Cleaning hard surfaces in your home is always very challenging and tiring. You have to scrub the floor harder than on a normal floor. It’s not an easy task, though. Did you know you can use a handheld steam cleaner to clean hard surface floors? Steam cleaners, in general, are designed for such kinds of tasks. They will make the floor look absolutely new. Handheld steam cleaners are a type of steam cleaners that are generally portable and can be used at home. They are small in size but very efficient in the cleaning process. It’s much like the normal steam cleaner, the only difference being its size. In this article, we will help you know how to use any handheld steam cleaner to clean hard surfaces floors. In the first place, why should you use a steam cleaner?
Reasons to use a steam cleaner.
Using a steam floor cleaner to clean hard surfaces floors should be your choice. If not, let me convince you with some of the reasons to use a steam cleaner for such tasks.
- It’s an eco-friendly way of cleaning hard floors. By the virtue that they use water only to make steam means that there are no other additional chemicals used to make steam. Chemicals are known to have hazardous side effects both on the environment and the people. A steam cleaner is safe to use a type of cleaner that will have no other effects like bleaching the surfaces
- With handheld steam cleaners, you can get a better reach to some of the places that the normal steam cleaners cannot get. These places include corners and cracks and crevices. Handheld steam cleaners are normally lightweight and can thus be carried from one place to another.
- Noise level. Handheld cleaners are smaller in nearly all aspects to standard steam cleaners. But they are environmentally friendly. They produce very little noise and are easy to carry around.
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Drawbacks of using handheld steam cleaners.
Despite having the above benefits, there are some challenges that you get when having these types of steam cleaners.
- They normally have a small water tank capacity. A steam cleaner with a small water tank capacity will require regular refills. The challenge here is that most handheld steam cleaners are not continuous and require breaks. These breaks are always when refilling. Thus if you have more refilling time, you have more breaks. As a result, you waste a lot of time during the refilling period.
- They cannot be used to clean large hard surface. This is the painful truth that you must absorb. The quality offered by these devices is wonderful, but the challenge is that it can only be applied in a limited area.
Steps to Clean Hard Surfaces Using Handheld Steam Cleaner
The cleaning process of the hard surface will involve several steps, which are explained below.
- For the floor that you are cleaning, remove any large items that might be there. These include toys and furniture. Furniture can be moved out of the room or moved to a single corner until the other side is cleaned.
- Remove dust: as much as it might seem trivial, removing dust is very important if you want to get the best quality form the steam cleaner. Make sure that even the windows that are in close proximity to the floor have been dusted. This is because you don’t want a scenario where when you have cleaned a certain place, and still dust falls on it. If possible, you can use a vacuum cleaner. They are the best in this type of work and are the most preferred. A vacuum cleaner removes all dust particles by the use of suction pressure. Take your time as you are using the vacuum cleaner to ensure nearly all the dust particles are removed.
- Pretreating. Before you can start the cleaning process, its best to stain the floor first, you have to pretreat the stains. You can use a perfect stain remover that you can get or any other natural stain remover. From there, you can blot it with a cloth or leave it to be removed by the floor cleaning machine.
- Fill the steamer with water. The steam cleaner has a mechanism of heating the water, but it’s advisable to fill the water tank with hot water. Fill the water tank with the water as per its requirements. For some, they require a specific form of detergent. Put the detergent as per the machine’s instructions. For those who dislike detergents, vinegar can be a good alternative and a natural solution to cleaning.
- Clean the hard floor. The cleaning process should be done very slowly. Most handheld steam cleaner’s work very slowly. It’s good to take steps every two seconds. You should be in a no rush to finish the cleaning process. To start cleaning, ensure that the steamer is connected to a power source. Then press the steam button and start working.
- Drying. Once you are through, it’s important to let the surface dry. Open all the windows to allow fresh air into the building. You can hasten the cleaning process by using a fan.
- Store the handheld cleaner. If you want a long-lasting service from any device that you have, proper maintenance is key. Devices have to be stored when clean. After using the handheld, any water that has remained pour it out and remove the nozzle and clean it. Then store it.
Precautions when using a handheld steam cleaner.
This is an electronic device, so it is advisable always to wear shoes while using it. Also, ensure all the attachments are properly connected before using it.
Conclusion
There is no denying that a handheld steam cleaner is a device that will make the hard floors look clean. But as you use them, always make sure that you are safe as they are electrical appliances, which can be hazardous in some cases. There are a lot of handheld steam cleaners that you can buy out there, but in general, check at the size of the water tank, attachments, and noise level to get a good one.
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