Floors that you can eat off of (or at least not stick to)?

December 29, 2008 4:36 PM

What can you tell me about the iRobot Scooba?

Yes, I'm an idiot. Now that I'm in the proper forum. That's what I get for doing three things at once and not paying attention to the colour of the screen...

I have no idea what the hell my twice-monthly cleaning lady has been doing to my hardwood floors, but they're always sticky. I need to find a better solution.

Does this Scooba thing really work? Does it really sweep everything on its own? Even stuff near the toe kick of your cabinets? What about kitchen tables/chairs, etc.? Is it reasonably 'dog' proof (they won't be able to pick it up and attack it, will they)? Are you really stuck using that proprietary cleaning solution?

I have three French Bulldogs (slime and fur, and, uh, other indiscretions), and two kids. I would primarily be using it in a somewhat large kitchen - basically shaped like a giant letter E - that's divided into a 'working' section and an 'eating' section (it's separated by a half-wall that has a 36"wide opening). If it makes a difference, the entire kitchen is give or take 15' x 20'.

Thanks!

posted by dancinglamb to home & garden (10 comments total)

The scooba is pretty cool but not as cool as I would have hoped. I had hoped that it would figure out the boundaries of a room and then go to town very methodically... It doesn't. It's cleaning pattern seems half smart, half random. It is tenacious though, and even though it goes over a few places more than once it seems to get the whole floor pretty clean. FWIW there are hardly any straight lines in our place, so that may have something to do with it.

One awesome thing I can say is that it leaves the floors REALLY clean. Our hardwood floors felt noticably different under socks. I have only used the cleaning solution though.
posted by muscat at 4:53 PM on December 29, 2008

I have never used it on my hardwoods (is it approved for that?) b/c you don't want hardwoods soaked. After some research I settled on the Bona cleaner, which I poured into a bottle that does a light stream (b/c "spraying" the solution out of a regular bottle takes forever), and then going over it with a microfiber type dry mop.....after vacuuming up all the dog hair of course.

For the tile I do have Scooba but haven't used it much in this house b/c we have an island that it gets stuck around and certainly doesn't get every area. But in our old house that had a wide open space of tile (and we didn't have a German Sheppard that sheds like crazy) then it worked well.
posted by texas_blissful at 5:00 PM on December 29, 2008

Yes, get a Scooba.

The only drawback I can think of for you is that it can be a bit of a nuisance to have underfoot, and it's not exactly whisper-quiet -- you'd need to remember to turn it loose after the house has wound down for the day; it's not...unobtrusive.

It is approved for 'sealed' hardwoods. (Curiously not laminate flooring.)

I'm in Canada and have never seen the cleaning solution in a shop, so. I find it works pretty well with just hot water. The manual also permits the use of vinegar, but hot water's fine if your floors aren't absolutely filthy.

It is possible to get cleaner floors if you clean them yourself. Realistically, though, the Scooba gets them quite clean enough. I have two cats; no idea about dog-Scooba interactions, but I can tell you it cleans up fur. It blows a bit of air, so stuff in corners &c gets pushed out a bit.

You can tell it's sort of first-generation-y and it's not quite Jetsons era yet -- sometimes you stand there and go 'Dammit, go back over the coffee spill. Stop doing that spot sixteen times and go back and do the coffee' and very occasionally run it twice, but it still rocks.
posted by kmennie at 5:35 PM on December 29, 2008

I reviewed the Scooba for the IEEE robotics blog last year. Look at the last picture for a "how well does it clean". I'm really impressed with it.

That said:

Are your floors sealed? If they're not, you can't use it.

My pump has stopped working after a year, though mine was a refurb. My parents got one brand new and now two years later they're also having pump problems.

I don't think it does as well picking up stuff above toe kicks -- I usually run my Roomba first (it does do well with those dust bunnies) or use a Swiffer to pick that up.

I wouldn't worry about dogs with it. Worst they could do is push it around the floor, but I think in general they're pretty pet-friendly.

Also, it *can* go around tables and chairs, but you'd move them to mop normally, right? I'd move them (at least the chairs) for Scooba, too.

And finally, yeah, it does move "randomly". It has some actual behaviors -- wall-following, spot cleaning, and moving around table or chair legs -- but mostly it's a pretty random pattern. However, it does get good coverage.
posted by olinerd at 5:36 PM on December 29, 2008

Yes, it moves randomly, that is much easier to program than a cornrows-style moving and it statistically covers the same areas just as well. My mother has one and absolutely loves it, but I can attest that it is quite noisy and you have to empty it and clean it out when it is done, and it does take a bit longer to run than mopping yourself would. However, if I had a kitchen big enough to justify it I would absolutely get one, since you can program it to run when you're not around to be bothered by it.
posted by ch1x0r at 6:31 PM on December 29, 2008

olinerd-Loved your review (and picture of the 'remains'!). How would I know whether my floors are sealed? I had the hardwood installed about five years ago when I renovated the kitchen. It's 5" wide pre-finished oak. So I guess that means... sealed? It's honestly got some gaps in between the planks. Nothing wider than, say, a couple millimeters, but they're gaps nonetheless.

And, kmennie, I figure I'd have to let it do it's thing at night, or when nobody's around. Only one of the dogs is uncrated during the day. And even then, he's pretty much a couch barnacle.
posted by dancinglamb at 6:31 PM on December 29, 2008

Regarding how to tell if your floors are sealed, I found this.

However, I am not a flooring specialist, so take it with whatever size grain of salt you typically reserve for information found on the Internet.
posted by olinerd at 7:00 PM on December 29, 2008

Another happy Scooba owner here.

I use white vinegar with mine as I've run out of solution and it seems Linen and Things is gone and they were the only place in town I knew of that I could get more.

Unless your dogs are huge I cant see them picking it up, Its a not light and the water adds to the weight of it.

Yeah the cleaning is fairly random but it almost always does a great job.

I just have textured & sealed concrete in my place so no worry about it messing up my floors.

The worst part about it is cleaning it. I once forgot to dump the tank and went out of town, Rally stunk up the place :(

Overall I'd recommend one to anyone with a non carpeted floor.
posted by gog at 7:06 PM on December 29, 2008

The first thing you gotta know is it sings. It has a happy song and I need some love song. I have three german shepards and they either ignore it or are slightly distressed by it "chasing them", but they have never tried to pick it up.

Since you can conceivably run it almost constantly my floors seem to be a lot cleaner since in a good month I might actually mop once or twice.

I use vinegar with it on my 80 year old hardwoods and it does fine, it pulls the water pack up so its not standing in water.
posted by stormygrey at 6:21 AM on December 30, 2008

Another happy Scooba owner, here.
It is best used frequently and will always produces the grossest greywater after a cleaning session. Yep, it does good work.
posted by sadiehawkinstein at 8:13 AM on December 30, 2008