Who believes/follows the 5 second rule?

[Alix]

I've got a Shark too. Best investment for floors (except the roomba) we made. Andy, I use it on my hardwood as it dries very quickly. If your hardwood is well sealed this isn't a big issue. I certainly don't do it every day, but it has held up to the shark steam for a good long while.

Ok, thanks to the brilliant person who suggested using it to steam clothes! I had never thought of that, and now I'm all excited to give it a go. I loathe and despise ironing but steaming stuff is FUN.

And holy cow, did we derail this thread or what? Perhaps all the shoe stuff should have its own thread? Sorry about that!

Edit: I also intended to say that when we bought our house it had ceramic on the kitchen floor and it was AWFUL. If you didn't break whatever item you dropped you risked breaking the tiles. It was also very hard on the feet and back and cold as blazes in the winter. I would never put tile in the kitchen again. It looks beautiful, but it is not as practical as you would think.

 

[Skittle68]

So many of you seem to have roombas- I've been thinking about getting one, but I have very long, thick hair, and I worry about having to constantly clean out the brushes. Plus I have two floors in my house, with small rooms, all of which have a different type of flooring, which is connected with a raised cover in every doorway :/ (the owners of this house thought they were "handy") so I would have to babysit it and shuffle it from room to room, being forced to listen to the sound of a vacuum cleaner the entire time. Thinking about getting a cordless stick vac instead. Any thoughts?

(I would be using a hard floor attachment for the stick vac that uses pure suction, no brushes)

 

[CWS4322]

I would hesitate to use a steamer on a hardwood floor. Water is the enemy of wood. Steam can penetrate the cracks and cause damage/swelling to the wood. Maybe not right away but over time.

I have a ceramic tile floor in both baths and the kitchen. I much prefer it to the laminate (linoleum) floor I had in the kitchen before. The contractor put in a new firm sub-floor and sealed the grout to prevent staining.

Damage can still happen but it's not likely. And in in the mean time, I have a nice water and stain-resitant floor.

JMHO.

The amount of water that is expelled is not a lot, a lot less than when using a mop. The hardwood floors I have are "self-engineered" in that the wood was milled in the saw mill, we sealed it with 4-5 coats of varnish. I love the steamer. The floors are dry in about 5-6 minutes. And, the steamer doesn't damage the floors--they haven't warped and the finish looks as nice today as it did when it went on.

 

[CWS4322]

Re: the Roomba. Just keep some cardboard boxes on hand and block the "steps." That's what I do. I don't have to babysit it.

 

[Timothy]

Re: the Roomba. Just keep some cardboard boxes on hand and block the "steps." That's what I do. I don't have to babysit it.

I was under the impression that the roomba was able to detect stairs and turn away from them. Does it not work that way?

 

[Andy M.]

I was under the impression that the roomba was able to detect stairs and turn away from them. Does it not work that way?

That's how it works for my neighbor. Roomba reaches the edge of the cliff and turns back.

 

[CWS4322]

I just can't be bothered to use the "towers" (they use batteries) to block the stairs. My mom uses a baby gate instead of leaving the towers in place.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

If your Roomba falls down the stairs and you pick it up within 5 seconds it doesn't count.

 

[Skittle68]

I'm not worried about the stairs- there is a raised floor piece in the doorway from the first room, into the stairwell (like in every other doorway in the house) so it wouldn't be able to reach the top of the stairs. I'm more worried that it would be more work to maintain the roomba, and shuffle it between the five rooms in my house I would like to use it for than it would be to whip out the cordless stick vac for a quick sweep of the floor. I decided on the dyson cordless stick vac. Picked it up today plus I don't want to listen to the roomba vacuuming for hours. I used to have a friend that had one, and they seemed to have it going every time I was there and it was incredibly annoying. Everyone's priorities are different. I can use the stick vac in the bathroom too, and I imagine the roomba wouldn't be very efficient in our tiny maze-like bathrooms lol. Our house has a very odd floor plan

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

I have 5 cats, two of them long hairs. You drop something and it don't even get to the floor without a fur coat.

 

[CWS4322]

I'm not worried about the stairs- there is a raised floor piece in the doorway from the first room, into the stairwell (like in every other doorway in the house) so it wouldn't be able to reach the top of the stairs. I'm more worried that it would be more work to maintain the roomba, and shuffle it between the five rooms in my house I would like to use it for than it would be to whip out the cordless stick vac for a quick sweep of the floor. I decided on the dyson cordless stick vac. Picked it up today plus I don't want to listen to the roomba vacuuming for hours. I used to have a friend that had one, and they seemed to have it going every time I was there and it was incredibly annoying. Everyone's priorities are different. I can use the stick vac in the bathroom too, and I imagine the roomba wouldn't be very efficient in our tiny maze-like bathrooms lol. Our house has a very odd floor plan

I lock the Roomba in the bathroom and go get it when I think about it. My mom's Roomba is a lot quieter than mine (purchased in 2010). I really like that it goes under furniture...I've jacked up the few pieces using cardboard coasters it couldn't get under. Given that I have dogs, I have to empty mine about every 45 minutes. My mom's will do the entire upstairs without complaining that it needs to be emptied. It only takes a couple of minutes to empty it and clean the brushes.

 

[vitauta]

If your Roomba falls down the stairs and you pick it up within 5 seconds it doesn't count.

good one, greg!

 

[Alix]

Our roomba detects stairs. There are no tower things, you just have to adjust a couple of sensors on the bottom of the unit so it can tell the difference between floor and stairs. Its amazing. I'm of the "empty every 45 minutes" category as well. Hairy dog, hairy children...nuff said.

GG, LOL to the "5 second rule" on the stairs!

 

[buckytom]

we bought my mom, the kitchen neurosurgeon, a shark steamer thing for christmas.

by the 27th, mom had called to tell us how much she loved it!

she did her kitchen and bathroom floors and was astounded at how dirty the pads were, so she did the floors 2 or 3 times more until the pads came out perfectly clean after use, lol.

 

[Addie]

we bought my mom, the kitchen neurosurgeon, a shark steamer thing for christmas.

by the 27th, mom had called to tell us how much she loved it!

she did her kitchen and bathroom floors and was astounded at how dirty the pads were, so she did the floors 2 or 3 times more until the pads came out perfectly clean after use, lol.

Buckytom, was looking at some models at Amazon. What model did you get your mother? I have a galley kitchen and a bathroom. Would be perfect for those two areas. I have nice kids who will buy it for me for my birthday in March. I just haven't told them yet.

 

[Timothy]

This group is costing me a lot in new appliances!

 

[CWS4322]

Buckytom, was looking at some models at Amazon. What model did you get your mother? I have a galley kitchen and a bathroom. Would be perfect for those two areas. I have nice kids who will buy it for me for my birthday in March. I just haven't told them yet.

Mine's purple--I didn't know there are different models...

 

[no mayonnaise]

Once food touches the floor it goes in the garbage, no exceptions. Gotta be extra careful with the truffles!

 

[Al Pine]

 

[Andy M.]

FINALLY!!! A definitive answer.

Thank you,