"Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps." (Emo Philips)... ...
"Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps." (Emo Philips)... Still around just going through a rough time right now.
Member since:07.10.2002
Reviews:86
Members who trust:68
I had just undergone the upheaval and tremendous mess involved in having a new kitchen and bathroom installed. I still had various builders, plasterers, plumbers and decorators still traipsing across the new floors. I desperately needed a fast and easy solution to the tedious and several times a day chore that is mopping the kitchen tiles. I had seen the television advertisement campaign and been impressed so it was off to the shops for a bottle of ‘Dettol Direct Floor Cleaner’. Would this be the timesaving miracle it claimed to be?
The directions, according to the bottle were simple enough. Simply apply directly to the floor and wipe with a damp mop. No need for a bucket or for rinsing; it promised it would leave the floor hygienically clean and kill 99.9% of bacteria, that it would leave no sticky residue behind and would dry in minutes. At this point I was still mightily impressed and let’s face it, who really would fail to buy a bottle immediately?
That evening, the children safely ensconced in their respective bedrooms it was out with the Dettol Direct and the required damp mop and I set about the ‘fast and efficient’ task in hand. Firstly I vacuumed the floor and then popped the cap up on the Dettol. It has four small holes in the cap to make the product easier to apply to the floor surface and to be fair that part was a synch. It is a doddle to apply and it is easy to control the flow of the liquid so none of it splashes on either the skirting boards or cabinets. Product liberally applied I set about mopping the floor. Dust disappeared. Filthy footprints vanished. “Wow” I thought to myself as I breezed through the room, this really does do as it says it will. The room completed I retired for a quick break to allow for the drying time.
Returning just a few minutes later the floor was indeed dry. There was no sticky residue left behind. Top marks on those two scores. Unfortunately it was not clean! There were still outlines of footprints; still dirty marks left behind, it just did not even begin to look as though I had particularly bothered cleaning the floor. “No problems” I thought to myself. The floor was exceptionally dirty; maybe it simply needs doing again. So I proceeded to repeat the task. Second time around the tiles did look better than they had the first time. The footprints had now vanished and the overall appearance was that of a clean floor. Unfortunately there were still some stubborn marks remaining that I had to remove in a more traditional manner.
The burning questions left to be answered are simple ones. Do I recommend this product and possibly more importantly, would I buy it again? If you have children then I would have to say I do not recommend you buy this particular cleaner unless you are exceptionally lucky and your little darlings do not make much of a mess. Again, if you are like me, and are a little ‘clumsy’ in the kitchen, save your money and purchase something else. For really dirty floors it DOES NOT WORK unless you want to mop the floor twice and still have to scrub at the stubborn spots. But that defeats the objective of the product does it not? I still another bottle of this to get through. I am still using it, but only at weekends when the children are with their father and there is, quite frankly, very little mess to clean up. It is also good for a quick clean in the mornings, but at night-time when the floor needs an effective clean, I’m back to the traditional mopping routine.
At the same time I purchased the Direct Floor Cleaner I also came home with a pack of Dettol’s Direct Floor WIPES. Oddly, they work BETTER and remove even plaster and paint with the minimum of fuss. That’s where I am putting my money for the ‘quicker’ option. Sometimes in life there are shortcuts. Dettol Direct Floor Cleaner just isn’t one of them!
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Jul 8th, 2004
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