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Cleaning tools and styles
By Adele Ong
Published: January 14 2008,
CATS Classified in The Straits Times
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Anyone with an unspoilt mum or grandma above a certain age will know her preferred floor-cleaning style: down on hands and knees with a pail of water (to be changed frequently) and rag cloths (to be rinsed frequently).

Even if they are no longer fit enough to do housework the way they’d like, you may hear them commenting on how brooms, mops and vacuum cleaners “aren’t so good, but what to do…?”

Is it true that the pail-and-cloth method of wiping floors gets them cleaner than other methods? Alas for the lazy and arthritic, it is indeed often so!

Cloth and pail – kneeling close to the ground, you see the dirt on the floor clearly, and pick up strands of hair, grit and dust-clumps along the way. But this is hard on the knees and hands, and slow. The water must be changed ever so often to avoid getting dirty liquid everywhere. Save it for important occasions.

Mops – these are fine for general wet-wiping of floors, but may not pick up much loose dirt and hair, and the water in the pail needs to be changed often.

Brooms – long-handled brooms are fine for general sweeping of floors. But the action of the broom stirs loose dust into the air. Grit and hair may fall through the bristles and never reach the dustpan.

Static cloths – these disposable cloths can be attached to the end of a long-handled implement and run over the floor. They do pick up dust and hair. But if there’s a lot of grit, you’ll still need to sweep it into a pile and onto a dustpan. They can be slow going as you have to cover every inch of floor to pick up all the dust – they can’t “carry” dust and dirt before them like vigorously-wielded brooms or cloths can.

Dusters– short-handled dusters are for routine dislodging of cobwebs and dust from shelves and countertops, or to remove dry dust before wet-wiping. Some people in Singapore sweep the floors on their hands and knees with feather dusters. While thorough, this is slow and hard on the joints.

Vacuum cleaners – these and other electronic cleaners, which can be used wet or dry on various surfaces, suck up grit, dust and dirt that won’t “lift” onto a mop or broom. But they use electricity, and like static cloths, must cover every inch of floor. They may not be able to pick up strands of hair that have worked their way into a fabric sofa or carpet.