Home: Italians among the most passionate about cleaning floors

Able to dedicate over 30 minutes a week to the specific care of floors, Italians are fanatical about cleaning surfaces . In particular, driven by the desire to maintain hygiene (64% of cases), remove dirt (stains 37%, dust and debris 37%, food residues 32%) and enhance the beauty of the rooms (12%), more than 4 out of 5 compatriots (82% compared to 67% recorded in Europe) tend to wash the floors regularly during each household cleaning session (38%) or, in any case, most of the time (44%). This was revealed by a survey on household cleaning conducted between February and March by the 'technology company' Dyson which involved 23,311 participants in 28 countries, one thousand of which in Italy.

Although Italian respondents declare that they dedicate an average of 2.23 hours a week to general house cleaning - second only to the Portuguese with 2.37 hours - only 35% of those interviewed use a specific appliance for wet cleaning, preferring traditional hand tools such as the mop (66%) or the cloth (57%) which, in addition to requiring more time and effort, do not guarantee high hygiene standards. "The mop and cloth tend to 'smear' an invisible film of dirt on the floor - explains Ketan Patel, senior design manager at Dyson - This happens when dirty water is used or when the cloth is unable to completely remove debris". Aware that water alone is not enough for effective cleaning, Italians would use, not surprisingly, floor cleaners (34%), solutions for specific surfaces (26%), multipurpose cleaners (24%) or bleach (22%), chosen based on their sanitising power (45%) and scent (42%). Finally, one in two interviewees (50% against a European average of 36%), changes the water after cleaning each room. For a longer lasting cleaning.