Steam Cleaning for the Holidays
The family members were coming over for a holiday dinner and I decided to tackle a few areas of our house with the WhiteWing steamer to give it an extra sparkle, and do some of those forgotten spots which my otherwise wonderful cleaning lady skims over. My experiences are recounted below. While this is by no means an exhaustive audit of all this steam cleaner’s capabilities, but for those of you with similar cleaning problems, I think you would find it interesting.
1. Filling the WhiteWing was done more easily with my large plastic water pitcher than the squeeze bottle provided by the manufacturer. The steam cleaner heated up just fine in about 15 to 20 minutes.
2. The first area I tackled was the grimy cranberry colored stair carpet, which looked terrible despite it had been cleaned with a conventional carpet cleaner the week before. This was definitely a “hands and knees” job. I sprayed each stair with the Formula 212 Spot Cleaner and then using the triangle brush covered with a towel I worked the brush quite vigorously on each step. The results were not perfect, but the difference was amazing and very visible. The stair carpet was no longer a focal point of shame! I think with a second “going over”, I will achieve perfection. I was very rushed the first time, and knew a little more time is needed to lift out all the dirt! However, the results were sufficiently effective that I revised my “we need new stair carpet plan”.
3. We have a white color tiled kitchen floor, which had to have been installed by a designer who never uses a kitchen. Steam cleaning a tile floor is very satisfying as it gets to all that dirt which collects around its edges of a tile floor and those annoying stubborn dirt specks or sticky globs.
4. My favorite task with a steam cleaner is the kitchen counter top, which is currently Formica and was satisfyingly silky smooth to the touch after steam cleaning with the WhiteWing. Our counter top is biscuit colored and any juice spill on the formica tends to stain and cling to the surface even after a spray and wipe. The change was subtle but visible So much so, that one of our holiday dinner guests asked me later whether I had installed new countertop. Even my husband remarked on the cleanliness as well as the “clean smell”. I think both of us were getting tired of pungent citrus spray cleaners.
5. An area that is a dirt trap in our kitchen is the sink rim on the countertop. Using a fine nozzle attachment to the steam cleaner, I blew out a simply disgusting amount of dirt.
6. I sprinkled some cleaning agent on the pale biscuit ceramic kitchen sink and allowed it to sit for a while. Then I took the small circular brush and steamed around the sink . The combined action of steam and cleaning agent is much stronger than cleaning agent alone. For the first time in a while, the sink actually looked clean and not tired and shabby. It even dare I say it, ‘sparkled”.
7. I was on a roll, so I cannot rationally explain why I even bothered before a dinner party to steam clean the inside of the microwave and a grease and dirt trap around its fan, and the stove top, but I was in the mood for a mini cleaning blitz.
8. The storm door window pane was in a sad state after the winter, so a quick going over with the triangle brush which I prefer to the squeegee, and my guests the next night would not be greeted with a winter grimy door
9. The stains on the living room couch where my dear husband leaves greasy food droppings from his nightly snacks needed some emergency attention; as I did not have time to steam clean the whole couch and chair. A little pre-action with 212 cleaner and then using the large triangle brush of the WhiteWing steamer eradicated the memory of those annoying little stains!
10. One of the places which needed a lift before guests arrived, was my husband’s bathroom, where he has the habit (driving me crazy) of leaving the remains of toothpaste all over the bathroom sink. A few strokes of the small circular brush around the sink and a nozzle brush around the toilet bowl rim and I was ready to receive guests.
11. A few hours later after our family dinner the memory of clean perfection long was gone. A greasy kitchen floor, stained countertops, chocolate cake smashed into the kitchen floor, and more were staring me in the face. After a 48-hour party recovery period, I just took out the steam cleaner and with less than 30 minutes cleaning everything was satisfyingly clean again, and you would never know that 19 people came over to dinner.
12. I have to say that steam cleaning for me is truly a preferable and more effective way to clean. I decided I should really try and train my cleaning lady on how to use it. So one day recently, I did an at home demo with the WhiteWing steamer. My cleaning lady, who is a cleaning fanatic, eyes grew rounder and rounder as I put this steam cleaner through its paces. Her first reaction was to ask how much it cost so she could use it for her other clients! I can understand why. Once you start cleaning with a steam cleaner there is no going back!
The WhiteWing vapor steam cleaner is an AllergyBuyersClub.com exclusive and is available at $449.95 (regular price of $699.95). The Formula 212 Spot Cleaner is available at $39.95 for a gallon size.
For a complete range of steam cleaners that we carry, and their advantages and disadvantages please refer to our vapor steam cleaner comparison chart.