what to do with a steam cleaner.. tips for a novice house wife!

[mrswee]

I just bought a steam cleaner, but have no idea what it's best uses are. I am not very inclined to cleaning but need to do better and currently have an entire flat to clean. Tips please!?

Do you have a smallish hand held one? I use mine for cooker top, and the oven door, tiles behind the cooker, and in the bathroom, in all the little nooks and crannies its difficult to clean. (Toilet seat hinges, up round the rim, etc.) I ve heard people using them to get stains out of carpets, but I ve never been very successful with that, but they are ace with anything greasy. Mine also has an attachment whereby you can clean windows - I can see that would be useful if they were really filthy. But mainly I use mine in the kitchen and bathroom.

I love mine! Like Dorothy says its great for wee nooks and crannies. Its really good if you've got wee ones, we use it a lot on the high chair and on the buggy. I also like it for cleaning the surface of DS's mattress and the upholstery on the couch.

Yes it's ahand held one with attachments.. I haven't got it out the box yet!

So this might be a really silly question but... do you just direct the steam at the dirty area and then wipe with a cloth? Do you ever put anything like vinegar in the water or is steam alone enough?

and does it make tile, oven, glass ect nice and shiney?

Just plain water! Steam away, on surfaces like toilets, I might mop some of the moisture up with some kitchen roll, then buff with cloth. Same really on oven type surfaces, wipe the crud away with kitchen roll, then clean cloth. I ve tried it on some really really filthy surfaces like old tiles with varying degrees of success, sometimes it gets it all off, other times if its really bad, it just sort of sludges, but if you persevere, it will come off. I like the fact that the extreme heat of the steam sanitises without the need for nasty chemicals.

I'm actually mildy excited about the prospect of cleaning my toilet and oven now! things are looking up!

Let us know how you get on! The only downside I ve found of using one, when its cold inside, it does tend to steam all the windows up, so perhaps open them just before you start! (Or maybe its just me in my tiny teeny house.)