Green Living
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Speaking of steamers
Who has one? I've been looking at the Shark but would love to hear about any of them. I have hardwood, linoleum, and ceramic tile. How does it work? I love the idea of water only!! From what I'm reading, the pads are washable too!
TIA for sharing reviews!
Re: Speaking of steamers
Best sound ever: baby's heartbeat! (Heard @ 10w1d)
4/25/12 ~ Our angel, Persephone James, is here!
I have the Shark pocket. It's easy to use, which in my world, means I actually bother to mop regularly. You do need to sweep with a vac or broom before mopping. I like it a lot, except for how I get sweaty when cleaning with steam.
I use it on hardwoods, tile, and laminant. It does a great job on cleaning the laminant, but tends to show streak marks. I see that effect less on the hardwoods. Switching to clean pads and mopping with the grain lessens that. I still use a wax conditioner on occasion because it seems to strip the wax out. We have original 1965 hardwoods that have never been refinished, so it may be different if yours our new. Don't ever leave the hot mop on the wood because it will have a bleaching effect. I learned that the hard way.
It's very good for our ceramic tile, not perfect for our textured tile (travertine or something like that). I still use a mop and bucket a few times a year on the textured tile, but the steam mop is fast and does a decent enough job. Grout cleaning will remain a hands-and-knees chore, as always. It doesn't get every stuck on food spill, but a quick wipe with some dish soap on those spots isn't a big deal.
Sorry, I can't personally speak to the results on linoleum, but I've heard it's not as good for that type of flooring.
The pads have held up well. I think the directions say to only wash them in a liquid type of detergent because powders will effect the absorbency.
We have a Haan SI35. I love it to bits. It's light-weight, quiet, and easy to use.
The pads are indeed washable. Just toss em in the wash with a little detergent (I use a splash of vinegar too since we have super hard water here), and let them air-dry.
If you have a lot of floorspace to mop, I'd recommend buying extra pads. My mop came with 2 pads and I ordered a pack of 4 extra pads. I usually go through 4-5 pads for a full-house mopping, more if it's been raining and the dog and husband are tracking in mud.