I love my new steam floor cleaner, a Hoover TwinTank Disinfecting Steam Mop (WH20200), but what I didn’t like were the pads that came with it. The pads themselves are fine; they just seemed to always be in the laundry or dirty when I needed them. I checked out Amazon and found that I could buy extra Hoover Enhanced Clean Steam Mop Pads– 2 pack – WH01000) at around $6 each, but I came up with a cheaper solution that’s working fabulously for me!

I took an old, thin white towel and cut it up into eight new pads that didn’t cost me a penny! I chose a white towel so it could be bleached and this particular towel is rough – which works perfectly on my floor – almost like a bit of a scrubby pad. It isn’t as easy to push as the original floor pad (this can be remedied by dampening the pad first), but that actually is working out in my favor. First, because the floor isn’t as wet when I’m finished and second because the floor is cleaner. I keep using towels until I can use a pad that still looks clean after using it. Now I realize what I was leaving behind by using one of the Hoover pads to clean the whole floor – ick!

My easy DIY Steam Mop Head Pads

My easy DIY Steam Mop Head Pads

DIY Steam Mop Pads

  1. All I did was fold the towel in half lengthwise, then again. I cut along the folds and had four rectangles.
  2. Then I used the carpet piece from the Hoover TwinTank Cleaner to measure out the pieces.
  3. Next, I cut the four layers each in half, so one towel made eight cleaning pads. Perfect! Rather than cutting the towel to the shape of the cleaner, I cut them into a square. My thought process on the shape choice was that I needed the fabric to overlap the edges of the machine and placement could only be achieved if it was the right direction. Cutting them square instead meant that I don’t have to worry about positioning the fabric exactly right under the machine and there’s not enough slop to make it annoying.
  4. To use them,  I just drop one on the floor, set the machine on it, turn it on, wait for the green light, and then steam the pad for a minute to moisten it and clean as usual! I don’t attach anything, but if that worries you, you could run elastic around the topside, but it’s really not necessary.
  5. To clean the homemade pad just toss it in the washer and dryer and reuse them until they fall apart! It’s a great way to upcycle a towel that otherwise would have gone in the trash.

It seems so simple, but I didn’t think of it until today, so I thought I’d share it with anyone else looking for a solution. I LOVE the Hoover TwinTank steam mop even more now and will be cutting up a second towel soon because it works so well.