Steam mops, worth it? Vax one on sale in Aldi at £30

[lincolnshirelassy]

I nearly bought it yesterday but wasn't sure if it was worth the money.

I used to have a cleaner who I paid £20 a week to so my justification is now I am doing the cleaning the mop will quickly have paid for itself!

We only have carpets in one bedroom and stairs and landing, so plenty of hard floors to clean.

Would love to hear opinions on whether it is worth the money, or whether a good old mop and bucket is just as good!

[rabbit123]

I can't stand steam mops. Oh sure, they sanitise your floor, but who eats off the floor?
I sold my steam mop on eBay as it wasn't shifting any dried on mud or pet food. A normal mop & bucket, hot water and washing up liquid suits me just fine and much cheaper.

[lincolnshirelassy]

Thanks rabbit I need to shift dirty paw marks from the cats (and kids!) so if it won't do that it's probably pointless

[lincolnshirelassy]

I mean footprints from the kids, they don't have paws obviously

[Fluffycloudland77]

I wasn't impressed with mine but others on here love them so I suppose it's a try it and see situation.

Aldi will refund you if you don't like it.

I suspect the trick is to stop the dirt entering in the first place, short of knee capping my cat I think I'm on to a loser there.

[lincolnshirelassy]

Cheers fluffy. My cats wipe their mucky paws EVERYWHERE - floor, sofa, radiator cover, table, you name it. And as for the kids...

[LeanneBattersby]

They're OK for doing an everyday quick swish around and much less faff than getting out a mop bucket. But they don't really deep clean and can't touch stuff like dried-on Weetsbix, stickers, blu-tac etc, all of which are frequently on my floor.

[lincolnshirelassy]

Bloody Weetabix. Like quick set concrete once it's on the floor.

[TwoLittleBlooms]

I have a vax steam cleaner - combined mop and hand held with attachments. I like the results from it, however the issue I have with mine is you have to hold the steam button down for it to work. You can't just turn it on and then it will work. My hands are quite weak and if I am doing a big job such as the oven or tiles in bathroom then my hands (particularly my thumb joints) ache for sometime after. The unit itself is quite bulky and heavy (imo) when in hand held mode. After saying all that though, the mop function is great and the mop heads can be popped in the washing machine when finished and the button on the upright handle is easier on the hands!

[Fluffycloudland77]

I found muddy paw prints 5ft up a wall and on the sloping ceiling bit of the stairs. We have two turtle mats that are useless.

[Claraoswald36]

I have the Murphy Richards steam mop and it's more than useless.

[kansasmum]

I have an H2O XL. It's not bad but I don't use half the attachments that came with it!
My floors always seem filthy( 2 dogs!) and I'm not convinced the steam mop cleans them that well. The mop pads are always black after cleaning floor so I bought extra to swap as they get black!
I do like my steam mop but I'm still not convinced they are the all singing all dancing answer to cleaning!

[amazonianwoman]

I have a Vax. It's great when converted to hand held for cleaning dog paw dirt out of the grout between the kitchen floor tiles, but I honestly think my E Cloth mop gets the actual tiles much cleaner.

[Twinklefuck]

I love mine, I have a steam mop and separate hand held and wouldn't be without either! I've had no problems (my first was rubbish and just left the floor soaking wet though!) I have two kids and the dining room in particular gets everything trampled into it. A quick Hoover and steam every other day and is back to immaculate.

A steam mop isn't magic, you do have to leave it over dried dirt for 10/15 seconds for it to break it up but dried breakfast/oats/weetabix, mud, raspberry stains, sauce, it takes off everything we've thrown at it so far... And yes, my youngest will sometimes pick her food off the floor to eat it if I don't get there fast enough so for us it's little effort for a big return!

[lincolnshirelassy]

I got the Vax one from Aldi as I thought it was cheap and could return it if needed. First go with it last night and I was impressed, cleaned whole house quickly and the great thing is how fast it dries - it's so hard keeping the kids of soaking wet floors when mopping! It has a detergent you can use as well as steam which is good on kitchen floors etc Seems to work best on our laminate and wood but pretty good on tiles too. Refreshed the rugs as well. It has a little scrubby section for tough stains which I haven't tried yet - that's tonight's treat