When you want to really deep clean your wood floors, steam cleaning is one of the best ways to go. You can remove dirt, food, smears, and even little foot prints of those kids running around. And with so many options, we’re here to show you our top choices for the best steam mop for hardwood floors.
With the right steam mop, you can do some amazing things to brighten and freshen up those wood floors. No matter now how dirty they can be. And the best part, is that you don’t need to use chemicals. Steam cleaning kills over 99% of germs on surfaces when done correctly.
On our page here, we’ve provided some details on all our favorite wood floor steamer machines. We believe the best steam mop for wood floors needs several key features including adjustable steam, versatile design, quick operation and more. So let’s take a look at our brief overview, then we’ll go into detail about each mop we like.
Also, if you’re positive you don’t have real hardwood floors, and you actually have laminate flooring. Click here to see our review of laminate floor steam cleaner!
Page Contents
Quick Comparison Of The Best Steam Mop For Hardwood Floors:
What Are The Risks Of Using A Hardwood Floor Steam Cleaner?
Please be sure to read the entire page here because there’s some important pieces you need to know! Misusing a steam cleaner can completely damage your true wood floors and void any warranty you may have. Choosing the wrong steam cleaning machine can make for a real nightmare.
Some steamers have scraper features to scrub up tougher stains. If they’re made of tough plastic or metal (some are), that’ll scrape off the finish from your floors. If the pad isn’t soft (preferably micro fiber), it could scratch those beautiful floors. And if the steam isn’t adjustable, you’ll quick discover how wood floors warp under incredible heat and steam. You always need to start with the lowest setting of steam to check how steam affects your floors.
If there’s one thing you remember from this page, it’s this: be 1,000% certain your wood floors are properly sealed BEFORE steam mopping. Steam cleaning any unsealed wood will warp the wood!
That’s why we’re here to help though. We’ve done extensive research to help you find the best wood floor steam cleaning machine that fits your budget. Whether you want the “best seller” that everyone is talking about, or you want the absolute best value. We can help shed some light on the crowded steam cleaner space. So let’s dive in and have some fun!
The Best Steam Mop For Hardwood Floors Reviews
Shark Genius Steam Pocket Mop System Review
“Our Top Choice And Best Quality Steam Cleaner”
Making the top of our list for best hardwood floor steamer is the Shark Genius Steam Pocket Mop System. This versatile machine is a definite win for the steam category with it’s long list of features plus some cool bonuses! It’s a solid bang for your buck, but definitely worth the investment.
Features:
- Electronic variable steam control
- Double sided cloth pad cleaning
- Unique Dirt Grip pads
- Steam blaster for extra boost
- 350 ml water tank
- 22 ft. power cord
Here’s What We Consider the Pros:
The Shark mop comes with a nice wide mop head (about 12″ to be clear). That’s a little larger width than we saw in many lower quality mops. This helps get more surface area cleaned per stroke of the mop. Definitely a plus if you’ve got wide open areas like we do.
One unrecognized positive aspect is the double sided cleaning cloth. That’s right, you can simply flip over the mop cloth and get twice the cleaning with the same mop head. Talk about a clever improvement! We didn’t think it would be that big of a deal, but when you’re cleaning lots of hardwood it feels good knowing you can go twice as long.
The Shark mop comes with 2 special Dirt Grip pads made by Shark. These pads have super absorbent material woven in throughout the pad. It helps attract and lock in dirt so you can clean deeper and faster with quick drying times. It comes with 2 of these pads so you can always have one handy while washing the other. They last for at least 20 washes, but we’ve seen people stretch them much further.
With an aluminum frame, the Shark mop was designed to be sturdier than many other brands on the market. And even better than previous versions of Shark mops. And because it’s aluminum, it’s not very heavy to operate.
It has a 350 ml water tank and a long 22 foot power cord. With these two pieces, you should have no problem tackling a large room or 2 small-to-mid-sized rooms. And it likely will stretch further depending on how dirty those floors are.
Another amazing feature is the Touch-Free technology to insert and remove a cloth pad. You never have to touch a dirty pad again with this unique design. You just release a lever and the dirty pad falls right off into the hamper. Then lay out a fresh cloth and lay the mop head on top while pulling the lever to re-attach a new Dirt Grip pad!
The steam capability is what truly makes us love this Shark Genius mop the most. It is one of the more advanced systems with multi-electronic control to make life easier for you. Many steam mops require you to constantly pull a trigger to initiate the steam. Not this mop. It’s electronic sensors help determine when to pump out steam at an even pace. So you just keep pushing and steam will keep coming.
For your hardwood floors, we highly recommend starting with the lowest setting. It’s enough to give a quick clean of your floors without harming anything. Beyond that, please check your hardwood floor warranty to insure you’re following their best practices. The medium setting usually is safe enough on wood floors, but always double check. The medium setting really starts getting up the stuck on dirt.
The last reason this Shark Genius mop made our top spot was it’s versatility. For us, we have more than just hardwood floors in our home. We have some tile too (especially in bathrooms). And the multi steam levels makes it possible to take the exact same steam mop and move right on over to the bathroom with only changing the steam amount. The bathroom can handle full steam and it looks amazing when complete.
Here’s What We Consider The Cons:
Some first generation Shark steam mops had some quality issues. People reported everything from leaking water tanks to breaking handles (hence the move to aluminum). Please make sure the check it out immediately on arrival for any quality issues. Most things have been corrected, but lemons always slip through occasionally.
Another thing is that it has no way to stand on it’s own. This isn’t a deal breaker, but more of an annoying aspect people keep mentioning. Most people just stand it up in a corner of the closet, but be aware that it won’t stand by itself.
The last annoying little piece is the lack of an on/off switch. Again, not a deal breaker, but a nuisance. It you want to take a little break in cleaning, you literally have to unplug it. Also, don’t forget that when you plug it in, start moving the steamer so you don’t have excess steam building up on the same spot.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE SHARK GENIUS STEAM MOP ON AMAZON.
Bissell PowerFresh 1940 Steam Mop Review
“The Amazon Best Seller as of 3/5/2018″
Bissell has long been known as a floor cleaning brand. They make everything from vacuums to mops to steam cleaners. So it should come as no surprise they make our top steam cleaners for hardwood list. But let’s look deeper and see why this one is so highly recommended on Amazon.com and why people are raving about it.
Features:
- Variable steam control
- Easy scrubber attachment for deep clean
- Comes with scented discs
- Lightweight at 6 lbs.
- 450 ml water tank
- 23 foot power cord
- 2 year warranty
Here’s What We Consider The Pros:
Overall, the Bissell Powerfresh steam mop is a force to be reckoned with in the steam mop community. It has all the main features you want and need, plus some extra little bonuses.
We definitely enjoy the 3 level steam capability here. With a low, medium, and high option, you can clearly and easily choose whichever style fits your wood floors. Like we already mentioned, please make sure your floors are properly sealed before beginning any steam cleaning. And then, start on the lowest setting to test the steam cleaning. Always check that warranty on the wood floors to be sure.
The Powerfresh comes with 2 mop pad in the box. One is a standard microfiber pad that we see on nearly all the top brands. The other is a dirt scrubbing pad. This pad literally has scrubbing grooves built in that can attack more difficult dirt. Both pads have their place in your home, but try using the scrubbing pad sparingly (maybe around the kitchen table when the kids drop all their food).
Both pads are machine washable at least 20 times. But just like the Shark brand, people have been able to stretch them further than that. And considering we don’t recommend steam cleaning your floor every day, these pads should last several weeks or months if you take care of them.
The pads are also treated with Microban anti-microbial treatment to prevent and bacteria growing on the pads over time. That’s a clever little bonus. Plus the pads are the stretchy type that fit snugly over the mop head. This is nice because the pad now becomes a little bumper for your baseboards and other furniture. Neither of them should get any nicks or dings from the Powerfresh.
The Powerfresh also has an attached Easy Scrubber on the back of the mop head. This is a little bristle addition that helps dig deeper to get up the toughest dirt and stuck on food. A nice and clever bonus feature here.
The water tank is removable which is a useful feature to fill it up. Some other brands don’t have this feature and have to include an extra fill cup. That’s a hassle, but thankfully Bissell solved this by making the tank removable. With about 450 ml of water, it’s typically enough for you to tackle a large room with one tank of water. Most other users also reported continuous use of 15-20 minutes depending on the steam level you choose.
Plus with a large 23 foot power cord, you can pretty much plug in one time and get wherever you need to go.
One of my favorite features of the Powerfresh is the bonus fragrance discs! These little discs are something you insert right in front of the mop head and they help give a light scent to the steam as it heads out of the mop head. It gives a fun little twist on a standard cleaning operation. Plus who doesn’t love having a fresh and lovely smell once their done cleaning?!
Here’s What We Consider The Cons:
There’s not many, but some are important to consider. We aren’t the biggest fans of the materials. The Powerfresh is mostly made of plastic and that’s usually a recipe for breaking quickly. The handle is one thing we are most concerned about as those can fail with one “slightly harder” thrust.
The other thing that users noted was that the water cap has consistently broken on the Powerfresh. This make the whole mop basically useless. Obviously a huge defect. Now Bissell did issue replacement pieces (supposedly stronger than the originals) that seems to have fixed the problem. But no one knows if they fixed the manufacturing to prevent the problem in the future.
Lastly, some users found that the Powerfresh can occasionally leave too much water left on the floor. Now, the water is supposed to evaporate within 15 seconds, but some users believe that didn’t happen. This clearly presents a hazardous situation if people are walking quickly on wet floors. So it’s just another little aspect to consider.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE BISSELL POWERFRESH 1940 STEAM MOP ON AMAZON.
Light ‘N’ Easy Floor Steam Cleaner
“The most multi-functional steam mop on the market”
The Light ‘N’ Easy brand is not one that’s well known or considered a top-of-the-line brand. But don’t sleep on this smaller brand for steam mops. They provide a ton of value at a good price points. It’s definitely most versatile steam mop we’ve found on the market today which is one reason it made our list.
Features:
- Extremely versatile (5-in-1)
- Variable steam control
- Weighs only 6 lbs.
- Attachments for garment steaming
- 340 ml water tank
- 20 foot power cord
- 1 year warranty
Here’s What We Consider The Pros:
The most versatile steam mop on our list by far is the LNE (my abbreviation for Light ‘N’ Easy) steam mop. It can transform to accomplisih 5 different types of steam cleaning: hardwoods, carpet, upholstery, window and mirrors, and clothing. If that’s not crazy versatile, we don’t know what is.
We have curtains in our home and it’s an absolute pain taking them down every few weeks to wash them. And yes we have to wash them that often with our toddlers. Anyone with young kids will definitely relate… So having this handheld cleaner we can run over the curtains for a quick refresh saves us 2-3 washes per year. For curtains that’s AMAZING! You can see how pumped we are about saving those curtain washes… 🙂
Add to that a carpet cleaner / refresher and now you can bring this mop over to your carpets for a refresh every few weeks. It’ll keep carpets looking (and smelling) fresher with each use. And likely extend the life of your carpets.
The LNE is pretty lightweight also weighing right around 6 lbs. This isn’t the lightest brand we measured, but it certainly isn’t heavy at all. It’s definitely light enough to manuever around hardwood stairs.
What makes it great for your hardwood floors is the adjustbale steam control. By now, you obviously know how crucial that is for your floors. Thankfully this LNE also has the 3-level steam control you can choose from. So remember to alway start with the lowest setting and always follow your floors warranty guidelines.
Another great perk is the LNE mop was designed to take tap water specifically. So no need to worry about distilled or filtered water for this. Some steam mops specifically say you must use distilled water because their equipment is so sensative. That’s usually how they void warranties because most people just use tap water regardless. LNE flat out states their steam mop can use tap water which is a great hassle saver in any warranty situation.
Here’s What We Consider The Cons:
There’s not much to talk about with negative aspects. Overall, it’s a solid steam cleaner, but there’s some things people might not love.
First is the price. It’s not the cheapest on the market. But you should probably expect that with the crazy versatility you’re getting with this steam mop. If you don’t need (or want) all those features, there certainly are several other options on our list that can meet a better price point. But consider this…. Are your REAL hardwood floors worth it?!
That hopefully will answer any doubts for you.
Next, we aren’t super happy that only 1 mop pad comes with the package. It’s pretty obvious that people would need multiple pads and we believe it should be a standard to come with 2 minimum. The mop pad also isn’t anything special. Now, the other brands may just be using some special “marketing” tactics on their pads, but it sure seems like they’re higher quality pads.
The water tank is a little smaller than we would like to see. And the power cord is a respectable 20 feet, but again it would be nice to see it slightly longer. Those are slightly nit-picky, but still worth mentioning.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE LIGHT ‘N’ EASY FLOOR STEAM CLEANER ON AMAZON.
O-Cedar Microfiber Steam Mop Review
“The lowest priced steam mop that still has good quality”
O Cedar has been quietly making good quality floor cleaning products for a few years. Again, it’s not a huge brand recognition, but don’t let that fool you. O Cedar products have made several of our top lists like this one.
Features:
- Best price on the list
- Lightweight under 5 lbs.
- Variable steam control
- Fastest to be ready to steam
- Comes with carpet adapter
- Includes 2 microfiber pads
- Triangular head for corners
Here’s What We Consider The Pros:
O Cedar makes a solid steam mop at a great price. It’s noticeably cheaper than the other options on the list. That’s definitely a plus in our book (and we assume nearly everyone else).
Another positive features is the unique triangular shaped mop head. It may seem silly (we thought it was), until we thought more about it. How easy is it to reach corners when the mop head is already triangular? Much easier right? And what about navigating around chair or table legs? Also much easier with triangular shape. So it’s definitely a plus.
As is common with these steam mops, variable steam control is consistent. It’s obviously a must when steam cleaning hardwood floors, but you know that by now. This O Cedar mop actually has a turn dial instead of just 3 settings. So it can give even more precise steam depending on what you need.
It’s also the fastest model on our list to be ready to clean. The average we’ve seen so far is 30 seconds from plugging in to being ready to steam clean. The O Cedar model can do it in 20 seconds. It’s a small difference in time, but still noticeable.
Here’s some fun, it comes with a carpet cleaning adapter! That’s definitely a huge plus for the O Cedar model. There’s definiteyl a large audience out there with both hardwoods and carpets (aka us!). So having a snap-on carpet cleaning adapter is fantastic. It’s not going to replace a full carpet cleaning machine, but this gives a nice refresh of the carpets in between.
Here’s What We Consider The Cons:
The entire body is made of plastic. For most things, this is just fine. But sometimes, you just want to feel a stronger “metal” type feeling to know something is strong and sturdy. For example, the handle is just a piece of plastic that could easily break. It happened to me on a different model of cleaner. I switched from hardwood to carpet and pushed too hard…
You can probably guess what happened to that handle… Yup, it snapped in half.
That’s what makes us nervous about the O Cedar model. That and some people reviewed it also saying they felt it was cheaply made.
But at it’s price point, maybe it’s worth trying. Because clearly not all models shipped show major weaknesses. So it’s up to you to take the chance.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE O CEDAR MICROFIBER STEAM MOP ON AMAZON.
Quick Review Again – See The Comparison Table
It’s been a long article, so here’s the quick recap again in table form.
Let’s Wrap This Up
So we’ve shown you 4 spectacular options for the best steam mop for hardwood floors. Hopefully you enjoyed our thorough reviews. Feel free to check out some of our other reviews on vacuum cleaners and mops in case you’re looking. If you think we got something right (or terribly wrong haha), feel free to leave a comment. We love hearing your experience with different steam cleaners on wood floors. Best of luck and clean strong!
