When you have a flat, you need to maintain it. The weekly dusting, some rearrangement of artworks on the walls, the thrice-in-a-week laundry labour... then there's the cleaning of the floor. (If you're someone who wears shoes in the abode, skip this. No amount of floor cleaning is gonna help with indoor shoe-wearing.)

Floor cleaning comprises these two fundamentals: sweeping and washing. You pick up the dirt—the physical debris like loose hair, dust bunnies, dead human skin (we shed those unwanted cells that amount to 2 grammes a day), and once those particulates are disposed of, you can wash the floor. A mop does the trick. Some soapy water and a little evaporation, and you have a floor that you can eat off of.

You have to sweep up and wash in that order, though. I mean, have you mopped up a dusty floor? It's gag-inducing; water turns those dirt particles into muddy streaks, clumps, and film. If only there were a way to do both at once. If only there were a solution (and a segue) to this?

Dyson's Clean+Wash Hygiene is engineered to handle that. And here's the thing: for a company known for its suction, the Clean+Wash Hygiene eschews that and, instead, uses hydration, agitation, and capillary actions.

Here's what's happening as you glide the Clean+Wash Hygiene across a wet and/or dry mess: two absorbent microfibre rollers (with 84,000 filaments!) at the head pick up dirt and liquid spills, and a built-in stainless steel comb, separates the solid matter into a tray, while dirty liquid is pumped into a water tank that's next to the debris tank. Near the head is a water tank, where you can add a little detergent or Dyson's own probiotic cleaning solution for that added cleanliness. (The Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene is perfect on hard floors. For other surfaces like carpets, upholstery, and the like, use a regular vacuum.)

All these occur at the floorhead. And because no dirt is drawn up into the machine, you don't have to deal with clogging or having to clean internal dirty pipes. When you're done cleaning, slide out the debris tray to dump solid dirt into a bin, and pour out the dirty water. To further drive home the point that you don't have to deal with washing out filters, the Clean+Wash Hygiene has an automated self-cleaning cycle. Return the Clean-Wash Hygiene to the dock, and it flushes the system with clean water; the rollers are dried with hot air to kill bacteria and odour.

It works great, but the Clean+Wash Hygiene falls victim to its own marketing. It's touted that the Clean+Wash Hygiene "powerfully removes wet and dry mess hygienically", which is what was promised, but the reality is more sobering. Emptying the debris and dirty water becomes a troublesome because you have to keep the waste assembly level because any unwarranted tilt will cause the water and dirt to tip over.

Then, there's the notion about how the Clean+Wash Hygiene is self-cleaning. We don't find that claim to be totally accurate. It's more like it reduces the maintenance of the device. Sure, it cleans up the head as adequately as possible, but because we live in the BELT OF CONCENTRATED SUNSHINE, we still fall victim to humidity, and sometimes, you'd still have to manually wash the rollers to prevent bacteria and smells.

Expectations are needed for adjustments, but, on the whole, the Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene, does the job in keeping the house in order.

The Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene retails for SGD729 and is available online and at all Dyson outlets and major distributors.