Steam Cleaning Benefits
What are the Benefits of Steam Cleaning?
If you aren’t familiar with steam cleaning, you’re missing out on a method that gets your carpets, upholstery, drapes, mattresses, tile, shower, vehicles, and many other surfaces clean. Really clean. And that’s the most apparent benefit of steam cleaning.
Another upside to steam cleaning is that you can clean just about anything except porous surfaces like bamboo, marble, plywood, unsealed hardwood, paper, painted walls, laminate, and anything using water-based paint.
What is Steam Cleaning, and How Does It Work?
Steam cleaning uses two fundamental ingredients – water and heat. The water gets heated beyond the boiling point, from 240 to 310 degrees Fahrenheit.
Once heated, the water converts to low-pressure, low-moisture water vapor. That vapor gets forced out of a nozzle, brush, or other attachment.
Steam has tiny vapor molecules, allowing it to penetrate a surface’s pores to clean deeply. The steam not only loosens dirt. And here’s a significant upside to steam cleaning. It also removes allergens and bacteria (99.99%). Plus, it kills mold, dust mites, and bed bugs.
Because the steam contains as little as four to six percent water, it creates little mess. The moisture left behind dries quickly, much faster than using a wet mop to clean a commercial floor, for example.
Where Can You Use Steam Cleaning?
As mentioned, steam cleaning is versatile. Although it’s primarily used to clean carpets, you can use it in any number of applications.
- Vehicles: Steam cleaning does a great job on car interiors. It cleans cloth, vinyl, and leather seats. You can also clean areas often challenging to reach, like vents.
- Bathrooms: With mold and mildew concerns, steam cleaning is a significant plus. You can clean tile, grout, tubs, showers, sinks, and your toilet.
- Flooring: Except for unsealed floors, steam cleaning tackles many flooring types, including tile, linoleum, carpets, rugs, vinyl, and more.
- Kitchens: Steam cleaning is excellent for removing grease buildup. It can even clean steel surfaces. Even industrial kitchens can benefit from steam cleaning.
- Bedrooms: Use steam cleaning to remove dirt from a soiled mattress while also killing dust mites.
- Living Room: Couches, chairs, carpets, drapes – steam cleaning removes stains and odors and leaves the room smelling fresh.
Steam cleaning is beneficial in almost any location of your home or office. And it’s one of the most effective cleaning methods offering a slew of benefits.
For example, steam cleaning is the preferred method of cleaning for those suffering from allergies, asthma, or chemical sensitivities.
Here’s a look at five benefits of steam cleaning:
1. Steam Cleaning is Environmentally Friendly
Steam cleaning is your top choice if you’re looking for chemical-free cleaning. Again, it’s water and heat. So, you won’t have to worry about chemical residues getting left in your home.
You also won’t have to worry about unwanted chemicals being washed down the drain where they can impact the environment.
2. It Kills Dust Mites, Fleas, and Bed Bugs
Vacuum cleaners are fine for removing surface dirt. Some top-line vacuums might even pick up deeply ingrained grime. But steam cleaning is the answer if you want to remove nasty allergy-causing pests that go undetected by the human eye.
For example, dust mites live in your carpets, upholstery, mattress, bedding, and pillows. They feed on dead skin from humans and pets. Unfortunately, their waste is a significant trigger for allergy and asthma sufferers. Indeed, only pollen triggers more allergy attacks.
A study by The National Center for Biotechnology determined that steam cleaning reduces dust mites and allergens 40% better than a vacuum. For instance, because dust mites reside deep inside your bedding, standard cleaning methods like a vacuum can’t lift and remove them.
Steam cleaning also kills fleas, their eggs, and their larva. In addition to killing fleas and removing pet dander, steam cleaning sanitizes surfaces. So, those pet smells that hit you now and then can be eliminated.
3. It Also Kills Pathogens
Besides the nasty critters mentioned above, steam cleaning kills pathogens like viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites, mold, and mildew. That includes E. coli and salmonella.
Like dust mites, pathogens can lead to irritations, allergies, and infections. Two ways to contract pathogens are through skin contact and airborne particles. For instance, toys, especially stuffed animals, can expose your children to a notorious germ trap.
Fortunately, steam cleaning can extract pathogens from surfaces and kill them to create a more hygienic environment in your home or office.
4. It’s a Versatile and Inexpensive Cleaning Method
We mentioned steam cleaning’s versatility. You can use the process to clean virtually any surface at home or work.
Equally important, steam cleaning saves you from a closet littered with cleaning supplies and their associated chemicals. For example, TheNest.com determined that you can save $800 annually on cleaning supplies using steam cleaning.
Besides savings, many chemical cleaners cause irritations, headaches, allergic reactions, and breathing issues. Even worse, they can cause chemical burns.
5. Steam Cleaning Produces a Deep-Down Clean
The Environmental Protection Agency indicated that indoor spaces house 100 times more allergens and pollutants than outdoors. So, if you spend a good bit of time inside, you need the deep-cleaning benefits of steam cleaning.
What other cleaning method removes allergens, pathogens, pet odors, and smoke without chemicals?
Not only does steam cleaning improve indoor air quality, but it also restores surfaces to like-new conditions. Your carpet’s colors will come back to life. Your tile will look factory new. And your sofa will smell fresh.
In addition, you’ll extend the life of your furnishings. All that dirt and grime create an abrasive surface that can wear down carpet fibers or your sofa’s fabric. By lifting that debris, steam cleaning invigorates and extends the surface of anything it touches.
Professional Steam Cleaning in Lebanon and Reading, PA, and Newton, NJ
You can purchase a steam cleaner and learn how to use one properly. Or you can save time while getting the benefit and know-how afforded by a professional steam cleaning service.
Calini Steam Cleaning is fully insured and has provided cleaning services to residential and commercial clients for 33 years. We offer a variety of services, including:
Equally important, we guarantee the results. If dissatisfied with our cleaning services, call us within ten days of the initial cleaning. We’ll return and reclean the surface to your satisfaction.
We have offices in Lebanon, PA, Reading, PA, and Newton, NJ. Call today for an appointment and enjoy the benefits of steam cleaning at your home or office.
