Best Mops For Hardwood Floors: Steam & Dust Mops

If you're the proud owner of hardwood floors, you know how tricky they are to keep clean. They're sensitive to moisture, scratches and debris. Finding a good mop for hardwood floors is tricky. 

Since starting Modern Living 101, we've had the chance to test a handful of the most popular cleaning products, and a good handful of those products are mops. Not all mops are meant for hardwood floors! Using too much moisture on wood can RUIN your floors. 

In this guide, we're going to dive into some of the best hardwood floor mops, and what you should consider when shopping around for one online. 

Let's get started!

According to our tests, the best mop for hardwood floors is the Bissell Spinwave. It cleans just as well as if you were manually scrubbing your floors, but is easy to use, and most importantly, safe for hardwood floors. 

Here's some info on the Spinwave, and some of the other products we picked. 

More About The Bissell Spinwave

If there were ever a mop designed specifically for hardwood floors, it would be the Bissell Spinwave Hard Floor Spin Mop. This mop was originally designed to be a replacement for scrubbing. Most mops just aim to clean what they pass, but not the Spinwave. Instead of just passing over debris while you clean, the Spinwave actively spins and scrubs your floors for you. 

Its uniquely designed to work with on sealed hard floors, including hardwood, vinyl, linoleum and tile. It comes with soft touch cleaning pads that won't cause a single bit of damage to even the most sensitive of wood floors. The Spinwave also has a built in On-Demand spray trigger, so you can get exactly the right amount of cleaning solution; a critical factor for cleaning hardwood. 

If you add too much moisture, you risk causing permanent damage to your floors. 

The lightweight and swivel steering design is great for getting around furniture and into tight spaces. The water tang holds 28 ounces of liquid, which should last you about a month if you clean semi-regularly. 

Related Content:

• Best Mops For Tile Floors (Click Here)
• Best Mopping Robots (Click Here)

More About The Bissell PowerFresh

If you're after a cleaner for hardwood that not only cleans, but also sanitizes in the process, take a look at the Bissell PowerFresh. This steam cleaner is specifically designed to be used on hardwood floors, and unlike other similar steam cleaners, it has a flip down scrub brush that works to break up dirt and other messes on the floor so you don't have to get on your hands and knees to scrub. 

The PowerFresh has a SmartSet Digital Steam Control which allows you to decide exactly how much steam to use when cleaning your floors. The ability to choose how much moisture a mop uses is critical when cleaning hardwood floors. The sanitation level of this cleaner is around 99.9% for germs and bacteria.

When you're getting ready to clean, you only need to wait about 30 seconds for the PowerFresh to get heated up. The mop can remove everything from spilled liquids to caked on, dry messes without an issue. If you're looking for a product that cleans and sanitizes all in once, check out the Bissell PowerFresh.

More About The Shark Genius Hard Floor Cleaning System

This is a notably no hassle mop and it's really user-friendly. It does a great job taking care of everyday messes. However, if you've got a really caked on mess, you'll want to use the steam blaster. It's actually pretty neat to watch, but it's basically a jet of steam that you can use to get the worst gunk up. After you're done cleaning, you don't need to do much else. Choose from 3 Intelligent Steam Control settings.

The mop pads are machine washable, and you never have to touch a grimy one since you release the pad with a button. We know how frustrating it is when you can't walk over wet floors post mopping. That's where this one wins big points, since it dries so quickly.

Related Content:

• Best Spin Mops (Click Here)
• Best Steam Mops (Click Here)

More About The Swiffer Wetjet Hardwood

If you've ever heard of a floor spray mop, chances are it's a Swiffer Wetjet. Swiffer is well known for their floor mops, both wet and dry. That's for good reason; their products have become so popular because they offer a range of effective, budget friendly solutions for all types of hard flooring. The Wetjet is easy to use, and the cleaning solution that comes with it can clean up some pretty intense messes. The spray nozzles seem to have a more efficient design than most mops too. Instead of one center stream, the Wetjet has a nozzle on each end. Having two jets of cleaner definitely covers more ground. It's lightweight, easy to move around, and stores away easily when you're done. When it’s time to get your refills, you’ll be glad to know that they’re very reasonably priced as well.

More About The Bissell Symphony

The Bissell Symphony is perfect for the household that's got everything going on, from Cheerios and shedding pets to dried up cooking experiments. With most floor mops, you're going to be sweeping or dry mopping your floor before you can begin. The Symphony can switch between vacuuming and mopping, so you only need one tool to do it all. It's convenient, and a huge time saver. When you use the steam modes (yes, there are a few modes to choose from), your floors are cleaned and sanitized with no cleaner needed. You don't miss out on that fresh clean scent either; it comes with scented water to steam with.

More About The Shark Steam Pocket Mop

This Shark mop is another great solution for people that want to clean naturally, but still want a thorough cleaning. This mop takes cleaning a step further, since the super heated steam also serves to sanitize your floors. It starts up quickly, and you just start mopping to get the mop to start steaming. You can also give the handle a few quick pumps, depending on what’s more comfortable for you. It’s definitely one of the best mops for hardwood in terms of maneuverability and efficiency. Since it has a rather low profile, and the handle can be moved, you can get under cabinets to clean. What you’re really going to appreciate outside of its cleaning is the quick release cord. It’s convenient, and you don’t have to grapple with the cord when you’re done.

More About The O-Cedar EasyWring Microfiber Mop

If you just can’t bring yourself to look at another spray mop, you can still upgrade the way you clean wood floors. The O-Cedar EasyWring mop has a mop head that looks more similar to regular mops that you’re used to. Don’t let that fool you into thinking that this mop cleans like those ones do though. The microfiber pad picks up a surprising amount of grime and dirt, even the stuff you couldn’t see. It comes with a neat little bucket, designed to keep messy mop water in the bucket, not splashing your floors. It’s ideal for getting into corners, since the head has a triangle shape. That’s a huge bonus, since you can also use this mop dry, and get those dust bunnies out of tough corners.

Factors to Consider in Choosing a Mop for Wood Floors

Mop Head and Pads

When you're shopping for a mop, you're not just going to have a single style of mop head. In fact, old school traditional mop heads are hard to find! Most of the popular mops (especially those for hardwood floors) are either a disposable pad, a washable pad, or a spin mop style. When you're cleaning hardwood, you shouldn't go for a mop head that needs a mop bucket. If you're using a bucket and can't control how much water your mop uses, you're probably using too much liquid.

How Much Cleaning Power Do You Need?

When it come to cleaning hardwood floors, a lot of the time, less is more. When you're shopping for a mop for hardwood, you don't need the most aggressive cleaner out there. You need a mop that is designed to be used on hardwood floors, and has the capacity to do the level of cleaning you need. If you have a large home and plan on cleaning your floors every day, it may be a good idea to also invest in a mopping robot to help take the edge off. 

Otherwise, opt for the most advanced mop thats in your budget. The cheaper you go, the more effort you likely have to put into cleaning, and the less effective your clean will be. Opting for a battery powered, or electric mop will help do some of the scrubbing for you, leading to a better clean with less effort. 

On the other hand, if you only intend on cleaning smaller areas, and not as frequently, you may not need something that fancy. Be honest with your needs, and shop for the best products accordingly. 

Ease of Use

When you're shopping for anything, especially something to help you clean, the easier it is to use, the better your experience with that product will be. When it comes to mops, you want a reliable mop that's easy to push around, control where the moisture goes, and does an effective job at removing dirt and debris without you having to do too much scrubbing. Using something like a mop bucket on hardwood floors will be a hassle, since you won't be able to move it around very easily, and you can't really control how much moisture gets on your flooring. Go for a floor mop that works for you.

Price

The price tag is often the first thing people think about when making a new purchase. Mops are no different, but you can gain or lose a lot of features depending on the price. There’s nothing wrong with forgoing fancy features you don’t need to stay in budget. The best way to choose is decide what features are essential.

Types of Mops for Wood Floors

Spray Mops

These mops have a nozzle that sprays a cleaning solution onto your floors. There’s a reservoir that holds the cleaner, and they’re usually battery operated. Once the cleaner is sprayed out, you simply mop over it. These mops usually use disposable pads.

Dust Mops

Dust mops are ideal for cleaning up dry messes, like dust. Some of these mops can also be used wet. These come with pads that are just as often reusable as disposable.

Steam Cleaner Mops

Steam cleaning mops, as the name implies, use steam to clean your hardwood floor (or any other hard flooring). They superheat water which is then directed at the floor as you mop. They use only water, and simultaneously clean and sanitize floors.

Proper Ways of Cleaning Hardwood Floors

Give it Time Each Day

If not every day, then try to give your hardwood floors some tlc every other day at least. Whether you vacuum, sweep, or use a dust mop, your floors will look better; there’s also less debris when you deep clean too.

Mop When it’s Time

If there’s a spill, or a mess from cooking, try and mop it as soon as you can. It’ll save you the work of struggling with it later, and it’s better for your floors. Even without a visible mess, mop your floors regularly.
Once a week is sufficient for busy areas, while areas that aren’t as busy can handle mopping once a month or so.

Check Your Products

Naturally, if you’re using a steam mop, this isn’t much of a concern as long as you’re only using water to clean. However, if you do use a cleaning solution with your mop, always check to make sure it’s safe for hardwood. If you’re trying a new solution, test a small area before using it on your entire floor, even if it says it works on hardwood.

Conclusion

Hardwood floors can be easy to take care of, provided you have the right tools. All of the mops in our review are designed to be as efficient as they are convenient, and we’ve done the research to make sure they fit the bill. Whether you want to steam your floors or switch from dry to wet mopping, we’ve made sure these mops have something for every household.