Can Steam Cleaning Hardware Floors Harm Them

When you use too much water it causes more harm than good.

Can steam cleaning hardware floors harm them.

Cleaning your floors the right way. At the risk of stating the obvious not all floor cleaners are created equal. Too much water on a mop can cause water spots to form and even warp the floor. Though durable on the surface engineered hardwoods are bonded using adhesives and the steam cleaning can affect the quality of those adhesives.

If you use steam or water on unsealed floors poorly sealed floors or old worn out floors that haven t been refinished in decades then you will have a problem. You can choose to use a chemical based floor cleaner or use a steam powered mop to sanitize your floors and get them to sparkle. For the longest time i believed that the only way to effectively clean my floors was with a fancy expensive cleaning liquid. Drastic temperature changes and moisture may warp the wood says steve.

Moisture can seep between the layers weakening the bond and permanently damaging the floors. The finish in well maintained hardwood floors isn t just applied to make them look great it s also there to keep the wood dry. No not safely that is. Popular cleaning products most of the cleaning products sold in grocery stores aren t friendly to wood.

Using a steam cleaner to get out a stain could cause more harm than good. They ll damage the finish if used over a long period of time. Can i steam clean stains on my hardwood floors. While researching the use of steam mops on hardwood floors i came across article after article that cautioned against using a steam mop on hardwood floors.

The premise is that despite mop manufacturer claims the steam from the mop moves through cracks in the floor more easily than water which penetrates below the sealer and the moisture can cause the hardwood to warp buckle. Yes the floors were clean but i was also introducing unknown chemicals into my. Floors do not require much water to clean them. Eric perry scripps networks llc.

In fact it can also be used on marble ceramic stone laminate linoleum and sealed hardwood floors. The short and sweet answer is this. Avoid using a steam mop on wood although it may be tempting to deep clean your hardwood floors with a steam mop don t. Using a steam cleaner on a hardwood floor can cause peeling cracking and cloudiness in the finish.

Avoid using steam mops on engineered hardwood floors. Wring the mop out carefully so that it only remains damp. The bissell steam mop can be used to clean a vinyl floor.