Steam & Sweep Hard Floor Cleaner
One of my least favorite chores do to around the house is mopping. It doesn’t help that over 50% of the flooring of my home consists of tiled floors. One of the reasons it is my least favorite is in order to really get the floors sparkling clean you need to put in some good elbow work and spend some extra time scrubbing. I’ve tried quick solutions like the Swifter and other portable mopping systems but many times I feel like I’m just pushing dirt around, and still not getting a clean floor. Bissell has a new item on the market the Steam & Sweep Hard Floor Cleaner. It sounds perfect when it comes to mopping, no buckets, no mops to ring out, and no sweeping or vacuuming. Just grab and go!
Easy Assembly
Friday evening I decided to put together our mop and gave it a try. It was very easy to put together. Just pop together the three pieces and tighten two screws and you are ready to steam away those dirty floors. It says you can sweep and mop at the same time which is one of the keys to saving time, and one of its most appealing features. However, because I had a floor of scattered marshmallows due to a “how high can you throw a marshmallow and catch it in your mouth” competition between the boys I decided to go ahead and do a quick sweep with my broom first.
Not Extremely Powerful
With a few of the bigger items swept up, I decided to work with the sweeper first before I added in the steam. I wanted to test out this feature on its own. I did notice that the vacuum on the sweep is not extremely powerful, and though there is a swivel head to help get those hard-to-reach corners I didn’t feel it picked up enough dirt along my baseboards and in the corners as my vacuum would have. This is where a lot of my dirt likes to hang out.
Sweep & Steam Together
With the sweeping done, I decided it was time to sweep and steam at the same time. I thought it would be best to keep the sweeper running while doing the steaming in case I missed a few things. The first time you use the steam mop there is a knocking sound while the water begins to filter its way through the hose. This is normal and nothing to be alarmed about and stops once the water has made its way through the machine. I immediately noticed the steam emanating from the bottom of the Steam & Sweep.
As I slid the mop over the floor a small sheen slowly started to cover the floor over the places I had mopped. I was surprised to see the small patches of dirt lifting off the floor, with just a little steam. In addition to mopping the dirt from the floor, the instructions said that you could sanitize your floor by holding the mop over a section of the floor for 15 seconds. When I was finally done with the mopping I turned over the machine to take off the mopping cloth and could not believe the amount of dirt on the cloth.
Here are some before and after shots. (not sure you can really tell much from the photos)
In Between Mopping Tool
After using the Steam & Sweep mop my personal recommendation is this mop would be a great tool to add as an “in-between” mopping. The sweep feature is definitely an added bonus but it did not pick up all of the dirt on the floor that was needed. I recommend vacuuming or sweeping first if you have more than just a little bit of dirt on your surface.
I do love using the steam versus any harsh chemicals. The room is left scent free which is a little nicer than the vinegar that I usually use when mopping my floors. However, with the lack of chemicals comes a lack of shine. I do love it when I’m finished mopping and my floors shine. The Steam & Sweep also did not pick up any of the more sticky or caked-on dirt hard. In order to remove them I had to get out additional tools.
I do think it may be possible to get your floors clean and then maintain them with the Steam & Sweep. There is no doubt it picked up a lot of dirt. A friend of mine who owns a similar product said that even after cleaning her floors with a mop she went back over it with the Steam & Sweep and still found dirt on the cloth. I would definitely recommend the Steam & Sweep over a Swifter or a similar type of portable mop. These mops in my opinion just pushed dirt around and I kept them around for quick spills and clean-ups only.
You can purchase the Steam & Sweep on Amazon.
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