Delux baseboard cleaner review: Is the viral tool worth it? | CNN Underscored

Detailing the baseboards tends to be a chore many people skip when cleaning the house. One reason it’s such a dreaded task is because baseboards can be hard to reach, making the job awkward and uncomfortable. This is especially true if you have mobility issues (like a bad back or bum knees) that make bending, kneeling or reaching difficult.

Even though I’m a cleaning expert, dusting baseboards is a chore I dread (like most people!). That’s why I’m always on the hunt for ways to make the job less horrible. So when I saw the Delux Baseboard Cleaner Tool on TikTok I thought, “I have to have one!”

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I took the cleaning gadget for a spin throughout my home to see if it’s the solution to those baseboard cleaning woes. (Spoiler: It is!)

This versatile baseboard cleaning tool has reusable pads, a swivel head and an adjustable handle that extends to just over 60 inches. In addition to dusting baseboards, it makes quick work of cleaning shower walls, windows, mirrors and door frames — and it can also double as a dry or damp mop for floors.

The Delux Baseboard Cleaner Tool has loads of uses outside of its primary purpose, but let’s start with what it’s marketed to do, which is to clean baseboards. It is very good at its job!

The tool is designed with a lip on the base that flips out from a flat position, over which one of the microfiber pads can be affixed. The lip creates a T-shape that allows you to clean the top edge of a baseboard at the same time as its flush flat front. This design feature is incredibly clever, and because the lip folds down, the tool can also be used to clean flat surfaces when the T-shaped feature is not engaged.

The T-shaped lip also makes easy work of cleaning window and door frames. I found this tool especially useful for cleaning the tops of door frames, where a lot of dirt and dust settles over time.

When using an extendable or long-handled cleaning tool, there are two factors to consider. The first is the height of the job at hand — dusting a ceiling fan, for example, requires a longer tool than dusting baseboards. Then there is also your height — a short person like myself needs less handle length to reach baseboards than I do to reach a ceiling fan. The ability to adjust the handle, and therefore the tool’s length and reach, adds a crucial element of versatility, allowing users of various heights to accomplish all types of cleaning jobs.

At its shortest, the Delux Baseboard Cleaning Tool measures 21.2 inches in length. Adding the second pole extends it to 34.4 inches, while the third pole makes it 47.4 inches and the fourth pole extends the length to 60.6 inches. The adjustable length allowed me to easily clean everything from baseboards to full-length windows with ease, even at my meager height of 5’2”.

In the month or so that I spent testing the Delux Baseboard Cleaning Tool, I used it for loads of other cleaning jobs, including:

I found the tool easy to use and highly effective at cleaning all of those surfaces, with the exception of the ceiling fan. I particularly liked how many uses it had in the bathroom — I could use it as part of my weekly bathroom cleaning routine to polish the large mirror over the sink, then use the same pad to quickly wipe my tile shower walls. After a quick change of the pad, the tool was ready to use to dust the baseboards and dry (or damp) mop the floors as needed.

One feature that makes this tool so versatile is that its rectangular head swivels, allowing you to change its orientation from horizontal to vertical while cleaning. This is especially useful when cleaning flat vertical surfaces like windows or tile shower wall enclosures.

The baseboard cleaner comes with four reusable microfiber pads — two thin pads with smaller loops and two thicker pads with larger loops. The thinner pads are best for baseboards, window casings, door frames and other small detail work, while the thicker pads can be used on walls, windows, mirrors and other large, flat surfaces.

The pads, which adhere to the head with strong Velcro tape that keeps them firmly in place, are easy to attach and detach. They’re machine-washable for easy cleaning, but they can also be washed by hand with mild detergent, rinsed and squeezed out and allowed to air dry.

I used the Delux Baseboard Cleaning Tool as a dry mop to pick up hair and dry shampoo residue that builds up quickly on my bathroom floor. The microfiber pads grabbed a lot of hair and left the floors feeling really clean. For people like me who have a lot of hair (and use a lot of hair products), this would be a smart thing to stash in the bathroom for quick cleans throughout the week.

In the kitchen, I used the tool as a damp mop, spraying the thicker of the two pads with a wood-safe all-purpose cleaner and giving the floors a going-over. Again, the baseboard cleaning tool did an excellent job as a mop, picking up a lot of dirt and cooking residue my vacuum cleaner left behind, without requiring me to drag out the spin mop.

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While the extendable handle makes the Delux Baseboard Cleaning Tool an incredibly versatile gadget, the handle’s four separate pieces are a bit cumbersome.

To assemble the tool or change its length while cleaning, you must unscrew one of the poles and then set it aside. This adds extra time and effort and requires a place to put the pieces when not in use. Those are fairly minor inconveniences, but they are inconveniences. This tool would be so much easier to use if the handle could retract into itself, allowing for height adjustment while you work or for storage that doesn’t require screwing or unscrewing multiple separate pieces.

The tool is also equipped with a rubber squeegee that’s designed to be used on glass and tile. It’s a thoughtful feature that, unfortunately, didn’t work very well (I found it left streaks on glass windows and mirrors).

However, the tool’s reusable pads proved to be excellent at cleaning windows and mirrors, even without using the squeegee. I found switching to a dry pad after doing an initial pass with a pad sprayed with glass cleaner was sufficient to dry and polish the glass.

Buoyed by my successes using the Delux Baseboard Cleaning Tool on walls, floors, windows, mirrors and more, I took the long-handled duster for a whirl on my ceiling fan, which, like the door frames in my home, collects a lot of dust.

The tool was awkward to use for the job, and not terribly effective, either. It did a good job at cleaning the undersides of the blades but was not flexible enough to clean the tops or sides, which tend to be the grimiest parts.

The Delux Baseboard Cleaning Tool is a true winner! It does its primary job — cleaning baseboards — quite well, sparing users from the backbreaking effort associated with getting this hard-to-reach area of the home clean. Plus, the tool can be used for many other chores throughout the house.

In particular, the tool excelled at cleaning door frames and window sills, where a lot of dirt, dust, hair and more build up. It is also a versatile, effective and convenient tool for cleaning the bathroom, where it can be used on everything from mirrors to shower enclosures to floors. In the kitchen, the tool can be used to wipe kitchen cabinets without requiring a ladder and can double as a dry or damp mop for use on the floor.

And at under $25, the Delux Baseboard Cleaning Tool is also a great bargain because you’ll get a lot of cleaning power for the price.