Does anyone have a floor steam cleaner or similar or other way to clean hard floors?

[stressed2007]

The whole of my downstairs is hard wood, tiles, laminate, parquet. It is dirty within a day of it being cleaned and I think the vacuum followed by mop is not cleanign sufficently. The floor still makes the soles of your feet dirty. Am I doing something wrong?

I was thinking about other things to help clean so I could clean the whole downstairs more regularly. What about a floor steam cleaner - deos anyone have one they can recommend? My m in law says they do them now which take normal (and not distilled water) so I would prefer one of these.

Any suggestions? Many thanks

[BonsoirAnna]

You need to clean on your hands and knees with an e-cloth and Cillit Bang in hot water after hoovering.

[stressed2007]

What is an e cloth?

How long does this take? Every time? My house is quite big - I think it might take hours? Hence the question about steam cleaning - I thought it might work out quicker then mopping

[BonsoirAnna]

You want to do it once a week.

[Hangingbellyofbabylon]

I have a fantastic steam cleaner and it takes normal tap water - it is amazing, one of the best purchases I ever made and I'm a real slattern . Got mine from amazon and also bought some extra clothes from ebay. It's the Home Tek Steam mop. Also totally chemical free which is a bonus, in our house it does laminate, old wooden floor boards and posh amtico oak flooring with no problems at all. . Pah, to getting on hands and knees and scrubbing!

[stressed2007]

thanks

stil want to now what e cloth is

[stressed2007]

going to check out mop now

[stressed2007]

There are loads of them - Hanging belly of Babylon (hey it souds like we might have something in common!) which one is it? Thanks

[boogeek]

I've got a steam cleaner - a vax one, from b&q (it's a pull-along rather than an upright; no idea what the pros and cons of either are). It is fab I can do my whole kitchen floor from midden to sparkling in approximately 4 minutes! Was about £70 I think.

[stressed2007]

Do you use this on its own or do you use vacuum first?

Do you know the model number please? Does it take normal water?

I can't believe how excited I am getting about a steamer.

I am sad

Thanks

[JamesAndTheGiantBanana]

Scrubbing on hands and knees with cillit bang??? Sounds like a lot of effort, kudos if you do that every week!

I have an upright steam mop, it's fab! very lightweight, silent, I just whizz round with it and then chuck the mop cloth in the washer, and I know the floor is clean and germ free with no chemicals.

The only thing is is that you need to drain off any excess water after you've used it. If you don't, the limescale clogs it up and it's hard to descale. I know cos I did this last week and had to do "surgery" on it with some descaler and a knitting needle...

[JamesAndTheGiantBanana]

Mine was £30 from a catalogue. They don't do the same model anymore but this one is very similar. I can see the appeal of having one that does surfaces and windows too, though.

[stressed2007]

what is your model please?

do you vacuum first and then steam?

normal water?

Thanks

to all you ladies that have teased me with your machines on here - I NEED model numbers

[stressed2007]

Jamesandthegiantbanana thanks for that

[stressed2007]

why which one does surfaces and windows too (how do you stean clean a window?)- surely that is going to be a much smaller machine - and not much good for large floor areas? Or am I talking nonsense.

[somewhathorrified]

I'm totally into the easy life....wear slippers that way you won't notice how dirty the floor really is.

Oh and if you're using a steam cleaner, be aware of the surface you're using it on, laminate can be a bit funny, don't forget steam is basically very hot water which penetrates everything.

[JamesAndTheGiantBanana]

Yes vaccuum/sweep first then mop, because they don't suck anything up they just wipe with really hot steam which dries fairly quickly as you go along (faster than regular mopping)

Yes normal water, but do heed my warning about the limescale

I think the vax one someone else mentioned does it all, surfaces as well as floors etc. It's just like a cylinder vacuum, you just attach different tools to the end of the pipe, such as a crevice tool, and a window wiper. I'd love one for attacking the fridge! You can also get small handheld ones too just for surfaces.

But I do love my little steam mop as it's really light and whizzy. If you have a big expanse of hard floors to mop regularly, I'd reccommend it.

[stressed2007]

oh don't tell me that - now what am I going to do.

Are steam cleaners any good for laminate or not? Any experts on here?

[boogeek]

Sorry, were those questions to me. It's a vax compact steam cleaner, doesn't seem to have a model number but available from B&Q (here). Normal waater, does windows and surfaces too (chande the attachment) - but you do need to sweep/vacuum first.
I have tiles not laminate though so I don't know about that - sorry. If my laminate wasn't very well sealed I would be wary.

[stressed2007]

thanks. very useful.

No idea how to tell if well sealed? It is mopped egularly and no water damage?

Lookd like I may have to revert to the cillt bang and e cloths (whatever they are) for my lounge then

[JamesAndTheGiantBanana]

Sorry I'm not sure about laminate flooring, we've got tiles throughout. Google says lots of people use them on laminate floors, but do your research.

[JamesAndTheGiantBanana]

Hmm, if it's mopped regularly with no water damage then I wouldn't be too worried. Mopping an entire floor of a house with a steam mop only uses about 1/2 a pint of water so how much damage could it do, really?

[Hangingbellyofbabylon]

this is my badboy: The HT824. Yes to laminate floors, yes to normal water too. Sometimes hoover for, or just use normal broom with dustpan and brush. Worth shopping around as the prices do vary.