Can I Use A Steam Mop On Hardwood Floors

Hardwood floor steam cleaner

The question of steam cleaning hardwood floors is a catchy 1, with plenty of variables and confounding factors and alarming net tales to consider.

Luckily, the short answer to "tin you steam clean hardwood floors" is yep, provided you lot follow a few simple guidelines. Here's how.

What Type of Hardwood Floor Can You lot Steam Make clean?

There are many different types of hardwood flooring, such as laminate, sealed hardwood, unsealed hardwood, and wood grain vinyl floor, and each one comes with its ain fix of opinions.

The Advap team has been using dry steam vapor on floors for more than 20 years with the Ladybug, MondoVap, and VaporJet systems. Other than unsealed hardwood floor, all other types of hardwood floors can be cleaned successfully without any signs of deposition across multiple types and brands of flooring when used properly.

Hardwood floors that have an acid-cured, aluminum oxide, h2o-based polyurethane, oil-based polyurethane, or moisture-cured urethane end should all exist fine for steam vapor cleaning. If a penetrating oil sealer was used on the floor, then steam vapor cleaning can slowly degrade it over time and require you to impact it up every so ofttimes.

E'er check your floor first in an inconspicuous area, and you may also want to cheque with your manufacturer for warranty data likewise.

What Are My Options to Clean My Hardwood Floor?

You accept a few choices when information technology comes to cleaning floor of the aforementioned varieties.

Cleaning solution. Some flooring companies may offer a cleaning solution yous tin apply by hand, scrub, and then buff off. However, this is time-consuming and physically taxing, especially with a large area to cover.
Dry out mopping. Dry mopping with a damp mop is a pop option. Nevertheless, like a cleaning solution, this also takes a lot of time and effort.
Wet steam. Then there are so-chosen "steam" cleaners that are not dry out steam vapor systems. These tin can vary from a steam mop to a extraction vac wet system. Both of these systems are, in our opinion, too wet and can damage the floor.
Boiler steam vapor systems. In that location are as well cheap steam vapor systems that do apply a boiler to produce steam, simply are not of high plenty quality to produce the kind of "dry" steam vapor nosotros are looking for.
High-quality steam vapor. When choosing a high-quality steam vapor arrangement, y'all are looking for a higher wattage organization designed to produce and maintain a quality dry out steam vapor. This volition requite you the type of steam yous desire without over-wetting the surface, which makes drying times nearly instantaneous.

Is Information technology Safe to Steam Clean a Hardwood Floor?

Short answer: Aye, if it's sealed and you're using dry out steam vapor.

Whenever you use a new cleaning method, no thing what your floor blazon, you should check with your manufacturer's warranty and then do a spot check in an inconspicuous area to brand sure your cleaning tools don't cause any harm or discoloration.

Yous should also cheque to confirm that your floor is sealed (go on reading, we'll get there) and that there aren't any gaps or loose boards where water could potentially become in.

The main business concern that articles about steam cleaning wood are warning against involves the buildup of also much moisture. Since dry steam vapor has very little moisture content, you don't have to worry virtually that as much.

How Do I Know if My Flooring Is Sealed?

The sealing procedure prevents moisture from sinking into the floor. Endeavour dropping a small corporeality of water onto the flooring and encounter what happens. If the droplets bead up, that means your floor is sealed. If they spread out or absorb into the woods, and so it isn't.

Are At that place Any Risks to Using Dry Steam Vapor?

The main things y'all should exist concerned with are over-wetting your flooring or overheating information technology past leaving the heated tool in 1 place for too long. Both of these issues could potentially cause water impairment via water penetrating deeper into the flooring or structural or buckling issues from overheating.

Brand certain you use a loftier-quality arrangement, which will reduce any potential problems. You should also make sure y'all're using the system properly (more on this beneath), which reduces risks non only on hardwood, but also laminate, vinyl, and many other surfaces.

Many manufacturers may non encompass what they think of as "steam cleaning" your hardwood floors. This is due to the fact that they are unfamiliar with dry steam vapor. "Steam cleaning" is dissimilar from cleaning with a steam vapor machine; steam vapor is very dry out, so not much moisture is left on the flooring. Steam heat can heighten wood grain if the wood is bare or only a wax stop is used, but nigh sealed hardwood is great with dry steam vapor.

How to Use a Steam Vapor Organisation to Clean Hardwood

At that place are two main stages to a good dry steam clean: before and during. Here are the steps you should continue in listen and on your to-do listing.

Step 1: Warm upwards your arrangement.

It's all-time if you've already been using your organisation for at least a brusque while before starting on your flooring to brand sure it's heated upwards properly and creating the hottest, driest steam. Maybe kickoff off with your walls or a carpeted floor, while y'all've got the organization out.

Footstep 2: Set the volume.

If your system has a volume command, continue it on the lowest setting, a 1 or a two at most if it's numbered. This volition make sure you're creating the hottest, driest steam possible.

Step iii: Check your accessories.

Information technology's always important to accessorize properly. Unremarkably, the best accompaniment for hardwood is a large rectangular floor brush connected to at least two extension handles.

You should also use a filler pad between the nylon bristles, which helps to more evenly bridge the rut and steam out over the entire surface of the brush. The pad too helps trap any extra condensation that may form equally the steam exits the steam tube and moves to the open pocket/aqueduct in the brush.

Step 4: Wrap it upward.

The floor castor should be fully wrapped with a terry towel forcing the steam down to the floor surface and not bravado out the ends of the flooring tool. You're basically "diapering" the big flooring brush using the filler pad and a terry towel.

If using a microfiber towel, it is very important to make sure that the steam tin can pass through the microfiber and not get trapped behind the towel. Trapped steam will make the fiber go very wet very rapidly, and a wet towel cannot absorb wet.

Footstep v: Spot check.

Do a small test in an inconspicuous area to make certain the steam doesn't have whatsoever negative effects on your floor or its finish.

Step 6: Commence the brushing.

Traveling in the direction of the forest grain, move the brush in a back and along move, slightly slower than you would vacuum. Always keep the tool moving at a speed only slower than vacuuming, following the management of the woods grain, and don't spend too long in any 1 spot.

If y'all are interrupted for any reason, make sure yous don't get out the hot tool sitting on the floor or you lot're leaving yourself vulnerable to that heat harm we discussed.

Stride vii: Return to tough spots.

If there were any spots that didn't come up upwardly one your starting time and second pass, now is the time to try going over them again. Once over again, try 1 or two more than passes, then motion along for a bit and come dorsum.

Pace 8: Relax!

There's no need for rinsing or drying with dry steam. But enjoy the smoothen.

Conclusion

For a fast and effective way to make clean your sealed hardwood floors, you can't do better than dry steam.

Advanced Vapor Technologies has been in the market for more 20 years and is confident that the Ladybug arrangement will leave your floors looking like they've been freshly buffed.

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