December 21, 2012

Kitchen Road Test: e-Cloth Deep Clean Mop Review

I don't trust mops. I blame my mother and grandmother who I saw get down on their hands and knees to wash their floors by hand, both insisting that even with the best soap, a mop simply can't get your floors clean as some good old-fashioned elbow grease.

Because of my mop mistrust, I was skeptical about the e-Cloth Deep Clean Mop, which is not only a mop--it's a mop that reportedly can clean your floors without soap. I went into my e-Cloth Deep Clean Mop kitchen test unsure what to expect, but after a morning of cleaning I have to say I'm now a mop believer, at least when it comes to the e-Cloth Mop.

The Basics

The e-Cloth Deep Clean Mop has a removable cloth cover with a highly concentrated fiber network. Each square centimeter of fabric contains 480,000 tiny fibers, which capture dirt and lift it away. Because of this unique network of fibers, the mop can be used with just plain water and can eliminate 99.9 percent of household bacteria.

The Setup

Getting the e-Cloth Deep Clean Mop ready for use is remarkably simple. All my kitchen assistant and I had to do was remove the head, wet it with water ring it out and attach its Velcro side to the end. That's it. The cloth fastens securely in place and doesn't shift when you start to clean.

The Kitchen

I let both my kitchen floors go without cleaning for two weeks in preparation for this road test, so I was anxious to get cleaning. I have hardwood floors in my kitchen, and the e-Cloth Deep Clean Mop glided easily over the wood, even in the seams. My trusted assistant and I were both impressed with how much dust and dirt the mop lifted off of the wood, and I only had to rinse the cloth once to get the entire room clean.

The Bathroom

The e-Cloth Deep Clean Mop was equally impressive on the ceramic tiles in my bathroom. We were both amazed at how much dirt I was able to remove from the floor because the white tiles had looked clean before I went to work. I'm now left wondering how much dirt my rag, soap and bucket cleaning method had missed before. The telescoping handle on the mop really came in handy for cleaning around the toilet and tub.

The Cleanup

The e-Cloth Deep Clean Mop's package states that the mop head is guaranteed to last through at least 300 washes, so when I was finished cleaning, I tossed it in the washing machine. The mop head came out looking as good as new. Just make sure you don't add fabric softener! I didn't read the instructions carefully enough the first time and had to rewash mine without the softener.

The Takeaway

The e-Cloth Deep Clean Mop was as effective, if not more effective, than washing my floors by hand with soap and water. I even invited my mother over to inspect the results, and my sparkling clean floors received her approval. If two thumbs up from Mom isn't the ultimate endorsement, I don't know what is.