another commenter here, on the Haan thread, had mentioned Vapor Clean steam cleaners. They're expensive, $800, but they do everything and are made much better than the plastic-laden cheaper steam cleaners.

steam cleaning is the way to go, IMO. Environmentally friendly, no buying cleaning stuff, does a better job, easy on the body/knees, etc.

Thank you Tibbrix. I will look at those.

One thing I am very confused about, how does steam actually clean? Where does the dirt go? I'm not interested in germ killing so much as removing dirt from the travertine--and is steam safe for natural stone? What about the filler used in the travertine? Thanks!

The high heat and moisture loosen dirt and grime, and it gets picked up by the pad.

I'm sure it's fine to use on travertine, but you never want to let it sit idle on wood or plastic flooring. Tile and stone are fine for it to sit on, but on wood and plastic/poly floors, keep the mop moving. If you have to stop, set it down on the pad it comes with to protect the floors.

I am the person with the Vapor Clean, but I neither recommend nor not-recommend this brand. It has worked fine for me, but I have nothing to compare it to.

My unit is not perfect. It has a major design flaw - you can't access the bottom screwbolt - and a flaw that was fixed in later models, the on-off bottom has to be continually pressed to get steam and my thumb hurts by the end of my cleaning session.

But, once you decide on a brand to buy, yes, it will be worth it. It beats anything else I have tried on ceramic tile.

That's why I love my Haan: Lightweight, I just take it out of the closet, plop it on one of the pads, turn it on, and less than a minute later I've got continuous steam with absolutely no effort whatsoever. Do I wish it were made with better materials? Yes. But such is the state of manufacturing nowadays.

Thanks Tibbrix and Graywings for your comments. I appreciate it. I've found with the amount of flooring in this house I need something really sturdy. When a machine has to run a long time, the lightweight units don't seem to hold up.

I have the McCulloch MC 1275. We have wood floors with an unknown finish (previous owner) and it actually softened and dulled the finish a little. Not using it on wood anymore. It works great on vinyl and tile and I love the accessories that come with it. It steams for 40 minutes but takes about 10 minutes to heat up which is not a big deal to me. Replacement parts ( I have misplaced a few of the little brushes) from their website are relatively inexpensive.

Here is a link that might be useful: McCulloch

I cleaned my tile on my hands and knees too. I had to use one of those garden cushions.

I bought a steam cleaner thanks to Tib and I really like it. But it's smaller than what you're looking for.

If you do buy one that uses pads, make sure you buy a lot of extra pads.

Mops, pads and the like in my mind just seem to move dirt around..yes, some gets picked up, but not a lot. I still think the best way to clean a floor is on hands and knees with two pails of water...clean/dirty....but there is no way I can clean this way anymore.

Is there such a thing as a steam VACUUM? If not, there should be! This would be the ultimate...picking up all the dirt and bits while steaming the floor.

The other problem with something like a Haan, hoovb, for a floor your size is that you move them slowly across the floor, so on a huge floor, it would take a long time.

hoovb, this group is probably more what you're looking for.

Here is a link that might be useful: Commercial steam cleaners

I just see no reason to get on hands and knees in this day and age when there are so many good appliances to help you. But that's me.

I've had a Eureka steam mop for 4-5 years. A steam mop is not a steam cleaner. I also have a hand-held steam cleaner (Haan) for other jobs. Someone linked a small (household) steam cleaner sold at Home Depot on the steam mop thread. It had a floor attachment. I personally like the steam mops for floors (I don't use mine on my wood floors). And yes, the steam will clean. Granted, my floors don't get really dirty (no children just the two of us), but the steam mop cleans them. Maybe it is the different kinds of mops, but I don't find the need to go over my flooring slow - mine has continuous steam so I'm sure that helps.

I always vacuum first, before any type of mopping/cleaning.

tina

I just see no reason to get on hands and knees in this day and age when there are so many good appliances to help you. But that's me.

I've had a Eureka steam mop for 4-5 years. A steam mop is not a steam cleaner. I also have a hand-held steam cleaner (Haan) for other jobs. Someone linked a small (household) steam cleaner sold at Home Depot on the steam mop thread. It had a floor attachment. I personally like the steam mops for floors (I don't use mine on my wood floors). And yes, the steam will clean. Granted, my floors don't get really dirty (no children just the two of us), but the steam mop cleans them. Maybe it is the different kinds of mops, but I don't find the need to go over my flooring slow - mine has continuous steam so I'm sure that helps.

I always vacuum first, before any type of mopping/cleaning.

tina

The larger machines have alligator clips at the end and you attach a cloth to them. The steam goes through the cloth and the cloth picks up the dirt and you change it out as it turns black. I can go through about 10 cloths on a really dirty floor.

You have to vacuum first to pick up the pieces of dirt. The steamer is designed to get the dirt that is embedded in the tile.

I will take some photos the next time I have the cleaner out. Really, Joanie, if you saw this in action, you would be buying one.

There are videos on line showing how these work. I will look around.

I forgot to mention. I do not use cleaner with my steam mop - just water/steam. Some of the mops come with cleaning pads - which have cleaner on them. I would advise against that - for the same reason I don't use swiffer cloths - it's just added trash. My Eureka came with a cloth pad that is reuseable. So, you're doing both the environment and your pocketbook a favor.

I'm learning so much from all the comments, thank you! I'm doing some shopping around the internet and now I have some more understanding of what I could get.

Thank you oakleyok for mentioning that multiple pads for the cleaner is a good idea. I would have not thought of that.

Is there such a thing as a steam VACUUM?

Some of the machines vacuum and steam carpets/extract--I'm investigating those as well.

I did have one of those steam mops back around 2000--it was just too small for the amount of flooring (and dirt) involved. We have two dogs and they track in dust and this is a very dry, dusty area. The floors just don't stay clean. I can dust every day and the house is still dusty.

Again thank you all for the very helpful and educational comments!

We have a Karcher commercial German steam cleaner and compared to the cheaper models I've tried, it's really the bomb. Takes about 20min to heat up, but has a huge reservoir and can clean on full steam for about 2 hours. Comes with a zillion attachments for doing grout, stove interior, fridge, radiators, etc. It's also a very pretty yellow color. :) Pricey, but you can often find refurbished ones or look on eBay.

I agree that floor cleaning really doesn't seem to have an inherently optimal procedure. You can use a Hoover type carpet shampooer on concrete, tile, or wood, but the ones I've seen don't seem to get very hot, certainly not to steaming -- they just kind of throw down warmish water and then suck it back up. (They do clean, but I don't think they do as good a job as a real steamer, and they do use a lot of water which isn't super for wooden floors.) You can use a steamer with lots and lots of washable pads, as we do. Or you can vacuum and then mop with 2 buckets. It's really a first-world problem, I suppose, but heck, floors have to get clean somehow and knees DO wear out.

As cat owners we've appreciated our Karcher steam cleaner in preparation for visiting relatives who are allergic -- steam the floors and get a HEPA air filter going, and they don't even notice there are cats present.

This weekend we passed a garage sale, I bought a shark mop steam cleaner, it came with 2 pads. I tried it today on my two bathroom floors. I can't tell if it's cleaner than before, but for sure this is easier. The rest of my floors are oak and bamboo stand, do you use steam on these too? Do they dull, or change the color of them? Thanks!

I use my Haan on my wide-pine floors, but not very often (other than the bathroom, which is also wide-pine). Haan says it can be used on hardwood floors. I've not noticed any issues, but some people on these threads have said they have noticed.

Since my floors are pine, they're all scratched up (except for the bathroom, oddly enough!) anyway from traffic and dogs, so I'm not concerned. However, now that we're getting to the end of winter, the floors and especially under furniture are covered with dust from the forced hot air system (I vacuum mostly), so I'll be taking my Haan to them soon to do a "spring clean".

Inspired by this thread, I used my Kärcher this weekend to steam the tile floor and grout in my bathtub/shower. Really great results; I do love the thing. You have to turn it down fairly low to do caulk, lest you remove it, but it whitens grout like nobody's business.

What I like about this model is that it has separate controls for water and steam, so you can adjust it to have a hot water stream along with the steam for washing down the grime into the tub. It's got tiny 1" nozzle brushes in both plastic and brass for really getting the dirt off.

We are next going to try it out for removing wallpaper, crossing fingers.

I noted the model, it's the commercial Kärcher DE4002. It's dreadfully expensive, but we got one at half price, refurbished, on eBay, so that's an economical option for somebody if one comes up again.

circuspeanut, I bought a Miele White Star refurbished vacuum cleaner about 15 years ago. Going like the day I got it. I LOVE it.

I don't trust new stuff now. It just isn't made well anymore. Yesterday I received my vintage GE low-profile blender I bought on eBay. All stainless steel parts, none of this plastic nonsense, and blends like nobody's business. $400 for a Vitamix! Good grief. We've become insane, I tell you!

Thank heaven for eBay!

I have a LadyBug XL that I bought about 8 years ago. I bought it when we lived in our previous house, but haven't used it the last several years due to overseas and cross country relocations. I should get it out and use it in this house. I have a cleaning lady, but the floor looks dull, so I don't think she is doing a great job of cleaning! I was very happy with the results of the LadyBug when I was using it regularly. There is some set up time, but would be fine if you did a steam clean every other week. I used it on wood floors, made sure to keep moving and immediately "buffed" the floors with a clean dry towel. The floors looked great. It would work great on a large area with tile.

I looked at the Kärcher site, and they have floor scrubber machines as well as steamers. A scrubber was what I was looking for originally--can anyone comment on scrubber vs. steamer?