuming to get most of the hair up. Sure, it’s a pain, but it really works to keep the long hair out of the vacuum cleaner.

If that’s too much of a pain and you have fairly deep pockets, you can buy a vacuum cleaner that has a stainless steel brush roller instead of the standard wood or plastic that comes with most models today. You will need to look into commercial vacuums to find this, generally. They’re expensive, but you may find it is worth it.

I’d also consider using something like a Swiffer Carpet Flick to run over the carpet before vacuuming. I don’t have one, so I can’t say whether or not it would work well, but I’d probably give it a try before shelling out the bucks for an expensive vacuum.

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Cats in the Carpet

May 7th, 2007 4 Comments

Dear Home-Ec 101,

Our cat marks all areas of our house by peeing especially when another animal comes to visit or where she last marked. We are at our wit’s end…. is there any solution to this problem?

Signed,

Kitty Mama in Kalamazoo

retrochick.JPGIvy says:

I know way more about cat behavior than any normal person should. You name a strange cat behavior and I’ve had a cat that has done it. Go figure.

Female cats who mark indoors is indeed a strange cat behavior. My vet told me less than 10% of spayed female cats mark indoors. Outside, it is a way for a cat to attract a mate. Inside, it is generally a behavioral problem caused by stress and frustration.

I’m assuming your cat is spayed. If she’s not, that is the very first thing you need to do. Please comment and let me know if you need a link for low-cost spay and neuter service- I have the link around here somewhere.

Clean the area throroughly with en enzymatic cleaner that does NOT contain ammonia in it. Ammonia one of the primary ingredients in cat urine, so any cleaners with ammonia will cause them to come back in the area over and over. Spray some Feliway in the area, that will change the scent from the marking scent to the cheek gland scent (you know how cats rub their cheeks on everything? It’s not because they’re showing they love that item, they’re showing they OWN the item.) and calm your kitty down.

Make sure the cat is as unstressed as possible. Try not to have a bunch of other animals traipsing in and out of your house, and if you do have a reason for having a lot of unfamiliar animals coming in and out, make sure there are lots of places where she can get up and out of the area. My cats like the tall bookshelves I have.

Try moving her food and water bowls near the area of the spraying. Sometimes this will stop it.

If none of that works, you’ll probably need to take her to the vet for some kitty valium. I had a girl cat once that sprayed and NOTHING we did stopped it. I took her to the vet, and the vet prescribed a mild tranquilizer for her, after awhile we were able to wean her off of it, and she never marked again.

Good luck, I hope one of these suggestions work, I know how frustrating it is!

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A two-fer: Grass stains and puppy pee

May 2nd, 2007 No Comments

Dear Home-Ec 101,

My daughter has a grass stain on her pretty little, made with love by Grandma, Easter dress. How can I get it out before we see Grandma again?

My 13 year old dog has recently urniated on our carpet, for reasons unknown to us. How can I get that horrible odor out before I go and purchase some doggy Depends?

Thanks!

Stink and Stains in Smyrna

WinkIvy says:

First of all, I totally read that as “My 13 year old urinated on our carpet”. I was totally about to suggest counseling, but when it’s a 13 year old dog, I understand. But let’s get to the grass stains question first, shall we?

The very best grass stain getter-outer, I have found, is automatic dishwashing detergent. My personal fave is Cascade, but you can use any brand, probably. Dishwasher detergent has bleach-like powers, so be sure you spot test first.

What I do is get the item and soak it in a bucket with a couple of gallons of the hottest water the garment can stand and about a half cup of dishwasher detergent overnight. I doubt you really have to soak it that long, but that’s how I do it. Then you just toss the garment in the washing machine as usual, and the grass stains will be gone just like that.

Now for the doggy odor problem. It’s very important to get the smell entirely out of the carpet. When the dog has an accident, you want to take a towel, and soak up the urine. Press down hard to make sure you get as much as possible. Blot! Don’t rub!!

Once you’ve soaked up as much pee as possible, use an enzymatic cleaner like Kids N Pets on the spot. If you have a carpet steam cleaner, you can use that on the spot. If you don’t, it might be a good time to rent a Rug Doctor. I find the Rug Doctors work quite well for getting your carpet really clean- be sure you are using an enzymatic cleaner in the Rug Doctor.

If you find you have tried everything and the odor is still there, you may need to take drastic steps and rip up the carpet. There’s a good tutorial on cleaning urine stains from subflooring on my Curbly blog.

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