What NOT to Use a Steam Cleaner On

Posted on 12/10/2015

How to Avoid the Most Common Steam Cleaning Mistakes

Yes, steam cleaners can be quite useful during your thorough home cleaning. They take care of almost every surface they face and do not even use any chemicals, which means that they are the perfect environmentally friendly solution that keeps the home clean and healthy. Floors will get swiftly cleaned and the use of the steamer barely takes any effort, just like its maintenance: to make sure it keeps working, you merely have to clean its cloth and add water after it vaporizes it, and then you are ready for the next batch of cleaning duty. Steamers do have their flaws, though, so do not place them on a pedestal just yet. Some things cannot be cleaned with a steamer as it would damage them instead of fixing the dirt problems. Here are some of those things:

• Nylon Screens
Nylon mesh screens will crumble and fade if touched with a steam cleaner’s hot steam. Keep the tool away from them to protect such surfaces.

• Polished Surfaces
The hot steam can melt the coating away from the surface and will undo all the hard work you did when you spent time applying the varnish. The same goes for waxed surfaces – they do not go well with the steamy heat and will face and separate.

• Antiques
Many of these items can crumble away just by looking at them or breathing too near to them. Avoid adding to the problem with a steam cleaner as the hot steam will eat through the glue that holds them together and will break them down easily.

• Musical Instruments
Musical instruments are gentle tools and each one has its own specific way of cleaning, so do keep steamers away from them. The hot steam will damage an instrument’s surface or tones, and it will not produce the same music as it did before that. Consult with a professional musician if you want to know exactly how to clean your fiddle or guitar or piano without ruining it.

• Water-based Paint
Recently painted surfaces will get easily damaged when put under hot steam. The heat will liquidate the paint and undo the whole paintwork you toiled so much over in a matter of seconds.

• Cardboard Surfaces
Steam will weaken cardboard with ease and will start tearing it apart. Keep cardboard boxes or hand-made items out of cardboard away from the steamer’s heat or the exposure to it will be damaging and lasting.

• Large Spaces
Well, technically, you can clean large spaces, but that would be a waste of time and effort as there are much better and faster ways to do it. Leave warehouse spaces and huge storage spaces to better cleaners and cleaning methods, and use the steamer on smaller things.

• Finished Wood
Manufacturers do not make finished wood with the effects of a steam cleaner in mind. The machine will undo all their work as they are polyurethane-based. When exposed to heat or moisture, the woodwork gets damaged and eventually gets ruined by the cleaning effort.

• Gentle Fabric
Some people attempt to steam clean their clothes as they thing that it is a better option to spending a whole day washing them in the washing machine and then waiting for them to dry out. Do not be a part of those people. Doing so will thin their fabrics, making them more likely to tear, and if the fabric is gentler, it basically gets as thin as a string. And if the colours on your clothes runs, then the dye will bleed out once exposed to the hot steam.

Overall, steamers are great for cleaning floors, but you should watch out for their imperfections, or it might cost you. Don’t try to experiment and clean everything within sight with the steam cleaner and only clean surfaces that you are sure can handle the hot steam exposure.