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Hard floor sweeper/vacuum


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I am getting to refine he cleaning and changearounds routine, I have bought a Karcher window vac and a floor steam cleaner as recommended by Quillan, now I need something better to go over the floors with on a daily basis than what I provide with the rooms for long term tenants.

The flooring is a mid tone wood finish laminate, it doesnt show marks so I steam clean it once a week or when required, most of the stays are only one or two nights so all that needs to be cleared from the floor are clothes and bedding fibres, some dust and crumbs only a tiny amount.

The vacuum cleaners are too fussy and far too Noisy not just for my ears but if people are still in bed or staying several days in the adjoining apartments its out of the question.

I currently use the broom and dustpan and brush but I can see from the oblique light coming through the veluxes that it kicks up a lot of dust which usually then clings to the gloss black kitchen units. An old school Bex Bissel push along floor Sweeper would do the job but I'm sure there is something newer and better adapted available.

It is also for use on the carrelage in my flat, in boths cases the amount to be picked up is minimal but going over afterwards with the steam mop makes little concentrations of the stuff that the broom dosnt remove having just blown it from one place to another.

Those G- tech air ram things would do it but are overkill, would be far too expensive and I suspect Noisy, it doesnt need to be Cordless, dont really want the hassle of battery charging and the vacuum part of it need only be very low powered and I hope as a consequence quiet.

So what do you know of that is out there or what can you recommend please?

Thank you.

P.S. My pal has given me the new nickname of Consuela, femme de menage [:P]

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Unless someone has a really bright idea, then I would say just get a vacuum cleaner, something like a Henry when you are back in England (seem to remember them being expensive in France). They are very simple and will do the job. I have one, I also have a sebo too, which I like.

All of them make noise.

Don't they call cleaning ladies 'la bonne' where you are???

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I have a Sebo too as recommended by Idun and others on the forum. What an excellent and versatile machine it is as whilst the bags appear to be twice the price as other machines they actually last three times as long. It is very quiet as well compared to our old Miele (spelling?) machine.
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If you want to be really quiet, why not get one of those "dry mop" type thingies that you can use to remove the dust and hairs: they seem to trap the grot electrostatically, and you can then  wash out the mop to clean it when necessary.

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In general we are talking about enough hairs and fluff, miettes etc to be swallowed by the palm of a hand, a proper vacuum is out of the question, far too bulky to lug around (plus I have far too many already) and this is on the 3rd floor, the staircase and landings are narrow and would get whacked by the vacuum, if I do need to vacuum up each apartment has a small but very Noisy compact cylinder one.

As I said I already have a steam mop with the electrostatic pad, that is overkill also except once a week or if there are stains to remove, people often arrive here late at night and go early the next morning after doing no more than have a few cups of coffee, I'm trying (and succeeding) to reduce the housekeeping and especially trundling heavy stuff around all the suggestions above are going in the other direction, as for waiting for when people are out, well I need to turn the flats around the instant they leave to give me any spare time in the day for shopping and small DIY repairs to keep them tip-top.

Using a soft broom and then the dustpan and brush to pick up the sweepings is fine but it misses bits, the eyes cant see them but when I use the steam mop its obvious, and the broom kicks up dust which is attracted to the gloss black kitchen façades.

Something like this http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005PY23HY/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3NKF0ZRLRDJXG&coliid=IMBQ5YKSDK2YM

or this http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00E8ENUCY/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3NKF0ZRLRDJXG&coliid=I2Q7UZKXKCVE4R

"seems" to be what I want but for all the ones I find the feedback is very polarised between brilliant and useless hence my request for a recommendation or another (simple) way of doing the job.

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I do agree though that the Henry vacuums are very quiet and very efficient, my last tenant in the UK had one.

When I have several larger flats on the lower floors with varying floor finishes to clean up I'm sure that I will have a dedicated vaccuum, but these studios are only the size of a large kitchen and take about 30 seconds with a broom

[IMG]http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff295/jr7man/Coquelicotel/CIMG2785_zpsb4813547.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff295/jr7man/Coquelicotel/CIMG2782_zps8872afb2.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff295/jr7man/Coquelicotel/CIMG2781_zps3b223964.jpg[/IMG]

The bathroom is small enough for me to kneel ouside the door and clean the whole floor with a cloth without moving.

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I used to use one of the sweeper things. My hoover packed in after a couple of years in France and I frankly could not afford a new vacuum cleaner. I used a sweeping brush and dust pan and my 'sweeper' on the few carpets/rugs I had. You've just made me remember how expensive France was in my first few years and how poor we were once we had the house, the half finished house.

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I'm not so keen on those dry mop thingies, used to have one. In similar circumstances I use a damp mop which has an e-cloth head, which doesn't seem to leave any hairs, dust etc. I use no chemicals, just water, then a quick rinse out is all it needs. I use that throughout our apartment, knowing that it's not dirty, just a bit dusty as we move about and the VMC sucks air through, spreading some dust.

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[quote user="Pickles"]If you want to be really quiet, why not get one of those "dry mop" type thingies that you can use to remove the dust and hairs: they seem to trap the grot electrostatically, and you can then  wash out the mop to clean it when necessary.

[/quote]

I use these as well for between steaming.  You can get a really nice, heavy-duty, extra long handled one (more leverage and you can press more firmly) from Lidl.  I have 3 or 4 of the fibre-cloths that fit on the handle and I usually soak the loose dirt off those and then bung them in the washing machine.

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