Ditch the chemicals for a deeper clean
Steam cleaning has become all the rage with people who want to stop using chemicals in their homes. There are a host of benefits of steam cleaning your home compared to traditional methods, from health concerns to efficiency. Let’s de-mist-ify steam cleaning and help you harness the power of steam.
Steam cleaners heat water up to 300 degrees to remove grime and sanitize your surfaces. These high temperatures can loosen dirt and bacteria's bond on your floors, making it easy to wipe away and leave a sparkling finish. Some cleaning methods only scratch the surface, but steam can penetrate carpet fibers and more for a deeper clean, making it particularly effective on materials like grout or sturdy fabric.
A canister steam cleaner is the most popular go-to for steam cleaning, but plenty of other machines utilize steam to clean your home. You’ll also find steam mops for various floor types and handheld steam cleaners, which are great for cleaning your shower.
All these devices work the same way, heating water to distribute steam through a nozzle or mop head. Ultimately, which type of steamer you need depends on what you’re steam cleaning, but they’re all useful in different ways. If you hire a local house cleaner, they’ll likely have a professional-grade machine that can lift the toughest stains.
The benefits of steam cleaning are abundant—so much so that you’ll wonder why you weren’t doing it earlier.
Other traditional methods of cleaning utilize chemicals like bleach to disinfect your home. While those solutions may be effective, they aren’t the safest to interact with and can be corrosive or poisonous for you and your pets—especially when residue is easily left on porous materials. Steam cleaning, in contrast, lets you clean without any fear that you’ll harm yourself or your family.
Again, when you steam clean your home, you don’t have to mix anything into the water you use. The harsh chemicals in cleaning supplies can get mixed in with your water supply, harming your local aquatic ecosystem. Also, much as you don’t want to believe it, cleaning chemicals do come with an expiration date, and you can’t just send them to the landfill due to how toxic they are. Steam cleaning eliminates the need for these chemicals, which helps keep your home and the environment clean.
If you can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen—and dirt, grime, and bacteria take that to heart. Steam cleaning can give you a deeper clean because of the high temperatures, sanitizing better than chemicals and traditional cleaning materials like a sponge or mop. Steam cleaning also kills harmful germs, like viruses, mold, E. Coli, Salmonella, and other infectious pathogens invisible to the naked eye.
Unlike one-and-done tools like a sponge or a vacuum, steam cleaners work on many surfaces throughout your home, making cleaning easy from room to room. What’s more, these machines effectively clean otherwise difficult surfaces, like curtains, carpets, and leather upholstery. Most steam cleaners are also very easy to use, which means this all-in-one solution will save you time on chore day.
Whether you have a hairy pet or an aversion to dust, steam cleaning your home can help remove harmful allergens that linger in the air and leave your home smelling fresh. Regular steam cleaning has been shown to remove microscopic allergens like dust mite waste for good, relieving you of the pain of allergy season. Steam penetrates and eliminates unwanted odors and keeps your pets healthy by killing fleas, their eggs, and larvae.
Steam cleaning your carpet is a highly effective and easy way to clean everyday dirt and grime. While you may need to pretreat some hard-to-remove spots for maximum effect, you can regularly steam clean your carpet to help it stay looking new and fresh for years to come. Don’t forget to give it some time to dry.
Depending on the upholstery, steam cleaning your couch is a simple and easy way to give your most sat-on piece of furniture new life. Like a carpet, you may need to pretreat and spot-clean tougher stains, but you shouldn’t use any larger or bulky steam cleaners you’d typically use on your carpets. Opt for a gentle steam cleaner that can specifically clean fabric, and double-check your couch manufacturer’s cleaning recommendations.
The best steam cleaner depends on what you need to steam clean. The most consumer-friendly option is a steam mop for hard-surface floors, like tile, which is particularly effective at cleaning the grout. While you can use a steam mop for other things, a canister steam cleaner is more versatile in what it can clean, helping you tackle windows, counters, and even your car. A handheld steam cleaner is your best bet if you’re looking for a more portable solution to get into hard-to-reach places.
