Shark Steam Mop

I used Xmas money to buy myself a Shark Steam Mop this weekend. I have three dogs in and out of my house throughout the day and we had a snowstorm this week. I want clean floors!

I went to town on my ceramic and wood floors yesterday. First I vacummed. Then I read all the materials that came with the Shark. I bought some distilled water to use in the machine. I mopped over every floor twice, but still had streaks. I used both sides of the pad and changed pads in between.

Can anyone tell me if I am doing something wrong? My floor feel incredibly clean but the streaks look bad.

I hope those aren't burn marks!?!?!?!?!!

I bought one a few weeks ago and have used it on both ceramic and marble tile (so far). I haven't had a streaking problem. You do have to move the mop more slowly than with a wet mop, and I used the steam pretty liberally.

Have you tried going the other direction (perpendicular) to the streaks? It didn't leave streaks in the infomercial. Did the pads need to be washed first? Sorry I can't really help.

(I thought you could use tap water for this.)

BB: minerals left over from the steaming process will significantly shorten the life of ole Sharky....

but it sounds like Okie may kick it to the curb early in its life cycle anyway...........

(that is what we did with an earlier model of steam floor cleaner and now let the professionals handle this chore)

No - I'm not kicking it to the curb. I wanted to use the distilled to help the life of the steam mop. My SIL uses this mop and her floors are spectacularly awesome. I just thought there might be some helpful hints to using the product.

I just use tap water in mine. As others have noted, you have to go very slowly when using steam. For a large area, change the cloth mop head a couple of times.

On my kitchen floor, I will sometimes squeegee the steamed area right away to clear off any remaining dirty water.

have you tried the ipad?

I may get one of these now. It's just I have to remember to go slow.

shouldn't be a problem son.....

This is what I've been looking at to get for my kitchen floor. I'd still mop on my hands and knees but I thought this would help get in the tile knooks and krandy- now I'm wondering.....


My sister uses one not Shark and her floor is beautiful. I think she uses tap water too.

Does anyone know if these are safe on wood? We have two dogs and a cat in the house, plus us tracking in and out (I track in all sorts of fun stuff from the barn). Clean floors are kind of a holy grail at our house.

Our DIL is using one on hardwood floors and they look good. I caught the end of a commercial for another brand that puts the steam out all over the pad area instead of just one spot. Looked good, but I didn't get the name.

My mom uses a steamer on her hardwood floors and was told by the salesperson that if you leave the steamer in the same spot for too long, it could take the finish off of the wood floor. When it is heating up or once she is finished, she just makes sure not to leave it sitting in the same spot. It really cleans her floors well and they shine beautifully!

That's just why I wanted one. We live on the farm, surrounded by cattle, with three dogs in and out - it's so hard to keep the floors clean. The majority of my floors are wood and tile, except for the bedrooms. The infommercial shows how well it works of wood floors. My SIL uses her Shark on her wood floors and they shine like a diamond in a goat's mmmm.... they really look great. I was over there for Xmas and had instant wood floor envy. Guess I'll try mine again tonite and go real slow.

sounds like we could eat off some of your floors.....

I bet David Haselhoff doesn't care how clean the floors are.

burger all the way!

I own the older model (nto the one with the pad on both sides). You can use it on wood and laminate btu nto on vinyl/linoleum.

I always get streaks btu I deal with it, figuring I'd rather have streaks than chemicals on my floor. Plus I liek knowing the hto steam can disinfect.

My main complaint is once the steam gets goign and the pad is steamy (not even wet yet), the stupid thign is hard as he11 to push across the floor. It really sticks to my floors (laminate) and I have to put some back into it

I also use onyl distilled water in mine.

Thanks Dip. I was wondering about our laminate floors.

I love the sound of stilletos on laminate, just sayin'....

I have one of the older models... I use distilled water, due to the hard city water where I live... had streaking the first few times I cleaned my ceramic tile...got on line and did some research, and figured out it maybe that I spent years putting chemicals on the floor and it would take some time to get them all back up off the floor... sure enough, more steaming, better looking floor and no more streaking...
Guess it depends on how long you abused your floor with chemicals...as to how long it takes to get them back off the floor... and buy extra pads... get them damp before putting them on the mop, that helps with the streaking, too.

Lol, thsi was my house this morning!


Luna, I had the same thought abotu the streaks being old chemical build-up but had no clue how long they woudl take to go away and kinda figured if I've steam mopped a few times and still got streaks, that it couldn't be old build-up. I guess time will tell. But you're doesn't stick to the floor and get hard to push?

This is the older model some of us have: http://slimages.macys.com/is/image/MCY/products/1/optimized/511961_fpx.tif?bgc=255,255,255&wid=327&qlt=90,0&layer=comp&op_sharpen=0&resMode=bicub&op_usm=0.7,1.0,0.5,0&fmt=jpeg

And thsi is the newer "pocket" one that I think Okie has:
http://www.vacuumbestprices.com/images/Euro-Pro-Shark-S3501.jpg

And this is pjs: http://honestinfomercialreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/shark_steam_mop_review.jpg

You and legs today... did someone pop one of those "pills" this morning?

HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOOK PRETTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you don't have to justify to us why you like to wear stilleto heels at home...as long as Ms.Pale is cool with it, we don't care

You totally rock Happy. I caught that side-burn on Pale...

don't encourage him Chee!!!

he is relentless in his hate for me!

Sounds to me that he wants to grow up just like you, chief.