I love my steam cleaner, but this is the one place I’d never use it – especially during the autumn and winter months

Wooden flooring with a dustpan and brush on it, and a stool with cleaning products on it.

My hard flooring takes a serious beating over the autumn and winter months. From muddy footprints (and pawprints) to dust kicked up by radiators and dry air, they constantly look dirty and grimy. And while I swear by steam cleaning the rest of the house, you should never use a steam mop to clean engineered wood floors.

Yes, I can’t get enough of the best steam cleaners. I actually have three that I constantly use on rotation, including a steam mop to clean the tiled floors in my kitchen and bathroom and to steam clean my carpets, and two handheld models to tackle everything from my sofa cushions to my curtains.