better mopping

September 24, 2009 10:38 PM

Mopping - is there a better way? Am I just doing it wrong?

I hate mopping. It's such a hassle in my current apartment because the sink isn't big enough to put the bucket in to fill and I have no squeegee lid for it.

I sweep/vacuum the linoleum floors regularly, but the actual mop-on-floor part gets neglected (3x in 2 years?). I'm trying to be a better grown-up and mop it more often, plus get rid of sticky/slippery parts.

I have a string mop. I've tried the sponge mops that have squeezing parts built in and dislike those even more. I've tried using the kitchen sink as a 'mop bucket'; I've washed off spots by hand with a rag; I just don't have a real setup for mopping and this half-assed one isn't working.

I believe that if I get something that makes it less of a detestable chore that I'll do it more often. It worked that way with my vacuum
(went from el cheapo to a Dyson and now magically vacuum >10x more often).

Should I just break down and get a bucket with a squeegee lid attachment? Are Swiffers really that awesome? Is there just a better way to do it that doesn't require so much effort?

Bonus: shedding cats
Double bonus: litter boxes in two of the three linoleum rooms - as much as I try, not all the litter gets picked up by sweeping and vacuuming

posted by bookdragoness to home & garden (38 comments total)

Bucket free mopping:

You will need:

A Sink
A mop that self-squeezes. (Sponge mops are my preferred option, but I've used the string type that comes with a cone-shaped squeezie dealie too)
The cleaning fluid of your choice
A kettle filled with boiling hot water.

1. After vacuuming or sweeping, splash a lively amount of your favourite cleaning fluid about on the floor to be mopped.
2. Empty boiled kettle onto floor. Watch your toes! I do this bit wearing shoes.
3. Refill kettle and reboil.
4. Swish the hot water and cleaning fluid about the floor that is being cleaned. Once you've distributed the cleaning fluid/hot water all over the floor, start wringing your mop into the sink, soaking up as much of the solution as you can.
5. Once most of the solution is off the floor, repeat the process with pure hot water from the kettle. You can repeat this last step as many times as you like, until the water coming off the floor is clear.
6. Wipe the floor over a few times with the squeezed out, mostly dry mop until as much of the water as possible is lifted.

Your floor will dry in a ridiculously fast time frame, which is mostly why I started mopping like this (see also:cat paw prints everywhere). The boiling water raises the latent heat of the floors and makes everything evaporate quickly. Boiling water is also a great disinfectant and will help soften grease.

You can also do this using a bucket if no sink is present. This works the best on small floors.

Frankly string mops are bollocks. Sponge mops vary wildly with quality, and are easier to control I've found than the string ones. Like anything, an el cheapo sponge mop is going to be much shitter than an expensive one. I like the Vileda line of mops, myself, because they're hardy as all hell and very easy to control.

As far as your small sink goes, I mostly use hot water from the kettle for my mopping, so if the kettle fits under the sink, I'm good to go. You could always use your shower head or bathtub tap to fill a bucket, if you prefer a buckety mopping.

In summary, some sort of squeezy dealie will make your life easier - either a bucket with a squeezer on it, or a mop with one built in.
posted by Jilder at 10:54 PM on September 24 [7 favorites]

Swiffers are a pretty darn good compromise, especially in an apartment. Don't fool around with traditional mop rigs if you don't have a lot of space.
posted by Burhanistan at 10:57 PM on September 24

The Swiffer exemplifies so many of the things I most deplore most about our culture of consumption and convenience.

It's over-marketed and over-packaged, disposable and wasteful, cheaply made but expensively priced.

But god damn does that motherfucker work.

I love it and I hate myself for loving it.
posted by dersins at 11:04 PM on September 24 [12 favorites]

The two main problems I have with the Swiffer Wet pads are: wastefulness and overwhelming fragrance.

Aside from that, they really do work. Note that I'm talking about the damp pads that fit onto a regular Swiffer mophead, not the fancy Swiffer Wet Jet rig that requires pads, plus solution, all to be replaced frequently.
posted by padraigin at 11:05 PM on September 24

Get the bucket with the squeegee lid, string mops are nearly useless without them. The key to using a string mop is to use very hot water + some grease-cutting cleaner (I use pine sol or similar) and remove all obstructions. Swish the mop in the bucket, squeegee out the excess, lay the mop out flat on the floor, pull, then push a few times. Flip the mop over and do the same on the other side. Dip mop back in the bucket and repeat. String mops are not easy to aim, so they are best used in large spaces. The most common complaint about string mops is the perception that you are just pushing the dirt around hence using one side to pick up the grunge and the other side to clean.

For small spaces like bathrooms, I spray down the whole floor with a mild bleach & water mix, let it sit for a bit and then chugga chugga choo choo some rough terry cleaning towels across the floor with my feet while wearing clean flip flops. If you start with the towel folded into thirds, you have plenty of clean towel surfaces to reveal as each side gets dirty.
posted by jamaro at 11:07 PM on September 24 [1 favorite]

Forgot to add: change the bucket water when it gets so murky you can't see a quarter at the bottom of the bucket.
posted by jamaro at 11:13 PM on September 24

I've had the same Swiffer mop handle/head for about 5 years now, the pads are pretty cheap at Costco, and you can recycle the plastic tubs they come in. Certainly, Swiffer markets all kinds of ridiculous attachments and extras, but the basics don't seem particularly more wasteful than the usual method of cleaning solution and replacing mop heads.
posted by Burhanistan at 11:15 PM on September 24

If you go into a professional kitchen, you will find naught but string mops. I defy any floor to get mankier than a working kitchen's, and having done my time in that particular ring of hell, I do promise if it's cleanin' you want, string is the best, no question. A bucket with squeegee option is compulsory for good string mopping.

This said, most home kitchens don't get that dirty, and swiffer type bullshit razzle dazzlers do a good enough job. Better yet, they make the floor go dry quicker than Amy in rehab.
posted by smoke at 11:18 PM on September 24

What jamaro said, get one of the proper mop buckets and a string mop.

That's what works. In the, admittedly small, number of commercial kitchens I worked in that was the setup.
posted by sien at 11:20 PM on September 24

Swiffer Wet Jet. e
I still don't mop all that often, but someone sweeps/vacuums the wood floors every day. The Swiffer is so easy to use even the kids don't mind doing it.
posted by Ochre,Hugh at 11:23 PM on September 24

The OP lives in an apartment, not a big restaurant kitchen.
posted by Burhanistan at 11:23 PM on September 24

What my mom would tell you, and so will I, is that you need to get down on your hands and knees with a washrag and just wash the damn floor. Mops don't work; at best they will get up 75% of the dirt and leave the rest of it all disgustingly gunked up along the edges of the room. The benefits of the washrag method are many: a rag takes up virtually no storage space, it takes no time to set up, you can really rinse it when it gets dirty so you're not slopping dirty water around on your floor, and you can scrub the yucky spots effectively, which is impossible with a mop. Plus, afterward you get to tell people in a martyred voice, "I got down on my hands and knees and scrubbed the floor."
posted by HotToddy at 11:42 PM on September 24 [8 favorites]

Seconding the Vileda.
The new true way of cleaning is with damp microfibre cloths only. Just slightly damp microfibres clean away more bacteria than traditional wetter methods. (Well, bleaching the hell out of things works, too).
Microfibres are well liked in northern parts of Europe, have problems making inroads in the wetter bleach mopping culture of southern Europe and apparently no chance in North America. Thats what my newspaper said last week.
I was a wet mopper, but changed to the above type of flat mop. It is way nicer to work with and cleans great. (For the encrustations of the ages I have to go down on my knees anyway, no matter what mop.)
posted by mmkhd at 12:53 AM on September 25

Jilder knows what they are doing but here is what I would do differently. String mops are a 1930's kitchen fashion that should have died in 1939. Somehow they still linger. Dont use them. They dont work and they are disgusting. Do everything jilder said up until the squeeze mop part. Substitute old bath towels to mop up with instead of squeeze mop. Use your feet to drag them around and mop / polish up floor. Stand on the towel as you do this so you dont get footprints anywhere. Fun and it works, Guaranteed I'm done before jilder but the boiling water and soap/cleaning solution splashed liberally then immediately mopped up is the way to go. Throw old towels in washing machine. Wash. Repeat as needed.
posted by Muirwylde at 2:04 AM on September 25

You might old AskMe of mine helpful...
posted by A Terrible Llama at 2:19 AM on September 25

Incidentally, the Swiffer wins me over in the end.

I'm not proud of it, but there you go.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 2:21 AM on September 25

I've used a Swiffer and it doesn't work as well as a sponge mop with Murphy's Oil Soap and hot water as the cleaning agents, IMHO.
posted by plinth at 3:11 AM on September 25

HotToddy, my kitchen isn't huge, so I vacuum well and then use a spray bottle of hot water/vinegar (50/50) and baby wipes to scrub the floor by hand.

Forget martyrdom. First person to walk across the floor in dirty shoes gets clobbered.
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:29 AM on September 25

I'll put in a plug for mops with PVA sponge heads instead of the cheaper, more common urethane or cellulose sponges. The PVA sponges are more durable, and on the final pass after wringing them out they leave the floor practically dry. They aren't abrasive, so they may not be the best for heavy-duty cleaning of grimy floors, but they make frequent light mopping so painless that the floor need never get so dirty.
posted by jon1270 at 4:34 AM on September 25

I live in a small apartment (480 square feet/45 square meters) so know the feeling of having little room for mop equipment.

For mopping, I have a broom handle with a threaded end, and two screw-on heads that fit it: one a broom, the other a stiff plastic brush. To mop my terracotta floor, I put on the plastic brush and use it to push around a cotton terry cloth rag (old hand towels work too; here in France you can get new rags like this for cheaper than a regular towel though). For a bucket, I went to a home improvement store and got a small one that fits in my small kitchen sink (easier to fill and empty, plus it was cheaper than ones marketed as "mopping buckets"). Plastic buckets come in all sizes. The advantages of this setup are that if I need to scrub a spot, all I have to do is let the rag drop and use the stiff brush to go at it. Plus, as Muirwilde mentions, you can wash the cotton rags and reuse them until they're falling apart (and even then, they can often be reincarnated as dust rags). I wear plastic gloves and wring out the rags myself — mopping doubles as an arm workout :-)

As for the cleaning solution, my situation is a bit unique since I have an old terracotta floor and live in France, where they still sell plain old black soap with linseed oil added (savon noir à l'huile de lin). The stuff smells great, gives tile a beautiful shine, and gets out practically everything. I enjoy mopping now!

(I tried Swiffer. It became useless after a few years of use, because the plastic joints wore down and so the handle kept falling apart whenever I pushed it. I realized the obvious: it was nothing more than a cheap broomstick with a head that pushed around a rag with cleaning product on it. Thus the solution described above!)
posted by fraula at 4:41 AM on September 25 [2 favorites]

I'm with fraula: a scrub-brushy broom (mine is a masonry broom from the hardware store) + a nubby cotton bar towel + a bucket. If I'm feeling fancy I put some drops of essential oil in the water. There's some bending and wringing involved but it feels good.
posted by PatoPata at 5:51 AM on September 25

I have a Swiffer Wet-Jet and use it semi-regularly. It works good enough for small spaces, and for a quick swish - not so good for a big clean. For that I use a rag and cleaning solution and my hands and knees.

Swiffer mods:

1) to reuse the plastic cleaning solution container, drill or hack a hole into the top, just barely large enough for some kind of sink drain plug. Refill it as needed. I use a vinegar and hot water solution, with a little bit of ammonia. Works great.

2) When you run out of the original pads, buy a few large scrubby pads and some microfiber towels. Put pad on bottom of mop, wrap towel around it and secure with a rubber band around the handle. This works even better than the original pads.

3) Any kind of flat sponge mop can have a scrubby pad & microfiber towel wrapped around it. Then just carry a bottle of cleaning fluid around. Squirt, swish, move to next area of floor.

OP - I would suggest a thorough cleaning on your hands and knees with very hot water and a good rag. Then regular maintenance with a Swiffer or Swiffer-like mop, using a microfiber towel - those things pick up even the most stubborn pet hair and can be washed and reused.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 6:17 AM on September 25 [3 favorites]

because the sink isn't big enough to put the bucket in to fill

Maybe I'm missing something here, but do you have a bathtub or a shower?
posted by jeb at 7:02 AM on September 25

The mopping process has three distinct phases:

1- Get the floor wet.
2- Use the mop to loosen/dissolve the dirt.
3- Sop up the dirty water.

The perfect mop job goes like this:

Mix up some hot soapy water.
Soak up the water with the mop and spread it around.
Wash the floor with the mop, using the side-to-side, twirl at the edges motion. The push-pull method pushes dirt and gunk into the corners. The side to side sweeping action pulls it out of the corners.
Once everything is loosened up, rinse the mop, and then wring it out. Then use it to pick up the water. If you do it right, the floor will end up barely damp.

Optional: Do the same thing again, but with a clean mop and water. Either plain water, or very dilute soap if it's the kind of soap that's meant to dry on the floor.

Also optional: after getting the floor wet, get a scrub brush and scrub the grout.

But, echoing the other commenters, in a regular house, the overhead of dealing with a mop is usually too much. It is usually quicker and easier to just to do it with a washrag and a bucket.
posted by gjc at 7:16 AM on September 25

Swiffer did not get my floors clean enough to suit me.

String mops are ugh. They are good at picking up surface soil but again they cannot get my floors clean enough to suit me.

What works? Water, hot as possible; flat sponge mop head with a scrubby edge; strong cleaner such as Chlorax for floors or Armstrong Floor cleaner; and elbow grease. I put on my mp3 player, work on one section at a time by applying the cleaner to the floor, fill my bucket with scalding hot water and rinse and scrub until that section is clean. Change the bucket water. Repeat. If the hot water is hot enough it will evaporate pretty quickly so no need for towels.

I"m always barefoot and I love the feel of a clean floor-- the minute it feels gummy or dirty to my feet, I get out the mop and bucket. With three animals this means about 2 or 3 times a week, but the more often it gets done the less energy and time it takes to do it because the build-up is less. My bathroom is small enough that it can be done in less than 5 minutes so I try to mop nearly every day.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:37 AM on September 25

I've tried wet-mopping with a string mop (way to much work, so I never get around to it), wet-mopping with a sponge mop (still too much work), and the Swiffer (too stinky and doesn't stand up to vigorous scrubbing). Now we have a fancy-pants microfiber setup and it is super easy and works very well.

We have this system from Rubbermaid Commercial (Flash warning). You need the handle, a microfiber mop or two that attaches to it, and some sort of cleaning spray (we use Ecogent, which is lactic acid plus wetting agent, and is mixed with water in a special spray bottle). You give the floor in front of you a gentle spray, mop and then move on. Once you are done, you can detach the mop from the handle and toss it in the wash. It is much less work than soaking, scrubbing and drying the floor (plus you don't even need a bucket).

You would probably have to go to a janitorial supply place to pick up the handle and mop, but they are well worth the time and cost.
posted by ssg at 7:51 AM on September 25 [1 favorite]

I am also an infrequent mopper. Or slob depening on how you look at it. When I do decide to mop I use one of these http://www.asseenontv.com/prod-pages/PVA-10xmop.htm. I wet it in the bath tub. I make up a cleaning solution concoction. Dilute it with water, throw it directly on the floor, squeeze out most of the water from the mop into the tub. Squeeze out the remaining water on the floor with the cleaning solution and get to mopping. Rinse mop in the tub frequently and repeat.

Sometimes, with tile floors I just do away with the mop and get on my hand and knees. Either way you have to clean the bathtub anyway.
posted by mokeydraws at 8:11 AM on September 25

I can't add much to the mopping techniques given here but my particular hack is to use the kitchen trash can (it doesn't fit in the sink, no, but I boil water on the stove in a big stockpot and use that) as a mop bucket. Voila, clean trash can and you don't have to store a bucket in your tiny kitchen.
posted by mygothlaundry at 8:49 AM on September 25 [2 favorites]

String mops are good if you have a drain in your floor, so you can really soak everything with a flood of bleachy water, like a commercial kitchen. Doing this will also somehow make the soles of your filthy sneakers expand to make your shoes look like little boats.
posted by orme at 9:35 AM on September 25

I really like our Steam Shark. It's a fun gadget and definitely increased our frequency of mopping. The steam really breaks up a sticky mess. The pads can be washed along with any load in a pillow case. It is the easiest, most effective mopping system we've had yet.* We tried them all. Every. Last. One. (Two moms. Three kids under three. One dog. One cat.)

*It does work best if we run a dust cloth over the floor first to collect the bit of hair the broom missed.
posted by wg at 10:12 AM on September 25

If your problem is the sink not being big enough, try using the bathtub.
posted by kathrineg at 10:57 AM on September 25

My mom was a cleaning lady for a few years and our family being Portuguese she LOVES cleaning so I was brought up appreciating a truly clean house.

My cleaning procedure is like this.

1) Dust surfaces
2) Vaccum floors, etc
3) Mop

I like this Vileda mop myself with the bucket shown in the link. I have hardwood floors so we use Murphy's Oil Soap for the hardwood and it looks great!
posted by boomcha76 at 11:44 AM on September 25

My wife got a broken Swiffer with the intention of using it to push around a washcloth. I bought a microfiber pad from Method (called omop) that velcros on the bottom. Apart from overhanging by a couple of inches it works great. Like any other microfiber, all you need is a bit of water on the floor. Anything seriously crusted will need scrubbing, but for regular cleaning it's fine. The pad goes in the laundry when you're done.

I'm amazed more people don't use/recommend microfiber - the stuff is incredible.
posted by O9scar at 11:49 AM on September 25

Thanks for all the responses! I haven't had time to look through them all, but will tonight.

For those of you recommending filling the bucket in the bathtub: yes, that is what I have been doing. Unfortunately, it's not the real problem, just a contributing factor.

A Terrible Llama - thanks for the link! I actually read it in its entirety last night before posting. I have a very small kitchen and two small bathrooms that are linoleum (luckily) in better shape than yours. How's the Swiffer working out for you?

With the "splash hot water" approach - is it really okay to have that much water on the floor? I always thought it would seep around the edges.

I'm in Tucson, AZ, so drying isn't a problem - glasses of icewater don't even sweat here.
posted by bookdragoness at 12:35 PM on September 25

just wanted to quickly chip in and note that as you mentioned that you had (a) cat(s), you will want to avoid using Pine Sol or Lysol or anything similar as your cleaning fluid.

These types of cleaners contain phenol which is toxic to cats. (I believe all cleaners containing phenol are required to list it on the label as an active ingredient, so you should be able to check).

In all likelihood, it would be perfectly safe in the amounts that your cat(s) would actually come into contact with, but it's not a risk I'd be comfortable taking.

I use Murphy's Oil Soap, which i think is safe. Most of my other cleaning is done with a vinegar/water mixture, which I also use for small spills on the floor.

Nthing microfibre, and seconding the idea that sometimes a good old on-the-knees with a rag floor scrub is the best way.
posted by geekgirl397 at 4:03 PM on September 26

Oh god, I hate mopping. This is the least painful way I've found of doing it:

Equipment
1. Proper mop bucket with squeezy thing on top. If space is limited, you can use the bucket for storage. The squeezy thing snaps off the top, at least on the one I have.
2. Microfibre mop (easier to rinse and keep clean than string, doesn't foam up like sponge).
3. The sort of floor cleaner that promises ''no rinse'' or ''suds free''.
4. Boiling or very, very hot water (helps move gunk better).
5. One of: broom / swiffer / vacuum.

Procedure
6. Clean the loose dust from the floor with the swiffer / broom / vacuum.
7. Fill bucket with super hot or boiling water either from your kettle or bathtub faucet.
8. Squirt the floor cleaner into the bucket (doing it in this order avoids bubbles and foam which in turn are hard to clean up on the floor when you're mopping.)
9. Haul bucket to room to be cleaned.
10. Dip mop in bucket.
11. Squeeze water from mop head in squeezy thing on bucket top.
12. Mop.
13. Repeat steps 10-12 until floor is clean.

And then
14. Pour self large post-mop drink.
posted by t0astie at 9:11 PM on September 26

I did it! I used a combination of the methods marked 'best answer' above. I wish I'd seen your post, geekgirl397, before I did it. I had some Pine Sol under my cabinets from an abortive past attempt to make the apartment smell like pine trees.

Wow, I cannot stand the smell of Pine Sol. I will never, ever use it again, and the addition that it's bad for my cats just takes the cake.

I ended up using the hot water + old towels + rag mix and it worked great. Now I just have to do the bathrooms too...

Thanks, everyone! My floor-mopping experience was vastly better this time than how I've done it before.
posted by bookdragoness at 2:26 PM on September 27

I just needed to pop in here to let you know that you've inspired me to mop my kitchen. Now, all the other floors in my home are moppable (yes, that has to be a word), so maybe I'll keep going once I've had my first post mop drink. And snack. And nap.

Thanks for the inspiration! (I actually already had a particular system that's kind of a combination of the above. I boil water in a large pot, splash it on the floor with some cleaning fluid, move it all around with a knitted rag attached to the Swiffer thingy, then I walk a clean rag around the floor to soak up the water and speed up the drying process. Then all the rags go in the washer with a load of dark laundry) It feels good to have a task that was looming completed.
posted by bilabial at 11:18 AM on September 28