In medieval times, scullery maids would sometimes care for stone floors by sweeping up the rushes they used to mitigate unpleasant aromas before using harsh lye soap to scrub up dirt and grime. By the 19th Century, humanity had at least realized that some level of attention (and elbow grease) was necessary.

In the medieval era, "cleaning" floors was less about scrubbing and more about management and masking. Most common homes had floors of packed earth, while wealthier homes had stone or wood. To keep them tidy, people used "strewing herbs" and rushes. A thick layer of dried reeds or straw was spread across the floor to absorb spills, mud, and animal waste. Fragrant herbs like lavender, mint, chamomile, and meadowsweet were mixed into the straw; when people walked on them, the herbs were crushed, releasing pleasant scents to mask odors. Every few months (or sometimes once a year), the old, dirty layer of rushes would be swept out and replaced with fresh ones. In grander stone halls, servants might use sand to absorb grease or water from the floor before sweeping it away with a "besom" (a broom made of twigs), but "strewing" remained the primary method for domestic hygiene.