I am looking for ideas that will keep housework to an absolute minimum.
Same flooring throughout house, eg polished concrete
no tiles or minimum grout on wet area walls
hose out laundry, toilet and bathroom
I am sure you all know plenty more.
I have had a quick look on the web and came across sweep in base boards. Does anyone have these?
it´s not that easy... polished concrete is one of the most work-intensive materials. you should know that this is like non painted/varnished wood- imagine red wine- yes, it will be IN the concrete not ON it if you spill a drop.
and what will replace tiles? linoleum might be an alternative (it´s also very "green") but you should know what it looks like, it´s not very common :)
my way of keeping housework easy refers e.g. to the objects on the floor and on the shelves - if there are not that many, it´s so much easier to clean.
First: I can't recall which of these 2 books it's in, but there are a series of books about cleaning by a professional cleaner, and in at least one he gets pretty militant about how to create the absolutely least-work house.
It's either: Speed Cleaning - http://www.amazon.com/Speed-Cleaning-Jeff-Campbell/dp/0440503744/ref=pd_sim_b_1 or Clutter Control - http://www.amazon.com/Clutter-Control-Putting-Your-Home/dp/0440503396/ref=pd_sim_b_1
These are both fun books and I really recommend them. I'll check tonight which is more specific on the topic.
Splitting out chat about your specific queries:
Re: Concrete: I haven't ever lived with polished concrete - I would think it would be sealed so that stains wouldn't be an issue, but YMMV. I have lived with *unfinished* concrete (before I put real flooring in), and it was *hard* and *cold*. Radiant heating in the floor would at least take care of the cold part...
Tile will have the same issues as above, plus grout lines. Have you looked at something like bamboo? Hard, but at least a bit warmer, and pretty hard to damage. Linoleum - the real stuff - will be as hard as whatever the substrate is, but is also environmentally friendly and comes in nice sheets so you have no/few grout lines. If you don't care about environmentally friendly, vinyl will do the same thing. If you're willing to spend enough money, you can get your entire house floor extruded as a single sheet. :)
I like the idea of hose-down wet rooms, and someday when I redo my bathroom it absolutely will be that way.
For grout issues, I think the least painful way to deal with it is: very thin grout lines, that are not white. You could also look at single sheet vinyl, again. There's always the trade-off, though, that a single flat surface shows soap scum to perfection in a way that smaller tiles don't.
Instead of building in something like sweep-in baseboards, I'd just buy a Roomba or 3. Along those lines, one thing I really loved about my Fisher and Paykel dishdrawers was that I could always have one dishwasher load going and another being emptied/filled, so I never had piles of dishes lying around. More automation == less work for me.
There used to be a kitchen forum on Gardenweb that was full of cool ideas to build in but I haven't checked it in years.
For ease of cleaning, I'd go for smooth, nonporous panelling; no carpets; floor drains in the wet areas to make it easier to clean in and around the floors; and linoleum. I'm redoing my study in linoleum rather than wood flooring precisely because I need it to be easy to clean.
Second the recommendations of the Jeff Campbell books. Very often they turn up at second-hand stores. Speed Cleaning is a great book, and I have incorporated a few of his ideas (but not his whole cleaning system, at least not yet.)
My favorite flooring is sealed hardwood. I have it throughout my house, even in the bathrooms. It is simple to vacuum or dustmop and damp mop. It always looks good and shows no dust or dirt if it isn't stained dark. Natural sealed (urethaned) oak shows nothing!
Shower and bathtub walls are easiest to keep clean if they are a solid material like cultured (or real) marble, etc. No grout and only seams in the corners. Same with counters and sinks. One solid surface including the sink. A mild spray cleaner is all you need. One piece toilets are great too.
Basically, no seams or joints to collect crud. Simple, smooth surfaces.
My biggest dirt collectors are light fixtures and ceiling fan blades.
If I were building a new house it would be contemporary with no moldings and fru-fru. Sleek, simple and easy to keep clean!
I'm with Sky - hardwood flooring is superior. I've lived or worked on all types of floor surfaces. IMO, nothing beats hardwood flooring for beauty, utility, and durability. It's easy to clean and shows NOTHING in-between cleanings. Also, there's enough "give" to a wood surface so that your back and feet won't hurt at the end of the day. I've dropped dishes and glasses on my hardwood kitchen floor with barely any breakage.
You know, I might be persuaded to put in hardwood instead of linoleum. It would last much longer, and it's a lot nicer overall. I think the key word is *sealed* hardwood -- The only reason I was considering linoleum is that my cats utterly destroyed the (unsealed) laminate in my office.
Thanks for all your ideas so far:
* hard floors
* minimal joins/seams
* recessed lights
* no fancy bits including mouldings
* hose down wet areas
and I will get those Campbell books from the library. Thanks so much
- No wood panelling alongside walls
- Anything painted is well maintained; no paint chipping allowed
- Floor heating; no radiators
- Thermo windows or whatever they are called; several glasses but you wash only two or four surfaces per window
- Kitchen sink is attached from below, not above; creates a better seal
- All kitchen machines should be easy to maintain
- Shower drain Unidrain (company name?); allows floor to tilt only in one direction as opposed to a single small drain in the middle of the shower floor
- Electrical cables run inside walls or inside the small thingy at floor level
- No cables are allowed to collect dust
- Easy-to-clean lamps
- Bookshelves have closed backs
- Knick-knacks are kept behind glass doors
- Air circulation system to keep temperature controlled; less dirty windows come as bonus (this might be an energy-efficiency solution characteristic for houses way up in the northern hemisphere)
Windows that tilt in for easy cleaning.
Louvered doors on your closets. Plus side: Air circulation prevents dampness and mustiness. Minus side: You'll have to vacuum/dust the louvers. I think the plus outweighs the minus.
Does anyone have a completely wall hung toilet (does not touch the ground) with the cistern completely in the wall? I have seen them here and there, seems it would make life simpler, but I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has road tested one. Many thanks.
JuliaJayne, do you mean those that tilt from the middle of the height or the ones that just kip from the bottom? I've heard a really sad story concerning the latter from a German friend whose friend had a cat. The friend had apparently gone away over the weekend and had forgotten to close a window tilted open from the bottom. The cat had tried to go out and got stuck, where she found it, not alive. Heartbreaking.
I prefer windows that open into the room. If they consist of two windows, the attachment part can be removed and the you clean two windows in sequence. The Danish windows, on the other hand usually open to the outside and washing them on that side is sometimes impossible. Very practical...
Like this--
I would have baseboards, just use a very simple one without detailed molding. If your drywall or plaster went all the way to the ground, I think it would be very easy to dent with your vacuum cleaner, mop, or furniture. Baseboards are sturdier. Or maybe I'm just too wild and crazy with my vacuum!
I wish my woodwork was stained, instead of painted white. White shows dust and dirt so clearly. Dark stain and high gloss shows dust, but lighter colors and satin finish are great as Sky said.
Or you could find a self-cleaning house like this one...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DhUszhfd_Y
When I'm in charge of the world, small appliances will not have stupid little lines, or decorations which are hard to clean. I need my stuff to function, not to be decorative!!
I 3rd or 4th the sealed hardwood floors. Our have been down for more than 20 years and still look good. Our basement, however, is concrete - sealed - and it is hard and COLD. We have put carpet tiles in the two rooms (as opposed to DH's workshop, the utility room and the laundry) and it helps, but you still need shoes/slippers to be comfortable, even in summer.
I work in the commercial architectural industry and polished concrete floors wear well if they are well sealed. Also you can get a variety of stains for the concrete to customize your color when you install it. They are very hard on the feet/legs/standing comfort factor however and also very cold if you don't use some sort of radiant heat system as someone else pointed out. Concrete holds and radiates heat and cold so unless you are in a temperate climate it might be a rough go.
Our friends installed a wall hung "commercial" toilet in their bathroom due to space concerns during a remodel, and it looks and works great. They chose a type with the flush lever to the side of the loo, which worked well for their unusual layout. It does look more "industrial" than a residential version, but in a modern-esque house that might be more a benefit than a drawback.
oh and I second dual-pane windows as a labor saving device. We live in a very dusty city and I have seen a HUGE difference in the dusting needed since we moved into a condo with new, well sealed double pane windows. I think the tip-in kind would be a nice plus, ours slide which means horizontal slider tracks to clean out on a regular basis. Not fun.
I read somewhere in here that the problem with the floors is the cats tearing them up. I'd recommend trimming their nail and having a scratching post or pad available, so their nails aren't so sharp. Maybe training would work, too, but we all know how easy it is to train a cat.
Also, I worked in a building that had the wall-hung toilets. Seems great for custodians to mop under, but we did have trouble because when people sat on the toilets, apparently water leaked from the seal in the wall. I don't know if that was because so many people were using the toilets (since they're public) or because they weren't installed correctly (I doubt it). But it's a consideration. And, in a home, I'm not sure cleaning around/under the toilet is such a problem.
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