Thank you for your response. I am going to buy the O-Cedar bright yellow dust mop. I finally found one at our local Ace Hardware store and I even have a $5.00 off coupon to use on it there.

Does the O-Cedar shiss mop get out ground-in dirt? If not, what do you use for that?

Hi Marie. The Shiss mop cleans up the dried stuff, like spills in the kitchen, etc. Again, don't use lots of water or the grout will get dirty. This way, you don't have to seal the grout - ever.

We have 1,500 square feet of light ceramic tile.

I use the following steps:
-Small, light weight stick vac to get up crumbs and dirt
-Swiffer to pick up dust
-Hoover floor mate to scrub with hot cleaning solution and suction it up. This device is fabulous and leaves the floors clean AND almost perfectly dry. If a few damp spots remain, they will dry in 10 minutes. If I cannot wait. I put down a rag and use my feet to run it over the damp spots. The Floormate will also do dry vacuuming, but I do prefer the stick vac for that, since it is much lighter weight.

In between doing all of the above, I just Swiffer and then use a Clorox Ready Mop (or you could use s Swiffer Wet Jet) to pick up small spots that need to be damp cleaned. The Swiffers and similar products are fantastic if you have a bad back, since they are among the lightest available.

We don't have any kids or pets, but I am an avid cook and ashamed to admit that I only do the deep cleaning routine about once every 6 weeks, or when company is coming. The rest of the time, I just use Swiffers to spot clean.

Lynne

Lynne,
Could you tell me what model Hoover Floor Mate you have? There seem to be several models, is yours the spin scrub? I have a lot of porcelain tile, which I love, but it doesn't have the glazed finish as my old tile and sometimes a lot sticks to it and it is harder to get up, also wondering about the grout, a lot of folks don't seem to think that the Floor Mate cleans the grout.

I use the Floor Mate too; I've had mine a few years, so it's probably a basic model. Cleans my zillions of 1" porcelain tile beautifully, grout too (it's a dark color.)
IF there's something reeeeeally stuck on am unglazed porcelain tile, I always have one of those green flat scrubbies that I kick around with me while I'm doing the floor and just use the toe of my shoe to scrub the offender off.

Hi Sewingbelle:

Yes, I have the spin and scrub. You may have already read my post on the other Floormate thread but just in case, here it is again:

I don't know which one I have, it just says Spin and Scrub on the front. We have had it for about 2 years and I love it, given what it is for and how well it does the difficult task of cleaning tile. We have 1550 square feet of tile (the whole house, including the bedrooms), no pets or kids, and I hate housecleaning, so do as little as possible. But the tile is light, so I still have to do it every 6 weeks or so. The worst is always the kitchen, especially under our restaurant-style thick rubber mat in front of the cooking area. It has lots of holes for things to drop through and can be quite a mess.

When we bought the floormate, the sales staff were clear in stating that it was for flooring, but not specifically for grout and that the brushes would only reach the grout if is was very high -close to the height of the tile itself. Our grout is darkish, so it is not much of an issue.

Here is a tip for you on a way to pre-clean any really dirty stubborn spots: Go to Sears and pick up a Scumbuster by Black and Decker. This little battery operated hand-held device has rotating scrubbers (and several attachments) that will clean any tile or grout, no matter how bad it is. I love it. For floors, it is still hands and knees (or sit on a low stool or chair, which is what I do). I also use it in the shower, though there is not much to do there, since we don't use bar soap.

Back to the floormate, my normal process is to use the stick vac to clean up crumbs and heavier dirt, then the swiffer for dust and to get under things, and then the Scumbuster (only if needed, which is not too often) and lastly the Floormate. While I know the floormate will do dry vac work, I have not found it to be very good at that unless you have a wide open area and not much dirt to get up. I still love this useful device, but am dreaming of the day when we can hire a housecleaning service. We can afford it, but hubby "does not want strangers in the house...."

To your question about cleaning unglazed tile, it should work fine unless your tile has deep concavities/ridges in it, in which case the brushes may not go that far into the nooks and crannies. The sales staff claim that as long as your tile and grout do not vary in depth by any more than the thickness of a finger nail, you are fine. Glazed or unglazed, that should not matter in its ability to clean your tile.

L

What is a shiss mop? When I search the internet it shows mops but not one of them say shiss mop. Thanks

I can't find a "shiss mop" on line either. Is there another name for it?

I can't either; but O-Cedar does make a couple of mops w/microfiber removable covers. Check your local store or on-line.