Floor Steam Cleaners

We have a basic Shark. It seems to work well on our wooden/laminated floors. Still think getting down on your hands and knees with a well wrung out cloth does the business and I do that from time to time. You just can't get the staff these days.

The main thing with Steam Floor Cleaners is the shape of the mop head. Whatever you do don't buy one with a triangular head. They don't get into the corners. I gave mine away and bought one with an oblong head. It's a Shark. To be honest, I rarely use it. It's quicker with a traditional mop and bucket.

I've had three, and all have conked out after a year or less. They are excellent when they work, but none of mine has lasted long. I won't get another unless the design of them changes. Off the top of my head, one was Vax, one was Shark and the other a cheaper one from somewhere like Must Have Ideas.

They are over rated....much better job with a mop and bucket.... they are not recommended with vinyl as they affect the glue and there's the potential for the vinyl to lift ...we have LVT and would never use on that

I have a shark. To be honest can’t beat a bucket of boiling water & soapy/cleaner.

Mt61

I have a shark. To be honest can’t beat a bucket of boiling water & soapy/cleaner.

If I could get down, I would scrub my floor around the edges.

Thank you all for that but how depressing. I thought that they would make cleaning a doddle. Hands and knees are out of the question, unless a big yellow bus comes along to get me up from the floor! Shoulder tendonitis precludes a mop and bucket

I suppose the only answer is not to bother!

I bought a rechargeable floor mop. It came with three different pads to use. Polishing, scrubbing and wet mopping. It’s fantastic. It’s lightweight and fun. Makes a cute little noise and I sit on my chair and just gently move it side to side. It’s excellent at cleaning. Not expensive either.

I love mine. It does have a triangular head, but I sweep around the edges,hoover the main part and use the edge of the steamer for any corners. It goes right into the wall. It makes a really clean job. I have vinyl but I can't see how it would damage it in any way, because it is very quick I struggled before, now it's done in no time at all . Mine is a Vileda.

Dalrymple23 I think you would find a steam mop would also cause shoulder pain. You have to use the same action to clean with a steam mop as with a mop and bucket. I found the steamer hard work to push around.

We have a steam mop, my DH is in charge of it and he loves it! It's a VAX with a triangular head and it's great for our kitchen , utility and 2 bathrooms, all tiled. One of the advantages is how quickly the floor dries compared to a mop and bucket. But by far the biggest advantage is that DH has taken charge of steam cleaning the floors and does so regularly 😁

I have had a few and find the present one by Shark the best. It has a rectangular mop head than can be switched about to use a fresh section without having to touch the mop. Robustly built and has survived longest.

I have a Tineco, not hot steam but rotating cleaning head with clean water, then socks dirty stuff into separate tank. Does need to be dismantled and cleaned after. Good for large hard floors though not right into edge.

I use one that is called an Aircraft. I struggle with walking (chest problems) and needed something easy to operate. We have tiled kitchen, bathroom and dining room. It is battery operated, very easy to use and I sit on available items ie bath/chair to use it. It doesn’t need pushing except for guiding, has two round pads - used left and right and I find that it gets into where I need it to go. There are other pads for wood/laminate for just polishing/buffing. There is somewhere to add water and I use a spray to help with stubborn stains. Best steam cleaner that I have used.

We bought one when our dogs caught guiardia dysentery from drinking deep muddy water in a partly flooded field. Used it after disinfectant mopping as it will kill the parasite. I found it difficult to push but left the floors clean. It overheated after 6 months but they replaced it. It's from Avalla Would I buy again from them No. But I would buy a different make as it kills parasites and it's now the 3rd time she's drunk from rivers or puddles and had guiardia which we all can catch.

I had a steam cleaner. It was probably too cheap (a Hoover) and stopped delivering steam after 13 months i.e. one month after the guarantee ran out. The cable was a bit short too.
Now I use a twirly mop bucket with hot water, not too soapy, then dry the floor with my other mop. Both mop heads go into the washing machine (or rinsed out in my bath water) and dry either outdoors or on the rack with the dehumidifier.

Huge thanks everyone. Masses of food for thought.

I've just bought a cheap and cheerful one from B&M, Goodmans make, for £18. I wanted it for our tiled kitchen. Hoovered kitchen first, labrador fibres everywhere 😂. Steamed it and it looks fab. It has an adapter thing for carpets, too. Gave it a quick go on a longstanding stain that we've tried everything on and it seems to have cleared that, too. I'm very pleased with my budget purchase.

I have the same problem, all tiled or wooden flooring plus a dog. Bought a Dyson hard floor cleaner, you do not have to sweep the floor as it both lifts the dust and debris and washes. Would not be without it, even with severe arthritis I can clean all the floors. Plus add disinfectant if dog accidents etc. At first it is a bit fiddly to get used to taking the cleaning heads apart but only at first. The advert shows this very stylish lady gliding through a room of debris leaving a sparkling clean floor behind, no not that easy as you do have to go over the floor with a few swipes but it is really good.

AirCraft Home PowerGlide Cordless Rechargeable Hard Floor Cleaner and Polisher Bundle with 8 Cleaning Buffing Pads, Perfect for Wood, Tile, Laminate and Hard Floors amzn.eu/d/9Vs27fz

They do mae cleaning the floor a doddle. I'm 84 years of age and mine has a triangular head, makes life so much easier. Map and bucket - no thanks.

Tineco ..I love mine, so easy to use, worth every penny, save time sweeping, vacuuming etc does it all in one .. I'd never had one before but purchased this one Dec 24 after doing lots of research. Not the cheapest but it does what it says it will easily & i'll definitely replace ..need to autoclean after every use.

uk-store.tineco.com/products/tineco-floor-one-s5-cordless-lightweight-smart-wet-dry-vacuum-cleaner?srsltid=AfmBOorPvrTugXbX4foJ4-8YcZLlNPfHkYbV0NJOwDvXIVNYKPkInhnr

Some great reviews on youtube once you get your shortlist & handy hints on how to get the best out of each machine.

I was checking out steam cleaners last night as, on top of my flour mite infestation, I now have carpet beetles and I read that the only way to kill the larvae is with a steam cleaner. Thankfully my partner is lending me one that he got free with a Vax carpet cleaner so I’m going to use that tonight, especially as we have a week of hot weather to dry everything out. I realised last night that my Vileda mop doesn’t really clean the tiles in my hallway.

I had a Shark. It failed eventually. We have hard water here and I couldn't see how it could keep going indefinitely. It seemed good to begin with but lost power quite early on.
My major issues were:
1) the reservoir was quite small and refilling it was tricky. I had to do this several times during the course of a decent clean;
2) the velcro fittings on the heads failed early on and I ended up having to tie them on - horrible to remove when they are soaking wet and filthy dirty;
3) I was disappointed that it didn't clean the grout on my quarried tiles floor, so still had to get down and scrub those.
4) It left the floors dull and I felt that I still needed detegent of some kind to remove grease and stuck on dirt in the kitchen.

Quarry tiles and wood here. But, it did make a great job of DD's LVT (ie vinyl plank) floor, and her ceramic tile kitchen floor (which is white unfortunately!).
Clearly steam can clean effectively at sufficient volume, but not sure that home streamers can deliver this? (Although it was hot enough for me to burn my arm though, when I was using the hand held option and reached in front of the nozzle!)