recommend your steam mop

[heygrey]

i feel so legit housewife-y buying a steam mop, lol. 

a friend said she really liked her shark, but couldn't really give me any details about it. oookay. so i happened upon a steam mop sale today and picked up the most basic shark mop. it's just water, no cleaning solution. it seems to work well, the microfiber head was almost black after a few passes in my kitchen (clearly this is a necessary purchase). we have really porous, almost white tile - even though it is MUCH cleaner, it's still dirty. i'm not sure if it's because the mop head is so dirty i'm just pushing dirt around at this point so i need to wash it and start over or if i'd be better off trading this model in for a version that has a cleaning solution mixed in with the water. 

thoughts? recs? 

[polarbearfans]

Personally I think water can clean just as well as a cleanser. you probably just need to switch out the mop pad.

[sierramist03]

I'd try washing the mop head.

[parker]

I spray a little vinegar around my kitchen before I steam mop. It really helps.

[sjh722]

I have a Shark too. I'd wash the mop head.

I'm going to try pp's suggestion of vinegar, too.

[heygrey]

Oct 28, 2014 21:43:53 GMT -5 parker said:

I spray a little vinegar around my kitchen before I steam mop. It really helps.

thanks! i will try this in the morning. vinegar is fantastic. 

i'm so disgusted with my floors. who installs white tile in a rental?! i have scrubbed this floor on my hands and knees a few times, but that's obviously not an option for your average cleaning. a regular mop is a joke; it just pushes dirt further into the crevices. so gross. 

[tcjmama]

I just bought a Haan on WalMart's site. It's on clearance for $65.

[lavender444]

I had a shark steam mop and really liked it. The one I had used just water, and it got off dirt I never knew was there. You can buy extra covers. I had 3,or 4, so they were always ready to go. Just remember no fabric softeners or dryer sheets when washing them.

[heygrey]

so, not loving this thing.

i washed the original mop head, bought a second mop head so i could have one on and one in the wash, sprayed vinegar all over the floor... it just reached a point where it wasn't getting up any more dirt. i got on my hands and knees with a magic eraser to verify and yes, still dirty. we have awful tile, that's the issue. it's textured and porous and just holds onto dirt. i'm not sure what to do now. scrub the entire house on my hands and knees with a magic eraser and then hope that the mop can maintain it? return this mop and upgrade to something more heavy duty?

i promise i'm not as slovenly as i'm making myself sound! i sweep and regular mop appropriately, but now that we have a tiny person who likes to roll around and occasionally lick the floors i'm a lot more conscious of the lingering dirt that i know is there.

[demandypants]

We have a hoover floormate, a little more complex with the dirty water/clean water and scrubby heads. I can't say it is perfect or will solve your crappy tile issues... but for me I am way more likely to use it than scrub the floor on my hands and knees. SO it leaves us with cleaner floors in the end. We had a shark in the past. We liked it but I wanted something more