Do you have a dog? We have a dog…he’s a 15-year-old Beagle with a bum knee and a great disposition. His name is Bailey and he has become a loved member of our family.
We got him about six months after moving into our newly built house and he had more than one “accident” on our kitchen floor. Actually, he had so many accidents when he was “in training” that the beautiful grout in the tile floor of the kitchen did not stay beautiful for very long.
Our children were also quite young when we moved into the new house and they required a lot of attention like most young children. With all of the attention we paid to the kids and the dog we soon lost track of the grout in the kitchen. When we finally took the time to look down it was a mess.
That is when we first discovered steam cleaners. We were trying to clean the grout with chemical-based cleaners but they never really got deep down into the grout to thoroughly clean it. In addition, they left a residue that seemed to be attracting new dirt to the grout.
We investigated alternative ways to clean grout other than using chemical-based cleaners and we ran across steam cleaners. Since steam cleaners use only water heated to at least 212° F there was no concern about the residue from chemical-based cleaners, steam vapor does not leave a residue. Also, the steam vapor is able to penetrate the grout and get into areas that chemical-based cleaners just cannot. Steam cleaners also kill bacteria, germs, mold and mildew so we did not have to worry about the dog and the kids rolling around on the floor.
Because of the condition of the grout it did take a few applications to restore it to a clean condition but once we were finished it looked great again. When we completed the grout we began to experiment with other surfaces in the house and we found that our new steam cleaner cleaned almost everything. Floors, countertops, sinks and faucet, shower stalls and tubs were all cleaned better and more thoroughly than we had expected.
We also use our steam cleaner to clean and sanitize our mattresses and pillows, upholstery, drapes and carpets. Most people don’t realize that the average mattress has between 100,000 and 10 million dust mites and they can really bother your allergies and rob you of sleep. Cleaning your mattress and pillows with a steam cleaner and vacuuming these surfaces after steaming them can significantly improve your sleep time.
Little did we know that our cute little Beagle Bailey would lead us to the best cleaning appliance we have ever used…a steam cleaner.
