I like to use direct to floor cleaners as they are less time consuming and promise to mop away without the need for rinsing. A very good factor for somebody who's idea of floor cleaning is akin to torture, and for anyone who simply doesn't have time for more laborious methods.

Tesco say this product is "suitable for use on vinyl floors, glazed tiles, sealed laminate flooring and varnished wood" It has an antibacterial action, and is fast drying. My review will only cover its use on glazed tiles and vinyl floors.

The challenge

My kitchen floor really is quite a challenge for cleaning products, as even though it is cleaned at least once a day, and often spot cleaned several times due to the ever growing herd of cats and dogs that we are 'blessed' with, it still manages to acquire a startling level of detritus. Including squished and hardened flecks - sometimes even lumps - of cat and dog food. My gang are messy eaters and if I'm out all day their grub has time to harden into something akin to hard rubber. Also the back door of the kitchen (as do most) leads directly out into the garden, where two dogs and four cats frolic. In the lovely Welsh 'moist' atmosphere that makes for a fair level of mud being carried into the kitchen despite attempts to reduce the flow, this sometimes mixes nicely with the cat litter dust bowl which appears just by the back door once or twice a day. No cleaner I have tried will easily cope with this and the Tesco product is no different. Some of these blots on the landscape have to be laboriously levered up with a knife or similar. I also use this product on vinyl flooring in my bathroom.

The liquid & bottle

The bottle at time of writing is the same as the Dooyoo picture, and translucent so you can see the product through the plastic. The nozzle as mentioned above pulls up to open and pushes down to close, this works well and gives a healthy flow of product when aimed and fired. The bottle so far has proven to be leak proof once the nozzle is depressed.

The fluid its self if almost a luminous light green, and looks sort of 'oily' out of the bottle, it isn't of course it's just the texture. The smell is pretty much what you might expect from a pine scented product. It's pretty chemical and the scent of pine is vaguely reminiscent of what it's meant to be but not strongly. The scent doesn't linger for long once the product is mopped off.

How I use it

When using this I first make sure the floor is free of debris (of course) and that all animals and offspring are well out of the way. I then then squirt the liquid over the floor with gay abandon in long swirly trails. The instructions tell you to 'apply an even layer straight from the bottle'. This is of course not possible with the width of the pull up to use push down to seal top. So I just spread it around with the dry mop a bit first before wetting the mop and getting stuck in. I usually allow the product to 'sit' in areas that are more heavily used or visibly dirty as I clean the rest of the room. The room is about 28 feet long and 6 to 8 feet wide.

I have also used this on the bottom wide 'shelf' of my free standing worktop, it is about 6ft by 2.5ft and is only about 6 inches up from the floor. The pets walk on it and I put the dogs food bowls on it to raise them from the floor as this is a healthier height for them to eat from (sadly this means a really handy storage space is given up to the pets). This means it gets quite dirty, as the wood is sealed I take the product at it's claim and use it here about twice a week.

The result generally and on specific issues

The result is basically nice clean floors. This product is easy to use and judging by the colour of the water as I rinse my mop from time to time very effective. It gets off stubborn dirt quite well though I do sometimes have to go over certain areas a couple of times, especially where the (clean) dust from cat litter and garden mud has formed what can only be described as a mini slurry heap. Both the liquid and the mop struggle to keep the contents of this dust bowl suspended, and will spread it around a little with the first couple of 'passes'. However I think with 4 cats using the trays, and dogs that occasionally 'fall' into said trays when trying to jump up onto the washing machine (why I have NO idea) the level of dirt is probably unusual for the normal household and I'm in no way disappointed in the cleaning action of the liquid here. I'm particularly glad of the antibacterial action in these areas.

I should add mainly for shames sake and to avoid being thought of as utterly disgusting that the trays are nowhere near any food preparation or cooking area. I don't have a utility room so they are kept right by the back door where only a coat rack, the litter trays and a washing machine live.

My kitchen floor is comprised of slightly matt 'satin' finish pale teracotta coloured tiles, with royal blue smaller tiles inset at regular intervals. These blue tiles have a high shine finish. The look this product gives is pretty good, however perhaps because my floors do get quite dusty I don't feel that the gloss on the blue tiles is up to what I'd like, and some streaks are visible on drying. I have had better results in this respect with other products. If I want the floor to look perfect then I do sometimes have to go over it again with hot water.

The floor dries quickly, though I haven't noticed it drying more quickly than when using other similar products.

This product works perfectly in my bathroom on vinyl flooring, and doesn't have the same issues that I notice in my kitchen. The finish of the vinyl is not high shine, and I notice no streaking or lacklustre finish. I have been using this product on and off for over a year and I've noticed no yellowing of the vinyl or any degradation in the texture of it, which has happened with other vinyls and other cleaners. In this smaller room the fresh pine smell is more evident and lingers a little longer.

The liquid also does an excellent job on the sealed wooden shelf. There has been no drying effect, warping, or bleaching of the wood during use.

At the time of writing a 1L bottle costs £1.25 or two for £2.00 until 29.02.12, this makes it about half the price or less, than similar branded products. I find this effective and easy to use and will continue to buy it while the price remains good.