As anyone with hardwood or other types of hard floors knows, keeping this type of floor clean can be a problem. Vacuums for carpet are well documented and easy to find. However, the best hardwood floor cleaners are harder to learn about. But, that’s where this article comes in.
In this article we will tell you everything you need to know to pick a great hardwood floor cleaner machine. As you will learn, these devices are extremely different than vacuums. And, they are also not the same thing as hardwood floor cleaner solution. So, read on and learn all about hardwood floor cleaners today.
Contents
- What Is a Hardwood Floor Cleaner?
- Do I Need a Hardwood Floor Cleaner?
- What to Look for in a Hardwood Floor Cleaner
- Top Five Best Hardwood Floor Cleaners 2022
- Comparison table
- Top 5 Best Hardwood Floor Cleaners on The Market Reviews
- How To Use Your Hardwood Floor Cleaner
- How to Find a Good Hardwood Floor Cleaner Solution
- Final Words
What Is a Hardwood Floor Cleaner?
A hardwood floor cleaning machine is a very specific type of device that is designed to clean hard floors specifically. There are a number of different types of hardwood floor cleaner machines. However, they all have very similar components and purpose.
As already mentioned, a hardwood floor cleaner is the best thing to use to clean wood floors. It usually has a flat cleaner head at the bottom of the device that can be fitted with a number of rollers or brushes. You either power the hardwood floor cleaner machine by pushing it or by plugging it into an electrical outlet.
For the most part, hard floor cleaner washers are easy to use and affordable. They are even easier to maintain than other cleaning products because there is very little to them. In the rest of this article we will talk more about the different types of hardwood floor cleaners specifically and provide a handy buyer’s guide to help you choose one of your very own.
Types of hardwood floor cleaning machines
Not all hardwood floor cleaning machines are alike. In fact, there are three distinct types of these products.
Electrostatic
Electrostatic hardwood floor cleaner machines use static electricity to run. You push these products across the floor and the bristles on their brushes create the static electricity. The static electricity then picks up the dirt and dust particles, effectively cleaning your floor. You will not find any electrostatic hardwood floor cleaning machines on our top five list because this type of hardwood floor cleaner is quite rare.
Dry/Wet Mop
Hardwood floor mops are very common. These types of hardwood floor cleaners are typically motorized; however, they don’t have to be. Swiffer products, in particular, are notorious for their lack of power.
Their use of power aside, all hardwood floor mops have a microfiber cloth brush that gets pushed along the floor. These brushes come in a wide variety of styles and types, from spinning dry brushes to wet cloths.
Steam
Finally, steam hardwood floor cleaning machines use steam to clean your hard floor. These types of hard floor cleaner washers are extremely similar to clothes steamers. They have a water container that holds the water used in cleaning. That water is heated to boiling, and the resulting steam cleans and disinfects your hard floor.
An advantage of steam hardwood floor cleaners are that they often can be used to clean more than just your hard floor. You will find steam mops for hardwood floors that can be used on furniture, carpet, and even upholstery.Hardwood floor cleaners vs. vacuums for hardwood floors
You are probably wondering why you need a hardwood floor cleaner machine when you have a vacuum that can run on hard floors. That is a realistic question. But, there is a very good answer. Hardwood floor cleaners and vacuums for hardwood floors are very different machines, and so do different things.
Vacuums for hardwood floors can be run over any hard floor. In order to not damage your hardwood floor, these vacuums allow you to turn off their beater bars. You then push the vacuum over the hard floor like normal. But, vacuums for hardwood floors use only dry brushing methods. You can never put a hardwood floor cleaner solution in them.
Vacuums for hardwood floors are perfect for times when you need to clean up dry spills or dirt. The suction the vacuum provides is great for these tasks. However, you still need to mop your hard floors occasionally with a vacuum. When you use a hardwood floor cleaning machine, you do not have to also mop. Hardwood floor mops and hardwood floor steamers both use wet methods of cleaning that disinfect and thoroughly clean your hard floor.
To say it in an even simpler way: hardwood floor cleaners get your hard floors cleaner than a vacuum for hardwood floor every will. And, in the end this functionality saves you both time and money.
Do I Need a Hardwood Floor Cleaner?
If you have hardwood floors in your home, then the answer is yes, you need a hardwood floor cleaner. The last section explains that the main difference between a hardwood floor cleaner machine and a vacuum for hardwood floors is the fact that the former mops as well as removes dust. When you are cleaning heavily soiled hardwood floors, the mopping action is just as important as the suction.
It is also worth mentioning that we don’t just mean hardwood when we’re talking about hardwood floors. Instead, hardwood floors can be made of wood, laminate, tile, or another hard surface. Hardwood floor cleaners can typically clean a variety of hard surfaces.
What to Look for in a Hardwood Floor Cleaner
Hopefully, we have convinced you that you need a hardwood floor cleaner in your life. If so, then now it’s time to pick out your very own. This can be overwhelming because of the number of hardwood floor cleaner machines on the market. So, keep the following factors in mind, and you will be choosing your hardwood floor cleaner in no time.
Type of floor
Most importantly, before you pick a hardwood floor cleaning machine you need to know what types of floors you will be cleaning with it. Do you only have tile in your home? Or, do you have just wood?
Weight and size
Weight is an essential factor in any type of appliance purchase. Since hardwood floor cleaners are pushed, if they are too heavy you will not be able to use them effectively. You should be able to push the hard floor steam cleaner around for a while before tiring.
You should also pay attention to the size of the hard floor cleaner washer. When the products are electric, they tend to be much larger. This is especially true if they have attachments or accessories that are also attached to them. You should choose a hardwood floor cleaning machine that fits your body. You shouldn’t have to reach up or down to hold the machine. Plus, it should be comfortable to push around your hard floors.
Powered or manual
Most of the hardwood floor cleaners you will find will be powered. These types of products are great because their cleaning heads are more effective at cleaning up your floor. If the hardwood floor cleaner washer has spinning brushes, power is even more essential.
However, there are some hardwood floor cleaner machines that are manual. This means that the only power they receive is from you pushing them across the floor. Swiffer is the most famous brand of manual hardwood floor cleaner mops. But, there are other brands that make this type of products as well.
Type of cleaning
You will have to choose between the different types of hardwood floor cleaner machines. To remind you, they come in electrostatic, dry/wet mop, and steamer form. Each one of these types of products cleans a different variety of floors. Plus, they work differently.
Hard floor steam cleaners will disinfect and clean your hardwood floor. They typically work on a variety of surfaces. Hardwood floor mops that are of the wet variety will also disinfect and clean your floor, as long as you use a good hardwood floor cleaner solution. On the other hand, electrostatic hardwood floor cleaners and dry mops will not disinfect your floor or work on a variety of surfaces.
Accessories
How many accessories, or extras, do you want with your hardwood floor cleaner? You should consider this question before purchasing a specific product. Hardwood floor cleaner machines that work on a large variety of surfaces typically come with more accessories than less versatile products. They need a lot of different brushes and cloths for the different surfaces.
Cost
Cost will be less of an issue for most hardwood floor cleaners since the majority of products cost less an $100. However, depending on your situation, even $100 may be expensive. Plus, any purchase should fit into your budget.
Top Five Best Hardwood Floor Cleaners 2022
Comparison table
| Image | Product | Features | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Editor's ChoiceEditor's Choice Bissell Spinwave Powered Hardwood Floor Mop and Cleaner, 2039A |
| VIEW ON AMAZON → |
 | Rank: #2Rank: #2 PurSteam World’s Best Steamers Steam Mop Cleaner ThermaPro |
| VIEW ON AMAZON → |
 | Rank: #3Rank: #3 Bissell PowerFresh Steam Mop |
| VIEW ON AMAZON → |
 | Rank: #4Rank: #4 Bona Hardwood Floor Premium Spray Mop |
| VIEW ON AMAZON → |
 | Rank: #5Rank: #5 Swiffer WetJet |
| VIEW ON AMAZON → |
Top 5 Best Hardwood Floor Cleaners on The Market Reviews
#1 Bissell Spinwave Powered Hardwood Floor Mop and Cleaner, 2039A
Bissell’s Spinwave Powered Hardwood Floor Mop and Cleaner is a great example of a wonderful hardwood floor cleaner. It is an electric model and comes with a 22-foot cord. Plus, it has a 28-oz. clean water tank and only uses 0.9 amps of power. You purchase even comes with two 8 oz. multi-surface formulas to help you keep your hard floors clean.
#2 PurSteam World’s Best Steamers Steam Mop Cleaner ThermaPro
PurSteam makes the world’s best steamers. We know this not only because of the company’s name, but also because of their Steam Mop Cleaner ThermaPro. The ThermaPro is a lightweight and maneuverable hardwood floor cleaner. It is child and pet safe. Plus, it will clean disinfect to 99.99% effectiveness.
PurSteam is known for their steaming machines. So, they know that you will be happy with their hard floor steam cleaner. They even provide a free replacement policy and two-year warranty because they believe in their product so much. In terms of functionality, the water reservoir will give you 20-25 minutes of steaming at the lowest setting without having to refill. But, one major bonus of the ThermaPro is that you do not need to purchase a hardwood floor cleaner solution, all it needs is tap water.#3 Bissell PowerFresh Steam Mop
Bissell’s PowerFresh Steam Mop is another great hardwood floor cleaning machine option from the company. It even has a digital and variable steam control. This function allows you to customize the steam cleaning experience. Plus, with steam cleaning you don’t need any extra hardwood floor cleaner solution. However, Bissell does provide Febreze spring breeze fragrance discs to make your hard floors smell amazing.
The built-in scrubber on the PowerFresh Steam Mop makes the hardwood floor cleaner work twice as fast as its competition. This same scrubber flips down and cleans all the messes, grout, and dried-on spots you will ever need.
#4 Bona Hardwood Floor Premium Spray Mop
The Bona Hardwood Floor hardwood floor cleaner is perfect for unwaxed, unoiled, polyurethane finished wood floors. It has an extra-large mop head that will clean your hard floor much faster. And, it even comes with a 34 oz. original formula Bona hardwood floor cleaner solution.
Bona’s hardwood floor cleaner is lightweight but still durable. Also, the secondary grip and flexible rubber corners safe your back and your baseboards. If you need a good storage option, look no further and the retractable hook#5 Swiffer WetJet
There are not many people unfamiliar with Swiffer’s old ad for the Swiffer quicker picker upper. However, brand makes all kinds of hard floor cleaning products. Their WetJet is another product line with a long history. It is the only manual hardwood floor cleaning machine on our list. But, the nozzle is ultra-fine, which means that you have even great control of the dispersal of the hardwood floor cleaner solution. The nozzle on the Wet Jet is even illuminated to improve your visibility.
Plus, Swiffer’s WetJet comes with an entire starter kit of accessories. These include the WetJet wood device, WetJet wood cleaning cloths, and WetJet wood quickdry solution. Essentially, everything you need to get started cleaning your hardwood floors you receive with the Swiffer WetJet.
How To Use Your Hardwood Floor Cleaner
Cleaning heavily soiled hardwood floors can seem like an impossible task. But, the hardwood floors cleaning machines discussed in this article make keeping your hardwood floors clean much easier. In order to be effective using your hardwood floor cleaner machine, you should follow these simple steps.
1 If your hardwood floor mop is electric, plug it in.
2 Make sure the correct brush or cloth for your surface type is affixed to the machine.
3 Add water if your hard floor cleaner washer is a wet or steam variety.
4 Add hardwood floor cleaner solution if needed.
5 Turn on the machine
6 Push the hardwood floor cleaner machine over the hard floor. Make sure that your pass with the product overlap, so that you don’t miss a spot.
7 Continue until you’re finished.
8 Turn off the machine and remove all cleaning heads.
9 Make sure to store your hardwood floor cleaner together with its attachments.
How to Find a Good Hardwood Floor Cleaner Solution
Some of products in our top five list come with trial sizes of hardwood floor cleaner solutions. These products make it easy for you to find a great hardwood floor cleaner solution because they include their own with the purchase of the product. However, this is not always the case. So, here are a few tips to help you find a great hardwood floor cleaner solution.
1 Make sure that the solution you purchase is rated for hardwood and treated floors. You should not use bathroom or kitchen cleaners on your floors.
2 A multi-surface or grease hardwood floor cleaner is best. The multi-surface formula with work on a variety of surfaces, which is perfect for the hardwood floor cleaners that can be used on many different surfaces. The cleaner that works best on grease will remove slimy material from your floors so that they stay squeaky clean.
3 Once you find a good hardwood floor cleaner solution, continue purchasing that. Keep in mind that different solutions work best on different types of hard floors.
Final Words
Hardwood floor cleaning machines are a big help in homes with a lot of hard floors. These surfaces need different types of cleaning than a carpet. So, to keep your home as clean as possible, you need to purchase one of the best hardwood floor cleaners available.
As we have shown throughout this article, the definition of best varies from person to person. What works for your home may not work for someone else’s. Thus, you should keep our buyer’s guide in mind as you make your decision. It will help direct you to a hardwood floor cleaning machine that will work best for your home. If you want shining, clean hard floors, you need to try one of these hardwood floor cleaners today.
Jennifer is a work-from-home freelance writer, editor, and dog mom. So, like Angela, she understands how important it is to keep her floors clean. Jennifer currently lives in a home with carpet and tile floors. Therefore, she is an expert in cleaning those specific types of floors.
When you don’t find Jennifer at her computer writing and editing, you will see her with a vacuum in hand. She greatly appreciates the chance to provide content for this website with Angela and looks enjoys spreading her floor cleaning knowledge with the world.