There has got to be a better way to vacuum and mop my floors…..pl

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12.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:windowtext;”>We recently
pulled all the carpet from the house and replaced it with engineered hard wood
floors, and ceramic tile. I was against the laminate wood because I was
scared it would not hold up to our 3 messy kids, my clumsy but loveable husband
and our now five dogs:
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12.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:windowtext;”>A 6 year old female
housetrained shih Tzu, a now marking the house after almost 2 years of being
here (due to a new male puppy) 2 year old male miniature dachshund, an 18 week
old (approx) toy miniature female dachshund (both were rescue dogs), and just
recently added 9 week old brother and sister mixed lab puppies.
12.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:windowtext;”>All but the labs
are fixed and they are scheduled to get fixed Friday.
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12.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:windowtext;”>My husband was
against hard wood because of the cost, but I don’t feel the engineered
wood is much better than laminate, but we agreed to disagree and we have
engineered wood.
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12.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:windowtext;”>Anyway…. As
you can imagine, we have several accidents a day due to potty training.
We have doggy doors that go through the laundry room, into the garage, and then
out the back door but I also park the car in the garage and the new puppies do
not get the concept of not running out nor getting out of the way of the
car. So, we run the puppies out of the back door that currently only has a
metal door and a brand new fully glass storm door. I have recommended to
hubby we need to possibly take the new door down and either put a storm door up
with a doggy door built in or just leave a storm door off since the door goes
to a covered patio, and install a doggy door there since that is where we run
them out the majority of the time. That should help with the
potty training, we really can not expect them to go out the doggy door (even
though they know how to use it to come in and go out sometimes) to potty if we
are always running them out a different door. Anyway, that is a little
history on our situation, now my question for recommendations. We are using
a product called Nature’s Miracle, something expensive we bought from Pet’s
Mart for the tile after we clean up the mess (it was recommended by a trainer)
and a product called Simple Solution for the hard floors. It is suppose
to remove the stain and odor so they won’t use the same area again.
UMMM…. Not working very well, they potty everywhere even if the area has
been previously sprayed, and expensive although I did find it cheaper at
Amazon.com than Pet’s mart and I forgot to check Wal-Mart to see if they
carry it.
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12.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:windowtext;”>Okay, to my
questions……
12.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:windowtext;”>1. What
does anyone recommend if it is something other than what we are using for the floors?
We have tried to start setting a timer to run them out and they are in a crate
for crate training, although they will pee outside and come in 10 minutes later
and pee in the floor. The pet’s mart trainer recommended puppy
pads, the vet said no way, that teaches them it is okay to pee in the house, so
I guess that is a matter of opinion. 14 years ago, successfully trained a
terrier mix when we lived in an apartment with puppy pads, but the labs only
chew on them and the shih Tzu lays on them like they are a cozy bed.
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12.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:windowtext;”>2. I
am currently using the swiffer vacuum that you have to charge, and use the
cleaning cloths with. (I have a yellow dyson vacuum that I got a great
deal on during Christmas and I used it everyday on our carpet due to the carpet
being the previous owners and was not very clean despite several attempts of
steam cleaning it. When I switched it to bare floors, it stopped sucking up the
crap, and just slings stuff everywhere with some kind of exhaust air that comes
out. Then I use the swiffer wet jet along with the cleaning pads and the
solution for tile and hard wood. I can go over the entire area, then take
a wet paper towel and wipe down a piece of tile and it is brown and
dirty. I can’t afford all this solution here, wipes there, spray,
etc. What kind of vacuum cleaner is specifically designed to be used on bare
floors? Would it be a canister vacuum? One that doesn’t
require bags or cleaning cloths would be ideal, but if it works great, I can
manage. And what about the mopping? Is there a better way to get
the floors clean? I know with 3 kids and five dogs (the dogs always come
in dirty and muddy due to an apparent monsoon season we are having here in Oklahoma)
To keep our socks from being black, it will probably require daily vacuuming
and mopping. I have been looking at the Hoover Floor mates and the Hoover canister vacuums.

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12.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:windowtext;”>I just want
something that works great the first time, that doesn’t run out of power
and needs to be recharged before I get through the whole house; that doesn’t
require multiple pads and several bottles of cleaner a month (our house is 1580
Square feet) but we keep the bedrooms and bathrooms closed off so the daily
cleaning area is not that large.
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12.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:windowtext;”>What can anyone
recommend? I am not a Martha Stewart type of clean freak, but I do enjoy
a nice clean house, it helps deal with the craziness of homeschooling and
everything else. I look forward sitting on the edge of my seat with your
experienced tools and recommendations.
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12.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:windowtext;”>Melissa in OK

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