Do I want a steam mop, a window vac, or what?

[Bimbleberries]

I have a small flat with

a) lots of large glass windows (floor to ceiling) and glass balcony fronts
b) small laminate(?) floor to kitchen area
c) bathroom with tiles from the top of the bath to the ceiling on the side and ends, and a glass screen for half the bath

The windows/balcony fronts supposedly get cleaned by the management company's contract cleaners, but it's not done well and they won't do all the windows, so they're kind of dirty but liveable. I don't really clean them any further myself at the moment.

The bathroom tiles are clean but no longer shiny, with a sort of film that I guess is limescale and/or soap scum - they're white tiles, not dirty, but just not really shiny any more and you can kind of see dried water spots everywhere (hard water area). I clean them sometimes with Windex and a microfibre cloth, but I can't reach the top and mostly can't be bothered as they'll never stay shiny anyway and it doesn't get rid of the limescale. I squeegee the shower door most of the time after showers, but it too looks a bit covered in a slightly film.

The kitchen floor is small and mostly I hoover it, or wipe up any drips with kitchen roll or a dettol wipe or something.

I was looking first at Karcher window vacs for the windows, but then saw someone suggesting steam mops for tiles, and maybe windows, and now I don't quite know what would be best. There's no general condensation in the house so I don't need it for that, just for cleaning. I can't see I'd be likely to do the tiles after each shower or anything; I barely remember to squeegee the shower door, let alone the rest of it.

Some of the steam cleaners say you can use detergent, some just water. Would the water ones really clean limescale? It seems a bit counterintuitive, to get dried water stains off by just using water that will then dry on?!

Or do I need a steam cleaner for the cleaning of the tiles, and then a window Vac to do the drying?

I could get a handheld cleaner and/or vac to do the shower tiles/windows, and just carry on doing the floor (very small) with a cloth now and then, or there are some steam cleaners that are floor cleaners with a handheld bit as an accessory.

I don't have a lot of storage room for any of these things, but I can find some space. I am always looking for ways to make things easier, but I start with good intentions, and never really end up using things (like the carpet cleaner in the cupboard, used about twice this year). But I know the flat needs more cleaning that I do now.. I guess the bathroom tiles are probably the priority, then maybe the windows - it always seems more noticeable this time of year, when the sun is low, and you can see the dirt more clearly as it shines through.

What should I get?!

You can get window cleaning robots on amazon, they do inside & out.

I never used my steam mop much and you can’t use 5hem on laminate anyway. I use the spray mop from homebargains every day, I have a fresh Addis spray mop head for each day off amazon.

I am not sure whether the floors are laminate. But sounds like I shouldn't count on using a steam mop on them though. Might get a spray mop or do it by hand as it's so small anyway.

So leaving floors out, that means something to clean the windows, and the bathroom tile walls. Window robot would be amazing, but sound expensive, and the reviews aren't great, at least of the one I was looking at.

Steam mop or window vac or both for the tiles and perhaps windows, then. Why didn't you end up using the steam mop much? Was that just for the floor, or for tiles/windows too?

It was a faff filling it up, waiting for it to heat up, buying distilled water. Their probably better now.

It was just for the floor.

Ultimately for hard water areas you need a water softener to stop the lime but that’s expensive.

yeah, and hard to get in a flat as well.

It puzzled me how the steam cleaners were supposed to get rid of that film on shower tiles, when they are just using water! Surely that would cause much the same limescale film as the shower itself. But I must be missing something.