Submitted by: Chriss Harmen

Using a hard surface floor cleaner in virtually every room of a house can save money, time and energy. Rather than having caddies full of cleaning supplies, lugging a bucket full of dingy water around and buying various equipment, utilize the multi-tasking abilities of a hard surface floor cleaners. Most units easily convert to a hand held steamer for sanitizing shower doors, tile grout, granite countertops, hard to reach spots and more.

Terry Cloth Towels and Steam are the Perfect Combo

When cleansing linoleum, tile, stone, stone laminate, vinyl, or stained concrete floors, a hard floor surface cleaner combined with a terry cloth towel used as the pad will produce great results. Materials containing divots or uneven surfaces work best on hard surface floors, although many believe mircrofiber is a good solution. This choice works great when dry dusting or catching dirt that hasn’t been wet. However, terry cloth towels do a much better job when actually washing a floor.

Another benefit of utilizing these types of cleaning pads is that they can be machine washed and used over and over again. Laundering the cloths in hot water will remove the dirt and drying on low heat or line drying will make them ready to use with a hard surface floor cleaner. Ordinary detergent without bleach or fabric softener is the best cleansing agent. On the other hand, if the cloths have spots or they have been desiccated at excessively high heat, soak them in hot water, detergent and a non-bleach stain remover for 30 minutes to release the deep ground-in dirt.

Hand Held Steamer Makes Glass Shine

Simply adding water to a hand held steamer replaces mounds of paper towels and glass cleaners. Just by squirting vapors onto the dingy window, all the dirt will disappear. To dry without streaking, use terry cloth towels. The hand held steamer also works well on shower doors. Since soap scum can become hard over time, it’s very hard to remove. The squeegee attachment is a valuable cleaning tool. Start by blasting the doors with hot vapors to remove the top layer of dirt and soap.

For extremely deep layers, use a gentle detergent on a terry cloth towel to loosen the saturated grime. Once the soap scum has loosened, use the hand held steamer with squeeze attached to get rid the remaining dirt. No spots will be left behind from the fast drying steam so there is no need to dry and rub in circular motion with towels or pull out the blow dryer. Cleaning the shower door regularly with only water and a hand held steam cleaner will avoid future build up of soap scum.

Clean Grout With Ease

The nylon brush set included with the hard surface floor cleaner comes with three brushes to help tackle most cleaning needs. No one enjoys bending over for hours scrubbing tiny crevices like grout lines by hand while inhaling toxic fumes. The large brush in the set can be used for wider coverage like scouring tile grout. Whether kitchen, bathroom or foyer, tile grout can look like new again with a hand held steamer.

First, fill the steam cleaner with water, and allow it to heat to the right temperature. When cleaning walls, aim the machine at the lowest point and work upward. Start releasing vapors with the applicator touching the wall or floor, focusing on the grout lines. Leave steam longer on any of the grout lines containing mold or mildew. Use a clean towel to get up any water that runs down the wall.

Steam Cleaning is a Safe Solution for Bamboo Floors

Like any wooden floor, bamboo floors are sensitive to excess moisture. Therefore, using a mop drenched in water will harm these surfaces. A hard surface floor cleaner and a “rascal pad” used as the cleansing pad underneath will be gentle yet effective on bamboo. These types of green pads contain microfiber scrubbers that work well without scratching the fibers of bamboo. In between cleanings, using a dry dust mop or a microfiber flat mop will protect the bamboo floor from getting scratched by dirt and grit. Wax, wood polishes, solvent cleaners or oil soap should never be used when disinfecting bamboo floors. These types of solutions can actually harm the surface instead of making it better.

Utilizing floor cleaners that especially made for bamboo floors is the safest option to ensure proper maintenance of these high quality floors. One simple tool can easily clean multiple home surfaces while helping the entire household go green.

About the Author: Chris Harmen writes about the hard surface floor cleaner for GrueneSteam. (

gruenesteam.com/

). GrueneSteam offers a variety of green cleaning supplies, products and tips on how to sanitize many surfaces in a home with a hand held steamer (

gruenesteam.com/ToolDetail.aspx

).

Source:

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