Steam mops

I love my steam mop - I have hard floors throughout my ground floor and can do all the floors with one top up of water. I haven't noticed any problem with condensation.

If I was buying one now I would buy one which can be broken down into a hand held steamer, I had to buy a separate hand held one which is great for doing the shower.

This thread, coming right under the Grahame Ovenden one, is such a relief!

I want to know where the dirt goes. Do you just push it around?

There are removable pads on the steamer which collect the dirt, the pads can then be washed.

Right. I think I would have to go over it again with a clean floor cloth though. ()

DD3 has one and uses it every night in the kitchen, utility, downstairs loo after the children have gone to bed. She also uses it on her wooden hall floor. She loves it!

No need to go over the floor again j08, as long as the pad is clean. I use mine in the kitchen after I have cleaned up after dinner every night. As I live in the country it is a godsend on wet days for the entrance hall.

I`d never heard of steam mops, only steam cleaners, I`d love one of those.

I've had one for years now they are so good,I bought mine abroad and brought it back when we moved back to UK,the tiles in our Villa where a nightmare to keep clean and I was told to buy one by a Spanish friend, I was at a loss as to how her floor tiling always looked immaculate and mine looked dull and uninteresting,soon got that sorted though.

I'm glad to see this thread as my DIL suggested I get one for the wooden floors in our cottage as I'm always moaning about the mess from the dogs. Years ago my mother bought me one from an offer in the newspaper and it was rubbish. It was cheep and cheerful and not up to the job so I haven't bothered to get another one.

Can anyone recommend a good make?

Is anyone else getting the "cookie banner" advertising steam mops everytime they log on?

Thank for your comments. Anyone recommend a particular make ?

Hi Ginny. We have a bamboo floor. When we first had it laid, I bought a swiffer wet and dry mop. I sprayed the floor with Dettox, cleaned it with the wet side and then dried it with the dry side. It worked well, but it was back-breaking. I then dicovered and bought, a Vax S2 hard floor steam cleaner. It is absolutely fantastic. It is done in a quarter of the time as my previous method. I purchased it from Amazon, it was much cheaper from there than on the high street. I also bought the Vax fluid for the cleaner, it leaves a lovely fresh smell. I have had no trouble whatsoever with condensation, but I do have many comments about my lovely shiny floor.

Help! I have just ordered a steam mop, having spent the last 3 hours researching same. BUT we have Karndean flooring in the large living room and have just read that Karndean don't recommend using these.
However, the one I have ordered can be used as a hand-held cleaner too, so I'm ok for the tiles in the bathrooms so all is not lost.
Any other people with experience of Karndean and steam mops?

My son has a Karndean floor Reddevil3, they use a steam mop on it, and have had no problems at all. I think that most hardwood floor manufacturers don't recommend the cleaners, probably just to cover themselves. On my cleaner there are two settings, I always use the lower setting , so that only a small amount of steam is released. It also dries a lot more quickly on this setting.... I have just been to look on the part box of the bamboo that we had left over. They don't recommend sream mops either, but hey ho I use one and everything is tickety boo.

Thanks for that HMHNanna (love the name)
This is the second house in which I have had Karndean- hard-wearing, always looks good, but have NEVER used the special cleaning products which are SO expensive. I think the manufacturers are frightened that the mops will replace their very pricey products Feel a lot better now!

Reddevil3, I am sure that it will be ok. Just to let you know that HMH are the initials of my three granchildrens names, I have no royal connections .

My DD has a steam cleaner and uses it on Everthing . But hasn't tried it on her carpets yet. She says it's excellent on windows, tiles, taps, paintwork etc. so I'd really quite like one, but I have mostly carpets. Can they be used as carpet cleaners?

As far as I remember, the one I have ordered (make is wild animal like a large fox) there is a carpet glider attachment. Look on Am..on
The reviews are very interesting.

Ta, will do.

Steam mops save time and effort. I'm forever cleaning up after my dogs and used to use a mop and bucket. The effort of stooping and scrubbing the floor was really getting to me, until someone suggested a steam cleaner. They're easy to use and most of them come with washable pads. The high temps also means a good clean and bacteria is mostly killed. You won't get this with a mop and bucket. I dread to think what lurks on mop heads!

Anyway, I bought a Morphy Richards one, but I should have bought the Vax one - read through this review (www.groogr.co.uk/steam-mop-reviews/vax-s2s-bare-floor-pro-review and watch the video which demonstrates how it's used (to be honest, most steam cleaners work in the same way).

You do save money in the long run and I clean my floors a lot more regularly now.

I bought an X5 steam cleaner.Its very effective but I find assembling/storing the parts is a pain.Also find that with hand cleaner the clouds of hot steam are a bit scary and I still have to mop up the liquid produced.
My DD borrowed it as all her friends had given glowing reports .Her OH won't allow her to use on floors as in their house (which he built ) the wooden floors have underfloor heating!

Oh yes, Maniac, that's a good point. One has to be careful with floors that have heating underneath and wooden floors that aren't treated. I've not used the X5, but I see it advertised all the time.

I cant imagine why you would need such a thing, unless you have some kind of porous floors combined with pet pot bellied pigs and house rabbits. You do not need to clean your floors or anything else in your houses at 100 deg c. surely?

It's the ease of use, JessM. As I get older, I cannot scrub a floor in the same way I used to be able to do. Little stains that you need to go over several time to get off your floor with a traditional mop will come off with one swipe of the steam mop. The heat assists with this, whereas a mop head will never reach high enough temperatures to do this.

Also, remember that just because you don't see the bacteria on the floor, doesn't mean it's not there. My husband isn't so careful when he cooks and there are always spillages on the floor that he just wipes off with a kitchen towel. That's not effective enough and if my neighbour's children come over to play (which they do most weekends), I don't want them catching anything nasty from playing on the kitchen floor.