[getdul981]

Originally Posted by senior citizen

Could be you are correct about only cleaning with water.
I had been using a Swiffer with their cleaning detergent bottles.
Since I've been using strictly tap water / steam......it's much cleaner.
Unfortunately, we never had the grout sealed. Our tile guy never even mentioned it.......whereas, in N.J. our cousins sealed all their grout.

The bathroom tile does not get as soiled, except for the shower stall.
We should never have tiled the shower.....but it was in vogue at the time, a few years back. Also should never have bought glass shower doors.
Does anyone know a quick cleaning trick for the glass doors? They are beautiful etched glass with roses and vines.......but we have HARD WATER up here in Vermont and no water softener......so soap scum doesn't take long to build up. THANKS................P.S. THE BEST SHOWER FLOOR WE'VE EVER SEEN WAS LAST SUMMER IN TABERNASH COLORADO AT THE DEVILS THUMB RESORT RANCH.......ALL THE SHOWER FLOORS HAD RIVER STONES........LIKE PEBBLES TO WALK ON.....BUT VERY NICE AND NON SLIPPERY....HUGE GLASS SHOWERS.........AND SOAKING TUBS IN ALL THE ROOMS. WE HAD NEVER SEEN RIVER STONES BEFORE.........they were various shades of grey.

Lime Away

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by getdul981

Lime Away

Will try it. Thanks....

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by mrdarcy

I had a floor of floating engineered wood installed over concrete in my basement for my mother who lived with me until she died at age 84. I used engineered wood because it has less of a tendency to buckle in humidity owing to man-made backing. I had the installer put it in as floating, as opposed to glued down, because floating is a bit more "springy". When my mom fell down on occasion she never injured herself because the floating engineered wood was resilient enough to absorb the energy of the fall. The engineered wood is about as expensive as real wood. I loved this flooring (and I loved my mom).

Good to know. I totally now understand what my carpenter meant by floating wood floor....thanks to all of you.

Also, that was very considerate of you to be so understanding of your elderly mom's frailities with the falling, etc.

Been there, done that for my own mom, who passed at age 91.

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by Uptown Girl

P.S.
In talking to a friend today, I was told they sold the formula to another company a few years ago (my, but my can has lasted a long time!) and it is now known as "No Streek Glass Wax". It is sold in a plastic bottle and is yellow, but otherwise is the same formula. My friend ordered it online, but says that some Ace Hardware stores carry it.
Just thought I'd add this, so you don't drive yourself crazy trying to find it!

I always look first on Amazon.com.......as our hardware stores are limited here in town. Thank you!!!!!!!!!

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by angiefox10

I'll wait till I can buy it at the store....

They want 7.50 to ship it!!!!

If you find certain things at amazon.com.......you can get free super saver shipping.
Unless you want it overnight or the next day.

[Dgreenbucks]

Originally Posted by cappyjon431

My wife and I have always preferred tile, primarily for ease of maintenance. We currently have a beautiful hardwood floor, it looks great when it is swept and mopped, but the dark floor combined with our white haired dog makes upkeep very difficult.

We are closing on a resale home next month and while the current owner has just put in brand new caprpeting, my wife decided it has to go so she has already made arrangements to have tile installed post-closing and prior to the moving truck's arrival.

As an aside (and not meaning to hijack this thread), does anyone know who we can donate the to once we have it removed? My immediate thought is Habitat For Hummanity, but I wasn't sure if they had a Habitat group near TV

Yes, TV has Habitat, or you might consider binding it for rugs. They do binding at the Marion Flea Market.

[caseylou5]

My choice would be hardwood in all rooms except the bathroom. I now have rugs and vinyl and do not like it at all.

When I can i will replace the rugs in the kitche, LR and DR with hardwood. I don't mind the rugs in the bedrooms.

[caseylou5]

Very nice!

[justanormalgirl]

We currently have 3/4" thick solid oak hardwood floors in the entire house except for marble tile in both bathrooms. We have a 10 by 12 area rug in the living room and smaller rugs where they are needed. I like carpet but we have 3 little dogs and it seems that, no matter what quality carpet/pad you buy nowdays, it wears out so quick that it needs replaced way too often. With Oak floors I can redecorate simply by getting new rugs!

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by justanormalgirl

We currently have 3/4" thick solid oak hardwood floors in the entire house except for marble tile in both bathrooms. We have a 10 by 12 area rug in the living room and smaller rugs where they are needed. I like carpet but we have 3 little dogs and it seems that, no matter what quality carpet/pad you buy nowdays, it wears out so quick that it needs replaced way too often. With Oak floors I can redecorate simply by getting new rugs!

The area rugs make sense as an option.....along with the oak floors which certainly must be beautiful. We were just discussing , ourselves, getting area rugs if and when we install the floating wood floors. Actually saw a segment last evening on HGTV on Direct TV where they installed the floating wood floors in a basement apartment which a home owner in Canada was converting to income property..........turned out beautifully and cut her mortgage payment in half.

Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful flooring ideas, options and their own favorites.......appreciate it.

[justanormalgirl]

Is there a reason why you would use/choose a floating floor over real wood? Does it make a difference in the Florida climate? We had a floating floor in one of our homes and we hated it for sooo many reasons!

1. It was hard to keep clean and you had to dry it after mopping or it would streak.
2. The floors were cold.
3. They were noisy, every sound was magnified.

Although, the floors in that house weren't level so the 'floating' floor did help with that

When we bought this home we had all of the carpet removed and had real, solid oak floors installed. We love them! When we got the area rug we went to the carpet store and bought a piece of the soft back carpet (not foam back and not traditional jute back) and had it bound. With the soft back carpet/rugs you don't need a pad under an area rug, the soft back is made for use over hardwood.

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by justanormalgirl

Is there a reason why you would use/choose a floating floor over real wood? Does it make a difference in the Florida climate? We had a floating floor in one of our homes and we hated it for sooo many reasons!

1. It was hard to keep clean and you had to dry it after mopping or it would streak.
2. The floors were cold.
3. They were noisy, every sound was magnified.

Although, the floors in that house weren't level so the 'floating' floor did help with that

When we bought this home we had all of the carpet removed and had real, solid oak floors installed. We love them! When we got the area rug we went to the carpet store and bought a piece of the soft back carpet (not foam back and not traditional jute back) and had it bound. With the soft back carpet/rugs you don't need a pad under an area rug, the soft back is made for use over hardwood.

No no no.....we haven't even purchased a home in TV yet. If you read the earlier threads, I was asking about the pros and cons of various type wood flooring and if they install it in a newly purchased TV home, etc.

In other words, do the "packages" have options as to flooring.

I mentioned that our carpenter, here in VERMONT, had suggested putting a floating wood floor down for us.........we have a tri level and in this lower level which is a daylight basement (house is built to accomodate the hillside).

They couldn't dynamite out a cellar hole as there is so much boulder and ledge under the earth up here........so they put down cement slabs.

Our carpenter who is also a home builder, tile installer, etc........suggested a floating wood floor.........which we recently finally did see and understand the 'soft layer" put beneath right onto the cement /concrete.....then the wood or laminate...whichever someone chose.....is put down WITH NO NAILS.

It doesn't raise the floor as much as if we had wood put down and the new floor nailed to the wood.

Supposedly, it's also softer and "gives a little" and is good for humid places such as basements or Florida homes which are built on a slab with no cellar beneath.............we aren't doing anything yet.

Our home is carpeted and tiled (tiled in kitchen and 3 bathrooms), carpeted in living room, dining room, three bedrooms, family room......two stairwells and three hallways.....foyer.

Foyer is a long story.....it's a 20 foot foyer and very nice.......tile would have been perfect.......but we moved back here from our condo on the beach in Venice, Florida where I had tiled not only the foyer, the kitchen, the bathrooms, and the two balconies, one facing the beach and sand.......the other facing the esplanade and waterway in the front............so coming back here after 4 months, with my mom with Alzheimers, my hubby and I just carpeted the entire house......I was all decorated out.

We had other concerns such as my mom's "wandering", confusion, etc.

The Venice tile was beautiful....we did it like a small chapel we saw in Nokomis, Florida.......pale grey and rose colored slate on the balconies and a pale peach in the kitchen and bathrooms......beige berber in the living room and bedrooms............we actually moved back to Vermont with all our Florida furniture...........16 years ago. Our adult kids wish we'd tear out all our carpeting and replace with wood floors !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wood is "in"....for sure.