Cleaning tiles with a steam cleaner

A steam cleaner for cleaning your tiles uses water heated to the right temperature—nothing else. The heat softens grease and buildup, the pressure loosens it, and you wipe it away with a cloth. No soapy water, no cleaning product, and no residue left behind.

This means you can clean hygienically without chemicals, whether you are tackling floor tiles or tiles in your living room or bathroom.

Which tiles can you clean with a steam cleaner?

Always check the care instructions from your tile or flooring manufacturer. Test in an inconspicuous area, use the lowest effective setting, keep moving, and dry the surface afterward. The table below is a guideline.

Tile type	Steam clean?	Why
Ceramic tiles, glazed	Yes, for entire tiles and grout	Fired and sealed, making them highly resistant to heat and moisture
Unglazed, matte ceramic tiles	Yes, provided they are impregnated	No glass glaze, so more porous than a glazed tile. If in doubt, check whether your tiles have been impregnated
Porcelain and porcelain stoneware	Yes, for entire tiles and grout	Fired densely and hard. For polished finishes, check the manufacturer's care advice, as it may differ
Glass tiles, mirrored walls, glass shower screens	Yes	Use the window squeegee. Keep away from sealant edges and coatings
Granite and quartzite (natural stone)	Usually yes	Do not contain lime and are hard. However, this varies by type of stone, so check the care advice
Marble, travertine, limestone, Belgian bluestone (natural stone)	Only if your stone supplier allows it	Containing lime and porous. Even when impregnated, there is still a risk that heat and moisture will break down the protective layer or dull the shine. Never use an acidic product here
Terrazzo and granito	Only with the manufacturer's approval	Marble chips in a cement- or synthetic-resin-based matrix. What is suitable depends on the composition and finish
Flagstones, terracotta, and slate	Only with the manufacturer's approval	Porous and almost always impregnated, oiled, or waxed. Heat can dissolve that protective layer
Cement tiles (Portuguese, Moroccan)	No, unless the manufacturer allows it	Porous and containing lime, with a protective layer that is quickly washed away
Mosaic	Depends on the material	Ceramic mosaic can often be cleaned with steam. For natural stone or glass mosaic, follow the guidelines for that material, and watch out for the adhesive and the many grout joints
PVC or vinyl tiles	No, unless the manufacturer allows it for your floor	Often glued, and heat can loosen the adhesive or deform the top layer. This also applies to click-lock PVC
Tiles with hairline cracks or damage	No	Moisture gets underneath the tile. Have the tiles, grout, and substrate assessed first
Caulk lines and silicone grout	No	The high steam pressure removes the caulk. Clean caulk lines with a soft cloth

How to clean tiles with a steam cleaner

The process is the same for every surface. What changes is the attachment and the direction in which you work. Where it matters, it is specified for each type of tile.

1. Check your surface. Are the tiles and grout intact, and is steaming suitable for this material? See the table above. Keep away from caulk lines and silicone grout.

2. Remove loose dirt first. Loose dirt does not belong on your steam cloth. If you take it along, you will scrub it across your tiles and your cloth will be full after two strips.

• Floor tiles: sweep or vacuum them. It takes a minute and prevents most streaks.
• Wall tiles: wiping them with a dry cloth is enough.

3. Fill the reservoir and let it heat up. Use clean water, or demineralized water if you live in an area with hard water. This keeps limescale out of the appliance and also helps prevent marks on dark tiles.

Heating time, water tank capacity, and steaming time per model

Model	Heating time	Water tank	Steaming time	Steam temperature
TS Compact	about 10 seconds	900 ml	Refill during use	about 125 °C
TS1	about 2–8 minutes	1.5 liters	about 40 minutes	about 100 °C
TS2 Performance	about 2–8 minutes	1.6 liters	about 50 minutes	about 100 °C
TS3 Edge	about 1 minute	2.5 liters	Refill during use	125+ °C

How much you can clean with one tank depends on your setting, nozzle, and how often you press the trigger. If you want to keep working without waiting for the appliance to heat up again, the TS Compact and TS3 Edge are the models you can refill while steaming.

4. Steam the condensation away from yourself. Into the sink or a bucket, until only steam comes out. After heating up, condensation water remains in the hose. If you put the cloth on immediately, it absorbs the water and becomes soaked before you have finished the first strip. This is the step that makes the difference between a damp and a wet surface.

5. Choose the attachment that suits the surface.

• Floor tiles: the floor attachment with a microfiber cloth. Without a cloth, you only steam; with a cloth, you also collect the dirt.
• Wall tiles, shower wall, and mirror: the triangular brush with the white cloth.
• Grout, corners, and edges: the precision nozzle with a small nylon brush.

6. Work in small sections and keep moving. Clean one section, wipe it, and move on. Do not stay in one place, and use only as much steam as you need to loosen the dirt.

• Floor tiles: work in strips with slight overlap, from the farthest corner toward the door. That way, you do not walk over what you have just cleaned.
• Wall tiles: work from top to bottom so loosened dirt does not run over clean areas.

7. Wipe away loosened dirt immediately. A steam cleaner does not suck anything up. If the dirt remains, it will simply dry back onto the surface. Change the cloth as soon as it is full: a full cloth no longer cleans; it only moves dirt around. For an average residential floor, you will quickly need two or three, so lay them out before you start.

8. Dry where necessary.

• Floor tiles: the floor usually dries within thirty to sixty seconds. If it stays wet longer, there was too much water in your cloth. On dark or polished tiles, and on anything porous, go over the surface once more with a dry microfiber cloth.
• Wall tiles and glass: streak-free finishing is key here. Attach the window squeegee and pull the surface dry. Do not use steam while pulling the squeegee, otherwise the tile will remain wet and you will get streaks. Hold the squeegee at a slight angle instead of perfectly straight; this prevents streaks along the sides. If you still get streaks, do not use the squeegee—dry the surface with a dry microfiber cloth instead.

And the grout?

Grout requires a different approach: use a small nylon brush on the precision nozzle instead of the floor attachment. To learn why your grout is usually discolored rather than dirty, and what to do about mold, read cleaning grout with a steam cleaner.

Why steam works differently from a cleaning solution

Most people who switch say the same thing afterward: only when they started steam cleaning did they realize how much dirt was still on the tile. There are three reasons for this.

Heat softens grease. A solution of lukewarm water and cleaner has to loosen grease chemically, and only does so partially, especially on the kitchen wall or the floor in front of the stove. Steam at around 100 to 125°C or higher, depending on the model, softens it so you can remove it.

It reaches dirt in grout and surface texture more effectively. A cloth mainly works on the smooth surface. A targeted jet of steam with a small brush reaches into the grout and the texture of matte tiles. That is where the dirt remains visible after mopping.

You do not mop with dirty water. When mopping, you rinse the mop in the same bucket containing the dirt. Halfway across the floor, you spread gray water around. With steam cleaning, the dirt goes into the cloth and stays there, and you switch cloths when one is full.

How steam compares with what you probably use now

Steam compared with other cleaning methods

Method	Where it performs well	Where it falls short
Bucket, mop, and all-purpose cleaner	Fast, everyone has one	Leaves a thin film, spreads dirty water, mainly cleans the smooth surface
Spray mop or disposable wipes	Convenient for quick touch-ups	Surface-level only, no heat, ongoing costs
Scrubbing with a brush and cleaner	Works on one stubborn spot	Physically demanding and time-consuming, and not sustainable over large areas
Vinegar or citric acid	Inexpensive, works on limescale	Acidic, and damages cement grout and limestone
Baking soda	Inexpensive, degreases	Alkaline and mildly abrasive, may cause dull spots
Wet-dry vacuum	Vacuums up dirty water immediately, fast on large areas	Generally does not provide the same targeted heat for grease and embedded dirt
Steam cleaner	Heat and moisture on grease and dirt, without cleaning products, little residual moisture	Does not vacuum up dirt, needs to heat up, not suitable for every tile

For many households, the combination is the answer: a wet-dry vacuum or broom for loose dirt, and steam for dirt that is stuck on.