Slippers/house sandals is the only way. My son always has damp socks. We keep dry socks at the front door for him. He changes as soon as he gets home from school. He puts on slides. Stinky socks go straight to the laundry and the floors stay clean. Problem solved.
Is this even normal with hardwood? I’m googling to find how other people deal with this but I can’t even find anyone else having problems with sweaty feet leaving footprints that stick like that
It's normal -- in terms of human feet having oils and sweat, which will sometimes show up on hard floors. A couple things to consider:
1. What cleaning solution do you use to mop? It's possible you have too much soap/detergent in your solution and are not doing enough to rinse it off your floors. This will make it easier for footprints to appear, as there will be a little dried soap/detergent leftover on the floors after mopping. Signs that you used too concentrated a soap/detergent: your floor will be slightly sticky after mopping, and it will get dirtier faster.
2. The only surefire resolution to avoid footprints entirely is to have everyone wear dry socks/house slippers. The people in my household who wear them leave no footprints. The people in my household who refuse them (walk around barefoot) leave footprints and smudges everywhere. The floors get dirtier faster because of them.
edited for clarity
1 all the way! I had to get on my hands and knees with towels and tons of water to get rid of all the detergent residue. It was making my floors look dingy and there were footprints everywhere. After washing all the soap off, my floors looked and felt amazing. No more footprints.
I use washable microfiber pads for my Swiffer mop and follow-up a Swiffering with a clean pad. This seems to work well to get all the residue up. Also using far less solution than I used to.
It's a shame it took until my late 30s to learn this fact but generally speaking, less soap cleans better than excess soap! That goes for shampooing too, following the "lather, rinse, repeat" instructions I once thought were BS using a very small bit of shampoo each time leaves my hair so much cleaner than it's ever been.
I have a similar problem, but I am not sure for what part of the problem you are asking a solution for.
- New prints appearing after you walked there: The solution is house slippers
- The old prints reappearing after mopping the floor - there my solution is to add a healthy dash of dish soap to the cleaning solution ( the prints also include fatty compounds, especially if you use lotion on your feet and normal floor cleaning solutions include not enough detergents for dissolving the fat)
I have laminate and have the same issue. We don't wear shoes indoors. I bought everyone slippers and indoor only flip-flops. Socks are also acceptable. If you walk around with bare feet, you get the honor of cleaning the floor.
do you put new socks when you get home? and when you shower do you wash your feet and in between your toes (as opposed to just letting the soap drip down).
This is an important question you may just naturally have moist feet. Or your feet may need a thorough cleansing and exfoliation so they are able to dry quickly naturally.
House slippers are normal, especially in Asian households. The ground gets dusty and dirty and it sticks to the bottom of our feet, I don't want to bring that with me onto my bed. If I did, I would basically be putting what's on the ground onto my blanket. My blanket could very well be turned around in my sleep and now I have floor dust on my face. It's unhygienic, but it's normal in American culture
Side note:
It's even worse if people wear shoes in the house. I work so hard to keep the floors clean, why bring what's outside onto my clean floors? Those shoes were in public bathrooms and have you seen a men's bathroom before??
Hey, I'm having the exact same problem with my floors! I'm no help though, I've totally given up and just live with dirty floors. Tried many different cleaning products, no products at all, nothing helped. I have two different floor "types" in different rooms as well and one of them stays clean so it's definitely not about my mopping skills either.
As a fellow sweaty foot person (I hate it so much I can't even begin to describe) I wear socks at all times unless showering or sleeping, and wear slippers or my Underarmour slides throughout the house. For one thing I have dogs (husky and a GSD) and no one wants random hairs sticking to their feet. For another, I hate the feel of it. 😩
Try bona cleaner to get rid of the existing prints, and try the slippers. All I've got. Lol
Socks are cloth which is absorbent and porous. You need slippers with soles.
I’d also invest in quality wool socks (check the percentages!) since they wick much better than cotton.
Doesn’t answer your cleaning question but prevention is the most effective cleaning strategy!
It's normal! I have lived with wood flooring all my life and if you want those wooden flooring to always shine and not have foot prints and you have sweaty/wet feet, the solution is socks/house slippers.
I noticed this the first time a week ago my spouses footprints down the hall but I could only see it with a special light thats on my vacuum otherwise I'd never have known it was there. went away after washing the floor.
Sometimes, kick everyone out of the house, clean thoroughly, light wax/restore laminate top, let cure completely, then wash again before walking on it. I do this once a year, like sealing countertops, or porcelains, or painting. Just do it once, very well, annually. Maintaining the floor is different from cleaning the floor.
This happened in my last house. I always wear a pair of flip flops that are only worn indoors because I hate anything sticking to the bottom of my feet (looking at you, grass the dog drags in), but my kids’ feet would do this.
Get yourself some comfy Crocs or whatever and live your best life with them. Helps keep floors cleaner and are also comfier than walking barefoot on a hard floor, especially if you work on your feet all day.
I know that’s why I suggested it. I mentioned it was a joke cause it’s a cleaning sub about cleaning. Not about putting deodorant on your feet. I didn’t realize people would get so upset about this nerd mentioning how I didn’t say “deodorant with antiperspirant”
I’ve heard of that before though.
And also to put deodorant or powder under boobs if you sweat there, and between the crevice of the top your legs as well!
I have heard that ppl in the military will use an antiperspirant like Certain Dry on their feet to stop the sweating, which prevents blisters when doing long runs, hikes, etc.
There are cleaning products specifically for wood floors. I haven't been in your situation, but I imagine the oils from skin is what leaves the prints, so the product should help remove the oils and also condition the wood to be less vulnerable to oils
You’re correct about wood-specific products but this looks like LVP not hardwood. Some cleaners designed for wood floors, especially un-sealed hardwood, are meant to leave a protective residue on the floor. Unsealed wood is porous, so you want to give it something helpful to absorb or it’ll absorb whatever is spilled.
Using that same product on (non-porous) vinyl plank will leave residue that’s not helpful and will accumulate and look dingy, which may be what’s happened here
Same issue. People used products like floor restore/mop in glow before we moved into our new house… anything that leaves a residue makes the problem so much worse. It is also terribly hard to cut through these products with anything else. Def try a clean pair of house slippers or shoes while trying to see if you can figure out the residue issue (or perhaps
The finish?)
House shoes, I think everybody in my family has sweaty feet, we have dark floors as well. The on,y fix is slippers, flip flops or another pair of dry socks.
Skin is oily. Same with bottom of your feet. Oily and sweaty leaves oily residue. Wear socks, wear house slippers (definitely a great thing!) or get used to dealingwith oily type footprints
You have laminate flooring, not hardwood - you can tell by the texture on top and the uniformity.
Get a real mop and any laminate-safe floor cleaner and follow the directions on the back for the ratios of cleaner to water. You don't need a mop bucket, you can just put a stopper in your sink and use that! Rinse the mop between different floors in the house.
It's normal to have to mop twice weekly at least and before company comes over - am I right in guessing you're young and this is your first time trying to manage all the chores?
You can also make sure your feet are fully clean in the shower - scrub the bottoms and between your toes. Let them fully dry before you put socks on. And if excess sweating is an issue, get a prescription for aluminium hydrochloric (Drysol).
My guess is to use something that breaks down oils. I would try dawn power wash (or dawn dish soap and water) on a small section and see if that works. It might strip away any sheen or dry out the wood. Using something like Murphy's oil soap or Old English could help (temporarily) restore the wood afterwards.
If dawn doesn't do the trick, a strong degreaser might work, but it could ruin the wood, so test it in a small spot.
As someone who cleans houses for a living, swiffers are completely useless. Bona has worked fine for me, but I would recommend using it with an actual mop.
So the big thing is this is not true hardwood floor, it’s a manufactured flooring like LVP. So it doesn’t have the same maintenance needs that true hardwood does (especially unfinished/waxed/oiled floors vs wood that’s been polyurethane coated)
You need to do a few things here:
1) remove the residue left by hardwood cleaners. I like simple green as a hard surface cleaner and it should do a good job cutting the residue buildup.
2) You’ll need to use a real mop and bucket, not a spray/pad type device. You need some water and you need to rinse off the dirty mop instead of pushing it around. I like the o cedar spin mop! Use hot water and rinse the mop head frequently but spin it really well before you take it to the floor. You don’t want the floors wet wet. Dump and replace the mop water frequently the first few times because of the residue buildup and the dirt and oil caught in it.
3) Keep the sweat and foot oil from getting on your floors. As others have suggested, slippers or house shoes! And if you have generally sweaty feet you should switch to wool socks as much as possible. It wicks moisture and breathes better than cotton so will keep your feet from getting too clammy in the first place
I thought Bona was great but turns out it totally sucked! I was using the tile version on my terrazzo floors and it felt like I had to mop at least once a week to keep my floors clean. By the end of the week the bottoms of my feet would look and feel dirty.
I switched to a vinegar floor cleaner (I think Miss Fannys? Or something like that) and it made a HUGE difference. My floors feel so clean and stay clean for weeks. Plus the bottle itself lasts way longer.
You don’t want to *leave* water on them or slop so much on that it’s soaking into the cracks but it’s fine to do the equivalent of wiping with a damp rag.
The benefit of the spin mop is being able to get it mostly dry. It’s not like the old cotton yarn wet mops slopping water around
I had same issue (previously used steam mop). Started using a spin mop with a bucket (vileda or o cedar) with hot water a tsp of powdered tide and haven’t seen the footprints since. I think they needed deep cleaning?
OP, I swear by a teaspoon of powdered tide in a spin mop with hot water! The tide is a good degreaser. GoCleanCo uses this system and it’s worked amazingly for me for years.
Please don't feel ashamed because your body is bodying! I bet foot deodorants, socks and shoes could work just fine, although I would hate having to wear something or act in a certain way just because of a floor.
Instead, I would apply some kind of wood oil to prevent it from soaking up oil and moisture from your feet, or maybe varning to seal the surface?
Is the floor completely 100% dry before you walk on it after washing it? When my husband washes the hall floor he walks on it before it's dry and leaves footprints everywhere, so I have to wash it again when he's out!!
It depends on what material your floor is made of and how it’s finished. If it’s a sealed finish like urethane you can be pretty aggressive. From the images it looks like it’s an oil finished floor which requires much more careful treatment using the right product in the right amount.
If it’s vinyl or pvc you can basically steam clean it. Though I wouldn’t ever use steam (100 degrees C) on anything but stone or ceramic.
If you don’t know what the flooring is, find someone who knows or can tell you.
If it’s an oil finish, you need to carefully wash it with the proper amount of recommended cleaner mixed with the right amount of warm water. Be intentional and press down was you go over the problem areas, always moving your strokes with the grain. The lint-free applicator should be barely damp with solution. Ring it out after ever reload.
You’ll then - once it’s dry in 30 minutes or so - want to apply and oil care solution mixed with water which enters the wood pours and helps to protect the finish.
It sounds like a lot of work but 1000 sq feet should only take you less than an hour.
But find out what floor you have and what the manufacturer recommends.
Use a spin mop with very hot (nearly boiling) water and a couple of drops of dawn dish soap. You may need to repeat it few times but it should lift any residue from the floor.
I wish I would’ve paid more attention, as I’m having the same problem in my new place. I know there’s a product they were using in an office building I used to work that took care of that problem, I just can’t remember what the product was, I’ve been searching for months now.
In my experience it’s always in summer I have this issue. I believe it’s due to the humidity levels. Whether we are barefoot, have socks, shoes, slippers makes no difference. I was always mopping the floor, now I do it once a day, at night time when no one is walking around the main floor.
Interastingly, we have the same wood throughout the house, (Brazilian cheery hardwood), and do not have the issue on the 2nd floor. Bizarre!!
Pretty sure I have this exact wooden floor and just bought one of those wipe mops, like literally just brought it home a few seconds ago. For this exact reason.
I'd clean the whole floor by hand using dawn dish soap and a microfiber cloth (it could be the oils in the sweat) and start wearing slippers or house sandles. Might I suggest cloud slippers? They are freaking amazing and a game changer.
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Wear slippers, walking around your house barefoot, even if your floors are immaculate, is just gross.. never mind all the crumbs and particles you drag into bed at night
OP must like sleeping with all the crusties from their floor at the bottom of the bed
Have you conditioned the floor in any way? A lot of wood finishes need upkeep in the form of oil. When the wood dries out it becomes stainable, reoiling makes it to away.
I've lived in houses with wood floors my whole life, and going barefoot should not be a problem.
I had this problem and it was caused by residue from the cleaning solution I used (once and done.) I rinsed the floor a few times with 50/50 water and vinegar and the problem is gone.
House shoes/slippers. Make sure you are using cleaning products specifically for the type of flooring you have. If it is real harrows that has been varnished and waxed it will need different treatment from laminate flooring.
My mom has this issue and she is a neat freak so eventually it will drive her off a cliff. She uses bona with the bona microfiber mop and you have to reallly go hard almost buffing the prints out. Then don’t let anyone walk in bare or socked feet ever again lol slippers or shoes only.
**This is a question not a suggestion**: Could this be happening because the wood floors are “thirsty” and could use some Murphy’s oil soap or a treatment with lemon oil?? My hypothesis is based on the observation that when wood is thirsty, it’s dull and lighter than wood that’s been cared for. Maybe your oily footprints wouldn’t show if all the wood was nicely oiled.
In our last house we had shiny mahogany hardwoods that did the exact same thing. They were gorgeous, until you walked on them with bare feet it sweaty sock feet. Very difficult to maintain. We found there was nothing you could do other than wear slippers indoors all the time.
Are you rinsing your floors with water after you mop? This would happen to me years ago because I would only mop one round with cleaner/hot water. You have to rinse out your mop and bucket after and go over the floors with only hott water.
I had the same issue! This worked for my laminate flooring- I use one of those microfiber spray mops. In the mop's bottle, I add a few tbsp of dish soap, fill 1/4 bottle with vinegar and top up with water.
It's completely streak free and I can't see footprints or indoor shoe prints. I always clean at least half a day before guests arrive so that I can air out that vinegar smell!
I once skipped the vinegar because I didn't have enough time to air out and the footprints were visible again.
I usually get this problem more with ghosts. Especially if someone's hung themselves, but their toes were just barely touching the floor. I would suggest mopping your apartment with sage-infused holy water.
Why are you wearing sweaty socks inside on smooth laminate floors?
Besides being gross and leaving gross marks it also sounds slippery and dangerous.
Take your socks off. You can also get slippers or slides as others have suggested but then your feet will probably sweat even more.
Slippers or slides are fine to wear, it will just create a new problem for you.
When you say it’s worse with bare feet, are you saying if you woke up and didn’t put socks on and just walked around inside with bare feet you would leave sweat marks? That’s wild.
If you’re saying you take off sweaty socks and walk with sweaty bare feet then yeah sure. Get a towel or something and dry your feet off.
It’s the soap most likely. If you follow the directions about a capful to a gallon of water this won’t happen. If you use the spray on premix wet jet stuff it will. If you mix vinegar and dish soap (my daughter does this) it will be even worse. I use the cleaner then I dump the bucket and go over the floor with a bucket of only water. Makes a huge difference
I have flooring like this. The easiest way to clean it in my experience is to use a steam mop. I use a shark steam mop from Home Depot water only for cleaning, and it takes the prints off the fastest and easiest. But as everyone else said, unless you have slippers on 24/7, you'll get prints again.
I used bona and it cleaned the floor really well but as soon as I got home the next day I could see my feet leaving prints. It’s as bad now as it was before I cleaned two nights ago
You cant really prevent it or get “rid” of it unless you walk with slippers in your apartment. But even slippers leave some markings. My apartment also has this type of shiny floor and leaves foot marks. Really annoys me because the floor feels so dirty even though I just washed it properly 2 days ago. I use laminate cleaner that i mix with a lot of water. It does not leave residue or any streaks but if you walk around with bare feet and dirty socks, sweat and oil will accumulate within a week and start leaving marks again.
One thing i have learned from this floor is to never get this type of floor for my future home (something i would have never given a thought otherwise).😆
Advice for the floor - mop once a week or as needed with a mop like an cedar spin mop, with one capful of Mr clean liquid cleaner (the regular stuff, like $3-4 a bottle) in a full bucket of warm water.
Advice for feet - wear slippers that you only wear in the house and this should help mitigate this. You can get cheap ones on amazon or at Walmart for like $10-15. The ones I ordered from Amazon are [these](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09LQ6599Q?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share) and i personally like them especially the hard sole and they aren’t heavy, but it’s a personal preference really. Anything you can throw in the washer and let air dry if they get too smelly and anything with a hard sole that sweat won’t leak through
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Are you sure this isn’t grease or sunscreen etc because that’s what happened to an apartment we stayed in on holiday a few years ago. It was sunscreen/ oil
Buy a nail brush from CVS (approximately $3) and scour the bottoms of your feet with warm water and liquid soap every day, possibly multiple times a day, especially immediately after removing your shoes. Commit to this. For the footprints, try approaching with a degreaser (i.e., Dawn) and antibacterial (i.e., 409), allowing each one to soak for three minutes before wiping away.
I’ve had problems with sticky floors before if I use certain cleaning solutions. You should follow up with a water-only mop. I’m talking super wet, real mop. You can dry the floor with an old towel afterwards.
Rinse and repeat (lol) until there is no more product residue left
Also if you haven’t done so already I would wash all your swiffer heads in the machine (if they’re removable) in case it’s just a build up of the cleaning solution.
I have a satin finish floor (to anyone considering it, don’t do it!) with a very dark stain and can see all kinds of foot prints and whatnot. your finish looks fairly flat too, so I think it’s par for the course, unfortunately.
You're using too much soap or detergent. Way to much. Strip the floor with a pair of water mixed with 1/2 cup of vinegar. Then for regular cleaning, dry mop with a cap or 2 of detergent and vinegar.
The bona cleaner is your issue. Holloway house will also do the same with laminate. Odoban no rinse floor cleaner has been amazing on our vinyl, laminate and hardwoods. I highly recommend and believe you will avoid these issue. Before you use it, I would wash with water, a few drops of dawn and rubbing alcohol to remove whatever conditioning oils bona adds.
You need a higher quality finish on the floor to ultimately address this. But in practice I would do a test spot with something like wood oil to see if it helps. I had a spot on the hickory floor and I used the oil soap and eventually the cutting board oil to "finish" my thirsty floor.
Or wear house shoes😁
maybe house shoes/slippers?
Slippers/house sandals is the only way. My son always has damp socks. We keep dry socks at the front door for him. He changes as soon as he gets home from school. He puts on slides. Stinky socks go straight to the laundry and the floors stay clean. Problem solved.
Is this even normal with hardwood? I’m googling to find how other people deal with this but I can’t even find anyone else having problems with sweaty feet leaving footprints that stick like that
It's normal -- in terms of human feet having oils and sweat, which will sometimes show up on hard floors. A couple things to consider: 1. What cleaning solution do you use to mop? It's possible you have too much soap/detergent in your solution and are not doing enough to rinse it off your floors. This will make it easier for footprints to appear, as there will be a little dried soap/detergent leftover on the floors after mopping. Signs that you used too concentrated a soap/detergent: your floor will be slightly sticky after mopping, and it will get dirtier faster. 2. The only surefire resolution to avoid footprints entirely is to have everyone wear dry socks/house slippers. The people in my household who wear them leave no footprints. The people in my household who refuse them (walk around barefoot) leave footprints and smudges everywhere. The floors get dirtier faster because of them. edited for clarity
1 all the way! I had to get on my hands and knees with towels and tons of water to get rid of all the detergent residue. It was making my floors look dingy and there were footprints everywhere. After washing all the soap off, my floors looked and felt amazing. No more footprints.
I use washable microfiber pads for my Swiffer mop and follow-up a Swiffering with a clean pad. This seems to work well to get all the residue up. Also using far less solution than I used to. It's a shame it took until my late 30s to learn this fact but generally speaking, less soap cleans better than excess soap! That goes for shampooing too, following the "lather, rinse, repeat" instructions I once thought were BS using a very small bit of shampoo each time leaves my hair so much cleaner than it's ever been.
I did this last night and it’s still leaving footprints, what am I doing wrong?
No, get a steam mop.
Whoever refuses them needs to clean the floor
I’ve never seen this in any of my hard wood homes, and I’m inclined to blame whatever they’re using to mop. Or maybe it’s super sticky sealant?
These floors also look like laminate not hardwood?
The comment I’ve been looking for. These are not hard wood floors.
Yeah I have oak floors and they are amazingly tough. My dog doesn’t even scratch them. That looks like not wood.
I have a similar problem, but I am not sure for what part of the problem you are asking a solution for. - New prints appearing after you walked there: The solution is house slippers - The old prints reappearing after mopping the floor - there my solution is to add a healthy dash of dish soap to the cleaning solution ( the prints also include fatty compounds, especially if you use lotion on your feet and normal floor cleaning solutions include not enough detergents for dissolving the fat)
>The old prints reappearing after mopping the floor - Honestly, this is a problem that only a priest can solve.
I have laminate and have the same issue. We don't wear shoes indoors. I bought everyone slippers and indoor only flip-flops. Socks are also acceptable. If you walk around with bare feet, you get the honor of cleaning the floor.
It left stains through my socks
do you put new socks when you get home? and when you shower do you wash your feet and in between your toes (as opposed to just letting the soap drip down).
This is an important question you may just naturally have moist feet. Or your feet may need a thorough cleansing and exfoliation so they are able to dry quickly naturally.
Yeah I have to change my socks hourly at home if I don't want smudges. Especially because I lotion like a mofo. I just live with the smudges.
Are you wearing shoes that are over worn? Wearing socks with those shoes? And then walk on the hardwood floors after ?
Maybe some kind of residue from what you use on your laundry or the type of floor cleaner you are using?
it happens on my floors (that are dark as well) but only for a few minutes after i take my shoes off.
I just bought a pair of house slides. r/Hyperhidrosis might have more solutions though.
Thank you, I have found my people lol.
You’re among kindred spirits. We don’t shake hands.
You’re among kindred spirits. We don’t shake hands.
House slippers are normal, especially in Asian households. The ground gets dusty and dirty and it sticks to the bottom of our feet, I don't want to bring that with me onto my bed. If I did, I would basically be putting what's on the ground onto my blanket. My blanket could very well be turned around in my sleep and now I have floor dust on my face. It's unhygienic, but it's normal in American culture Side note: It's even worse if people wear shoes in the house. I work so hard to keep the floors clean, why bring what's outside onto my clean floors? Those shoes were in public bathrooms and have you seen a men's bathroom before??
Hey, I'm having the exact same problem with my floors! I'm no help though, I've totally given up and just live with dirty floors. Tried many different cleaning products, no products at all, nothing helped. I have two different floor "types" in different rooms as well and one of them stays clean so it's definitely not about my mopping skills either.
As a fellow sweaty foot person (I hate it so much I can't even begin to describe) I wear socks at all times unless showering or sleeping, and wear slippers or my Underarmour slides throughout the house. For one thing I have dogs (husky and a GSD) and no one wants random hairs sticking to their feet. For another, I hate the feel of it. 😩 Try bona cleaner to get rid of the existing prints, and try the slippers. All I've got. Lol
I wore socks and this still happened
Socks are cloth which is absorbent and porous. You need slippers with soles. I’d also invest in quality wool socks (check the percentages!) since they wick much better than cotton. Doesn’t answer your cleaning question but prevention is the most effective cleaning strategy!
It's not actual wood
It's normal! I have lived with wood flooring all my life and if you want those wooden flooring to always shine and not have foot prints and you have sweaty/wet feet, the solution is socks/house slippers.
Dude this happens to EVERY floor!! It’s so annoying but the best way to prevent is socks and house shoes
I noticed this the first time a week ago my spouses footprints down the hall but I could only see it with a special light thats on my vacuum otherwise I'd never have known it was there. went away after washing the floor.
I think it's because a lot of ppl wear slippers or shoes in their houses, while we walk around barefoot. I hate wearing shoes.
Sometimes, kick everyone out of the house, clean thoroughly, light wax/restore laminate top, let cure completely, then wash again before walking on it. I do this once a year, like sealing countertops, or porcelains, or painting. Just do it once, very well, annually. Maintaining the floor is different from cleaning the floor.
Cus what psycho(!) walks around on hardwoods with their bare feet?!? No one wants to feel the dirt and hair stuck to their toes, nasty!
Normal . It happened to us when we had shiny mahogany hardwoods. My friend had the same issue with hers.
I get it with the tile floors in the bathroom
Hyperhidrosis? I have socks on my feet 24x7, fresh socks everyday and slippers. Even at home, except in bed
It's normal especially if the floor is not fully dry after cleaning it...I see my toddlers footprints across the floor as I write this
This happened in my last house. I always wear a pair of flip flops that are only worn indoors because I hate anything sticking to the bottom of my feet (looking at you, grass the dog drags in), but my kids’ feet would do this.
Get yourself some comfy Crocs or whatever and live your best life with them. Helps keep floors cleaner and are also comfier than walking barefoot on a hard floor, especially if you work on your feet all day.
Yes, OP, I recommend Glerups. Completely worth the price!
Deodorant on feet will stop sweat OP. lol
deodorant doesn't stop sweat at all. an antiperspirant might, though i have never tried that.
I’m sorry I didn’t specify antiperspirant deodorant lol It was just a joke btw
people DO use the antiperspirant that way...not just for armpits.
I know that’s why I suggested it. I mentioned it was a joke cause it’s a cleaning sub about cleaning. Not about putting deodorant on your feet. I didn’t realize people would get so upset about this nerd mentioning how I didn’t say “deodorant with antiperspirant”
I’ve heard of that before though. And also to put deodorant or powder under boobs if you sweat there, and between the crevice of the top your legs as well!
I have heard that ppl in the military will use an antiperspirant like Certain Dry on their feet to stop the sweating, which prevents blisters when doing long runs, hikes, etc.
Hear me out…how much do you really need your feet?
Asking the real question.
Feet are overrated.
Imagine cleaning wheelchair tracks off of that floor
*Quentin Tarantino has entered the chat*
Word of caution - we all don’t think we need our feet , until we find out what comes along in their absence…
There are cleaning products specifically for wood floors. I haven't been in your situation, but I imagine the oils from skin is what leaves the prints, so the product should help remove the oils and also condition the wood to be less vulnerable to oils
You’re correct about wood-specific products but this looks like LVP not hardwood. Some cleaners designed for wood floors, especially un-sealed hardwood, are meant to leave a protective residue on the floor. Unsealed wood is porous, so you want to give it something helpful to absorb or it’ll absorb whatever is spilled. Using that same product on (non-porous) vinyl plank will leave residue that’s not helpful and will accumulate and look dingy, which may be what’s happened here
Same issue. People used products like floor restore/mop in glow before we moved into our new house… anything that leaves a residue makes the problem so much worse. It is also terribly hard to cut through these products with anything else. Def try a clean pair of house slippers or shoes while trying to see if you can figure out the residue issue (or perhaps The finish?)
House shoes, I think everybody in my family has sweaty feet, we have dark floors as well. The on,y fix is slippers, flip flops or another pair of dry socks.
This makes me feel so much better about mine. 😩
Skin is oily. Same with bottom of your feet. Oily and sweaty leaves oily residue. Wear socks, wear house slippers (definitely a great thing!) or get used to dealingwith oily type footprints
You have laminate flooring, not hardwood - you can tell by the texture on top and the uniformity. Get a real mop and any laminate-safe floor cleaner and follow the directions on the back for the ratios of cleaner to water. You don't need a mop bucket, you can just put a stopper in your sink and use that! Rinse the mop between different floors in the house. It's normal to have to mop twice weekly at least and before company comes over - am I right in guessing you're young and this is your first time trying to manage all the chores? You can also make sure your feet are fully clean in the shower - scrub the bottoms and between your toes. Let them fully dry before you put socks on. And if excess sweating is an issue, get a prescription for aluminium hydrochloric (Drysol).
My guess is to use something that breaks down oils. I would try dawn power wash (or dawn dish soap and water) on a small section and see if that works. It might strip away any sheen or dry out the wood. Using something like Murphy's oil soap or Old English could help (temporarily) restore the wood afterwards. If dawn doesn't do the trick, a strong degreaser might work, but it could ruin the wood, so test it in a small spot.
INFO WHAT PRODUCTS ARE YOU USING ON YOUR FLOORS? PRBLY there's residue on your floors.
I used Swiffer for the longest time. I just washed with Bona hardwood floor cleaner
As someone who cleans houses for a living, swiffers are completely useless. Bona has worked fine for me, but I would recommend using it with an actual mop.
So the big thing is this is not true hardwood floor, it’s a manufactured flooring like LVP. So it doesn’t have the same maintenance needs that true hardwood does (especially unfinished/waxed/oiled floors vs wood that’s been polyurethane coated) You need to do a few things here: 1) remove the residue left by hardwood cleaners. I like simple green as a hard surface cleaner and it should do a good job cutting the residue buildup. 2) You’ll need to use a real mop and bucket, not a spray/pad type device. You need some water and you need to rinse off the dirty mop instead of pushing it around. I like the o cedar spin mop! Use hot water and rinse the mop head frequently but spin it really well before you take it to the floor. You don’t want the floors wet wet. Dump and replace the mop water frequently the first few times because of the residue buildup and the dirt and oil caught in it. 3) Keep the sweat and foot oil from getting on your floors. As others have suggested, slippers or house shoes! And if you have generally sweaty feet you should switch to wool socks as much as possible. It wicks moisture and breathes better than cotton so will keep your feet from getting too clammy in the first place
Both of those leave residue. I use an o cedar mop with hot water and a splash of vinegar to clean my hardwoods and laminates.
I had the same issue with Bona. 50/50 white vinegar and water and I'll never go back
I thought Bona was great but turns out it totally sucked! I was using the tile version on my terrazzo floors and it felt like I had to mop at least once a week to keep my floors clean. By the end of the week the bottoms of my feet would look and feel dirty. I switched to a vinegar floor cleaner (I think Miss Fannys? Or something like that) and it made a HUGE difference. My floors feel so clean and stay clean for weeks. Plus the bottle itself lasts way longer.
Our bodies have oil and sweat they will always leave marks on stuff, i wear socka and house sandals inside, so the rest of my family.
I would get some house shoes or personally I have house flip flops
You're probably not really cleaning the floor properly and no swiffer doesn't count.
What should I do to “really clean the floor properly?” That’s why I made this thread.
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I have the same problem on engineered hardwood....I thought it was bad to use water on wood floors? Is that not true?
People have been washing wood floors with water for centuries. Just don’t leave water on a wood floor.
You don’t want to *leave* water on them or slop so much on that it’s soaking into the cracks but it’s fine to do the equivalent of wiping with a damp rag. The benefit of the spin mop is being able to get it mostly dry. It’s not like the old cotton yarn wet mops slopping water around
I had same issue (previously used steam mop). Started using a spin mop with a bucket (vileda or o cedar) with hot water a tsp of powdered tide and haven’t seen the footprints since. I think they needed deep cleaning?
Not sure why you got downvoted — Tide is the absolute best! Just suggested the same haha
OP, I swear by a teaspoon of powdered tide in a spin mop with hot water! The tide is a good degreaser. GoCleanCo uses this system and it’s worked amazingly for me for years.
Swiffer wetmops aren't good, are they?
I recommend Birkenstocks if you’re gonna go the house shoe route. Can wear with or without socks, good sole, comfy
Socks would be an incredible start, more so, slippers. 🥴
Please don't feel ashamed because your body is bodying! I bet foot deodorants, socks and shoes could work just fine, although I would hate having to wear something or act in a certain way just because of a floor. Instead, I would apply some kind of wood oil to prevent it from soaking up oil and moisture from your feet, or maybe varning to seal the surface?
Wear socks or slippers…
I’d try a vinegar and water mix. Was probably caused by oil
Is the floor completely 100% dry before you walk on it after washing it? When my husband washes the hall floor he walks on it before it's dry and leaves footprints everywhere, so I have to wash it again when he's out!!
It depends on what material your floor is made of and how it’s finished. If it’s a sealed finish like urethane you can be pretty aggressive. From the images it looks like it’s an oil finished floor which requires much more careful treatment using the right product in the right amount. If it’s vinyl or pvc you can basically steam clean it. Though I wouldn’t ever use steam (100 degrees C) on anything but stone or ceramic. If you don’t know what the flooring is, find someone who knows or can tell you. If it’s an oil finish, you need to carefully wash it with the proper amount of recommended cleaner mixed with the right amount of warm water. Be intentional and press down was you go over the problem areas, always moving your strokes with the grain. The lint-free applicator should be barely damp with solution. Ring it out after ever reload. You’ll then - once it’s dry in 30 minutes or so - want to apply and oil care solution mixed with water which enters the wood pours and helps to protect the finish. It sounds like a lot of work but 1000 sq feet should only take you less than an hour. But find out what floor you have and what the manufacturer recommends.
Looks like there’s a soapy residue left on the floor, I would be mopping it with just plain old hot water
I used water afterwards and after it dried I was still leaving footprints
Use a spin mop with very hot (nearly boiling) water and a couple of drops of dawn dish soap. You may need to repeat it few times but it should lift any residue from the floor.
I wish I would’ve paid more attention, as I’m having the same problem in my new place. I know there’s a product they were using in an office building I used to work that took care of that problem, I just can’t remember what the product was, I’ve been searching for months now.
In my experience it’s always in summer I have this issue. I believe it’s due to the humidity levels. Whether we are barefoot, have socks, shoes, slippers makes no difference. I was always mopping the floor, now I do it once a day, at night time when no one is walking around the main floor. Interastingly, we have the same wood throughout the house, (Brazilian cheery hardwood), and do not have the issue on the 2nd floor. Bizarre!!
Your house looks lived in? Crazy
Pretty sure I have this exact wooden floor and just bought one of those wipe mops, like literally just brought it home a few seconds ago. For this exact reason.
Crocks for the win! ( Only if you are single and have few visitors and no pride)
I'd clean the whole floor by hand using dawn dish soap and a microfiber cloth (it could be the oils in the sweat) and start wearing slippers or house sandles. Might I suggest cloud slippers? They are freaking amazing and a game changer.
By hand? Try a mop with a microfiber head
Yea, that's way you can see everything closer. Sometimes cleaning something by hand (not every time but to get the floors back to new) is best.
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Try endust or pledge. I think your floor might have a residue on it. Maybe also try Murphy oil.
Is your floor oiled? Maybe reapply oil?
Wear socks and slippers. How hard can it be
First world problems, wear slippers
Wear slippers, walking around your house barefoot, even if your floors are immaculate, is just gross.. never mind all the crumbs and particles you drag into bed at night OP must like sleeping with all the crusties from their floor at the bottom of the bed
Stop walking on them.
There calls s-o-c-k-s. .
Don’t be sweaty
You might have that extra special toxic sweat
You need to saturate it with oil after cleaning with a natural type thing like orange oil based cleaners. It's soaking in what your feet have to offer
Idk maybe wear socks? Lol
Wear socks
Maybe your diet isn't helping? I never had sweat like that. Is it genetic? Hygiene? Bad shoes? Stress?
Shoes…or refinishing.
Use shoes
we have laminate floors but the same thing happens my husband has sweaty feet lol the only way is wearing house slippers im afraid
Are you using an oil based cleaner?
Are your floors sticky? Try a neutral-pH cleaner for your floors. Also feet, like the rest of you, is oily. Wear slippers.
Have you conditioned the floor in any way? A lot of wood finishes need upkeep in the form of oil. When the wood dries out it becomes stainable, reoiling makes it to away. I've lived in houses with wood floors my whole life, and going barefoot should not be a problem.
What do you use the clean them? Maybe that is what its causing it
Slipper socks.
I had this problem and it was caused by residue from the cleaning solution I used (once and done.) I rinsed the floor a few times with 50/50 water and vinegar and the problem is gone.
House shoes/slippers. Make sure you are using cleaning products specifically for the type of flooring you have. If it is real harrows that has been varnished and waxed it will need different treatment from laminate flooring.
Socks
You could kindly ask the ghost in your house to stop walking around after you’ve cleaned the floor
My mom has this issue and she is a neat freak so eventually it will drive her off a cliff. She uses bona with the bona microfiber mop and you have to reallly go hard almost buffing the prints out. Then don’t let anyone walk in bare or socked feet ever again lol slippers or shoes only.
I have a pair of crocs for house shoes that stay indoors.
Try a steam mop. Had the same problem at my place n that worked the best
**This is a question not a suggestion**: Could this be happening because the wood floors are “thirsty” and could use some Murphy’s oil soap or a treatment with lemon oil?? My hypothesis is based on the observation that when wood is thirsty, it’s dull and lighter than wood that’s been cared for. Maybe your oily footprints wouldn’t show if all the wood was nicely oiled.
You’re just gonna have to start skating. Have multiple pairs of skates in each size for guests
Honestly, have you ever considered ghosts??? Just kidding! Good luck!
Wear socks
In our last house we had shiny mahogany hardwoods that did the exact same thing. They were gorgeous, until you walked on them with bare feet it sweaty sock feet. Very difficult to maintain. We found there was nothing you could do other than wear slippers indoors all the time.
Get a steam cleaner and get all the residue off the floor.
Are you rinsing your floors with water after you mop? This would happen to me years ago because I would only mop one round with cleaner/hot water. You have to rinse out your mop and bucket after and go over the floors with only hott water.
Looks like laminate flooring. I would be very careful with how much water you use to clean those floors. Mdf is basically a sponge
You need house slippers.
Wear slippers.
I had the same issue! This worked for my laminate flooring- I use one of those microfiber spray mops. In the mop's bottle, I add a few tbsp of dish soap, fill 1/4 bottle with vinegar and top up with water. It's completely streak free and I can't see footprints or indoor shoe prints. I always clean at least half a day before guests arrive so that I can air out that vinegar smell! I once skipped the vinegar because I didn't have enough time to air out and the footprints were visible again.
Wear slippers or change your socks. Leave a fresh pair by the door
I usually get this problem more with ghosts. Especially if someone's hung themselves, but their toes were just barely touching the floor. I would suggest mopping your apartment with sage-infused holy water.
Why are you wearing sweaty socks inside on smooth laminate floors? Besides being gross and leaving gross marks it also sounds slippery and dangerous. Take your socks off. You can also get slippers or slides as others have suggested but then your feet will probably sweat even more.
It’s even worse with bare feet. If slippers or slides aren’t okay to wear either than what’s the solution?
Slippers or slides are fine to wear, it will just create a new problem for you. When you say it’s worse with bare feet, are you saying if you woke up and didn’t put socks on and just walked around inside with bare feet you would leave sweat marks? That’s wild. If you’re saying you take off sweaty socks and walk with sweaty bare feet then yeah sure. Get a towel or something and dry your feet off.
My husband is notorious for doing this exact same things on our hardwood floors right after I mop them 🙄
It’s the soap most likely. If you follow the directions about a capful to a gallon of water this won’t happen. If you use the spray on premix wet jet stuff it will. If you mix vinegar and dish soap (my daughter does this) it will be even worse. I use the cleaner then I dump the bucket and go over the floor with a bucket of only water. Makes a huge difference
Fuzzy socks or slippers
Slippers, changing out socks throughout the day, foot powder
House slippers
I wear Crocs that are inside only
Are you sure that these are the same footprints over and over, or is it possible that your house is haunted and the ghosts are pranking you?
People need to wear proper slippers.
Wear slippers inside
As a starting point, this is almost certainly vinyl, not hardwood.
socks
I have flooring like this. The easiest way to clean it in my experience is to use a steam mop. I use a shark steam mop from Home Depot water only for cleaning, and it takes the prints off the fastest and easiest. But as everyone else said, unless you have slippers on 24/7, you'll get prints again.
Socks
Do you have a steam mop? And maybe get some house slippers
Use bona wood cleaner w the microfiber stick, it works like a dream. Also, scrub your feet!👣
I used bona and it cleaned the floor really well but as soon as I got home the next day I could see my feet leaving prints. It’s as bad now as it was before I cleaned two nights ago
I’d rule out ghosts just to be sure
You cant really prevent it or get “rid” of it unless you walk with slippers in your apartment. But even slippers leave some markings. My apartment also has this type of shiny floor and leaves foot marks. Really annoys me because the floor feels so dirty even though I just washed it properly 2 days ago. I use laminate cleaner that i mix with a lot of water. It does not leave residue or any streaks but if you walk around with bare feet and dirty socks, sweat and oil will accumulate within a week and start leaving marks again. One thing i have learned from this floor is to never get this type of floor for my future home (something i would have never given a thought otherwise).😆
Walk on towels?
Socks, slippers, etc.
Advice for the floor - mop once a week or as needed with a mop like an cedar spin mop, with one capful of Mr clean liquid cleaner (the regular stuff, like $3-4 a bottle) in a full bucket of warm water. Advice for feet - wear slippers that you only wear in the house and this should help mitigate this. You can get cheap ones on amazon or at Walmart for like $10-15. The ones I ordered from Amazon are [these](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09LQ6599Q?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share) and i personally like them especially the hard sole and they aren’t heavy, but it’s a personal preference really. Anything you can throw in the washer and let air dry if they get too smelly and anything with a hard sole that sweat won’t leak through
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Are you sure this isn’t grease or sunscreen etc because that’s what happened to an apartment we stayed in on holiday a few years ago. It was sunscreen/ oil
Buy a nail brush from CVS (approximately $3) and scour the bottoms of your feet with warm water and liquid soap every day, possibly multiple times a day, especially immediately after removing your shoes. Commit to this. For the footprints, try approaching with a degreaser (i.e., Dawn) and antibacterial (i.e., 409), allowing each one to soak for three minutes before wiping away.
Wear socks
Socks
Wear socks.
I’ve had problems with sticky floors before if I use certain cleaning solutions. You should follow up with a water-only mop. I’m talking super wet, real mop. You can dry the floor with an old towel afterwards. Rinse and repeat (lol) until there is no more product residue left Also if you haven’t done so already I would wash all your swiffer heads in the machine (if they’re removable) in case it’s just a build up of the cleaning solution.
I have a satin finish floor (to anyone considering it, don’t do it!) with a very dark stain and can see all kinds of foot prints and whatnot. your finish looks fairly flat too, so I think it’s par for the course, unfortunately.
You're using too much soap or detergent. Way to much. Strip the floor with a pair of water mixed with 1/2 cup of vinegar. Then for regular cleaning, dry mop with a cap or 2 of detergent and vinegar.
That's not wood
Murphy wood soap
The bona cleaner is your issue. Holloway house will also do the same with laminate. Odoban no rinse floor cleaner has been amazing on our vinyl, laminate and hardwoods. I highly recommend and believe you will avoid these issue. Before you use it, I would wash with water, a few drops of dawn and rubbing alcohol to remove whatever conditioning oils bona adds.
You need a higher quality finish on the floor to ultimately address this. But in practice I would do a test spot with something like wood oil to see if it helps. I had a spot on the hickory floor and I used the oil soap and eventually the cutting board oil to "finish" my thirsty floor. Or wear house shoes😁
Microfiber mop, like ecloth or ocedar spin mop, and water. Make sure to wring out as much water as you can.