Cleaning Very Dirty Tile Floors?

[jeninok]

I thought these tile floors would be super easy to clean. But not so much!

 

There might not be a magic solution, but I'm sure I'm not the only one dealing with this.

:willy_nilly: :willy_nilly: :willy_nilly:

 

We have one large room kitchen, dining, and living, as well as a den off the side with 16x16 slightly textured porcelain tiles that are supposed to look like slate. High traffic doesn't even begin to describe it. And this red clay is so fine and sticky and EVERYWHERE!

 

We have a mud problem but cannot pave the driveway or have the areas surrounding the house leveled for at least another month. This means at least 3 months before I can get any sort of ground decent cover going in the high traffic front yard area, and we are slipping and sliding in much every time we come in and out of the car.

 

Usually we take our shoes off and put a clean pair when we come in, but sometimes it isn't practical. For example: yesterday we had a car full of groceries, so a LOT of dirt was tracked in and is now dried and caked on my floors. The dogs also go out to potty and play, and despite having a rug on either side of the door, their feet still track in a lot of wet sticky clay, which then dries on the floor.

 

The vacuum doesn't help much, it mostly just kicks it around even more, and my broom only gets the loose top stuff and takes forever in this big room. The only way to get them looking at all decent is with my Hoover Wetjet, but it is not practical for everyday use!

 

I am also having to vacuum the stairs and landing everyday, which is a huge pain, but all the loose silt gets tracked onto the carpet and is going to ruin it quickly!!

[RoughCollie]

A few ideas that may work, but are a pain in the neck:

 

Buy some brown Kraft paper and tape it to the floor over high traffic areas, so when you are carrying in groceries, that problem won't occur. You can roll it up to store it, and yes, it is a PITA. Since the Kraft paper will have mud on it, you'll have to sweep it off before you store it. I'd toss it, and begin anew each time. You have to tape it down before you go to the store.

 

Put sand down over the mud in the yard. It rains, the sand gets wet, and then you have sand in your house, but at least it sweeps up easily after it dries.

 

Forget the sand because it is too much hassle, and put straw down over the mud. I haven't tried this yet, so I don't know if straw will be tracked in the house or will attract mice or other small rodents outside, or if it will work to keep mud out of the house.

 

My dog tracks in mud, and I have discovered that a microfiber cloth (like a cleaning cloth) takes off the mud easily. I have to clean his paws before he comes in, of course.

 

As far as the carpet goes, other than vacuuming it every day to get the silt out, my only idea is to put a bed sheet or a tarp over it -- both which can be shaken out and replaced. Or put an indoor-outdoor rug on it temporarily.

 

My dog jumps right on the furniture when he comes in with muddy paws, so I keep it covered during mud season with throws, sheets, or blankets, These can be removed when company comes.

[jeninok]

Hmm, I clean with microfiber, but I never thought to do their feet with it! I have also contemplated a shallow tub near the door and training them to walk through it, on their way in.

 

I might just do the craft paper idea, we have a big snowstorm coming, which means mud for days and days!

[RoughCollie]

We haven't had much snow this year, but I tried the microfiber on the snowballs that get all over Aidan, and they rolled right off.

[jeninok]

I bet it would help pull some of the fine silt out of our medium hair girl too, she has taken on a slight orange cast lately despite brushing.

[tex-mex]

I like the craft paper idea -- use blue painter's tape on the edges!

 

I used to have a 3 step cleaning process for my (white) tile floor:

 

1) Sweep

 

2) Vacuum and detail edges that broom does not get.

 

3) Hot water w/ Ammonia rinse/mop on floors to get it white again.

 

House rules were everyone's shoes came off at the door (I also had white carpet too). And there was a large "mudroom" for jackets, boots, shoes, and a thick work carpet for the boys to wipe their feet on on both sides of the door.

 

Why not just put some (temporary) stone pavers as a "sidewalk" trail from the car to the door? Remove them when it is time to work on the yard? That will cut down on the snow and mud some.

[Rebecca VA]

Put down large towels that can be changed out and washed every day.

[Lara in Colo]

They have the runner/carpet stuff sold by the foot at Home Depot. I used to buy it for my pick up truck bed. It is rubber on the bottom and a indoor/outdoor carpet on the top. Very easy to shake/vacuum/ hose off dirt.

[somo_chickenlady]

Mop with laundry detergent (like Tide or Era)! Seriously. I worked at Wendy's in high school, and that is what they used to mop the floors b/c it cuts through grease and dirt so well. I use Era to mop my floors, and it works GREAT! We had tile (beige, no less) and the red dirt at our old house, and this cleaned it without a problem. Plus, it makes your house smell great! lol

[laundrycrisis]

We have a large tiled area and it is also where we enter and leave the house - all 3 doors connect to the tile ! And the previous owners for some reason I will never EVER EVER EVER !!!! understand, chose very light beige, natural-textured tile (meaning, zillions of nooks and crannies for dirt), with light grey grout. Really ? Really ?????

 

This is how I deal. I bought a $40 vacuum at Wal Mart that is great on hard floors (Bissel Powerforce Bagless. You also need a Dustbuster to clean the donut-shaped filter, otherwise, this is a very low-maintenance vaccuum.) I use a Libman Wonder Mop, and rinse it in hot running water after mopping a small area, so the dirt goes down the drain and the mop is clean again. And the soap I use is Clorox Cleanup. It bleaches out the nooks and crannies I cannot otherwise have any hope of addressing. It's not very eco or healthy of me (windows are open to let the fumes out as I type), but until we have a better choice of tile in here, this is how it is.

[Myra]

As a long term solution - I can't help you out BUT....when we first moved in here there was absolutely no grass/sidewalk/etc - just mud. So I saved all the moving boxes in the basement - and every couple of days I would flatten 3 - 5 boxes and spread them on the floor here and there sort of like giant stepping stones. We'd leave all boots/shoes by the door on the first flatten box and hop from box to progressively cleaner box before reaching a "box free" clean area of the rooms. As the boxes got totally muddied, I would replace them with new flatten ones. That got me through until the muddy spring was over and new grass was growing along with a "stepping stone" type sidewalk was put in. I saved the boxes for "starter" kindling in the Fall in the wood stove!

 

Myra

[Chris in VA]

A friend has this same problem (muddy yard) only has wood floors that can't be wet-mopped very well. She has large sheets of plywood leading from the driveway to the porch, and people take off their shoes before entering.

Another friend taught her dog the command, "Stand!" He comes into the house, and stands on a towel or rug (I think she used a towel) and it gives her a moment to wipe him down.

[sbgrace]

We have a similar problem right now and construction going on. We have wooden planks to walk through the mud to the door (they were the old stairs/plywood or whatever would work). We do take off shoes at the door though. For groceries I just carry everything and set it just inside the door, come in and take off my shoes, then unload from the bags. They do sell paper rollls like they use at doctor's offices at supply houses. I have some it for when we had to track stuff in. It's cheap enough for me to just use and toss as needed.

[zoobie]

Waterhog mats from LL Bean are great for catching some of the crud at doorways. I have them inside and outside the main doors. They can be hosed off outside to clean them. I hate tile too! I was so glad to move and get rid of our old ones.