How do you cope with laminate and tile flooring?

swingaloo2

Im at my wits end!  What's the best thing to clean laminate flooring with? Any tips please?
Having just moved house we have inherited some very nice looking laminate flooring and a lovely tiled kitchen and bathroom floor. I did have laminate flooring once before and didn't like it much then but my last house had carpets throughout. (Obviously not the kitchen and bathroom)
As most people seem to love laminate these days I wasn't too bothered about the new house having it when we viewed and it looked lovely then but now we are moved in I hate it. I have an endless day of cleaning floors every day. When I hoover I feel as if I'm just taking in dust at one end and throwing it out again at the other. (Its a new hoover as well). I use one of those floor dusters on a stick, I've tried wipes, got down on my hands and knees and wiped it by hand but nothing seems to make it look dust free and when the sun comes through the window as it is today the place looks awful. We wear slippers in the house, change out of shoes at the door but if it isn't dust its footprints I can see. Its a lovely dark laminate which matches the door frames and looks lovely (If you don't look too close) and it looks new so I'm hesitant to change it to carpet but its honestly getting on my nerves and I've only been in the house 2 weeks.  It goes through 2 downstairs rooms and 3 bedrooms.  
Likewise the kitchen and hall floors are a tile and again I can just see dust, dust and more dust. If I sit at the kitchen table and look towards the French doors as the sun is coming through I could scream. The bathroom has just been completely re-done and they have put white tiles on the floor which look lovely but as soon as someone steps off the floormat or comes out of the loo I can see footprints and I'm there with a damp cloth. This morning 3 of us have had a shower and after each one I get on my knees and wipe the floor from corner to corner. 
It sounds silly to be so bothered by this and I'm not some kind of 'clean freak' but I feel I'm becoming a bit obsessive about it.  How do other keep the dust down and laminate looking good?

yksi

Turn the lights off and close the curtains. Get yourself some rugs. Seriously, the problem with the floor is that you're spending too much time looking at it in detail. Try to remember that you were never able to get so much dirt out of the carpet floors - as nice as those feel underfoot, they are seriously grubby. Hard floors are more hygienic and allow you to see that you've gotten all the dirt and marks off, but it seems like you're struggling not to obsess over this x

TimSynths

Do what I did, tear it up and replace with nice carpet (obvs not the bathroom unless you are on some warped 1970's throwback thing).

[Deleted User]

swingaloo2 said:

When I hoover I feel as if I'm just taking in dust at one end and throwing it out again at the other. 

I'd get your vacuum fixed as a starter.

kazwookie

Where is the dust coming from? you need to deal with that.

When I had builders in to re do the bathroom and ensuit the dust was amazing all over the place, but a couple of weeks of hoovering and wet mopping it has all gone as it was particles in the air dropping out on to the floors, now I get very little dust.

swingaloo2

kazwookie said:

Where is the dust coming from? you need to deal with that.

I wish I had an answer for that, probably having a dog does not help but we cant get rid of the dog. But the dog does not go upstairs and its just as bad up there.  I think I am becoming a bit obsessive as another poster said but it is really getting on my nerves. I know its still there when you have a carpet but just not as visible. 
I went round the room I am in now with the hoover nozzle getting into all the corners this morning yet 5 minutes ago I ran my finger along the floor at the bottom of a sideboard and got a thick wedge of fluffy dust on my finger. Couple more months of this and it will be either carpets or move house again and I said I would never ever move again, lol.

EssexExile

TimSynths said:

Do what I did, tear it up and replace with nice carpet (obvs not the bathroom unless you are on some warped 1970's throwback thing).

I'm on some warped 1970s throwback thing.

FreeBear

kazwookie said: When I had builders in to re do the bathroom and ensuit the dust was amazing all over the place

I have a continuous battle with dust. Doesn't help that I seem to be in a perpetual state of repair/renovation. A spray bottle of water to squirt around in the air before sweeping/hoovering helps to get much of the dust out. If the air is dry, disturbing the dust just gets it back in the air where it can settle somewhere else. A few water droplets, and the stuff clumps together and is much easier to control.

AskAsk

mop, bucket and flash floor cleaner for both laminate and tiled floors.

swingaloo2

AskAsk said:

mop, bucket and flash floor cleaner for both laminate and tiled floors.

I use a mop and flash cleaner for the tiled floors but was told not to use a mop on the laminate as it should never be wet as it seeps into the joints.

Emmia

swingaloo2 said:

AskAsk said:

mop, bucket and flash floor cleaner for both laminate and tiled floors.

I use a mop and flash cleaner for the tiled floors but was told not to use a mop on the laminate as it should never be wet as it seeps into the joints.

I mop our laminate (after vacuuming), but I properly squeeze the mop so  it's just damp (like a surface wipe) rather than sopping wet - I use the flash for wooden floors on the laminate, the LVT in the kitchen and the bathroom tiles.