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Steampunk is an interesting type of SF: On one hand, it mostly applies technology that could have existed, but didn't, making most of it "hard" SF; On the other hand, it represents an alternate reality, which is "soft" SF, and as my 3rd law suggested, it is usually considered "soft" based on its alternate reality element.
Media and TV shows that like to suggest that the SF stories of the past actually happened (Warehouse 13, Planetary) tend to adopt a "steampunk" look to its old tech. It's kind of hard, though, to categorize those premises as being part of our reality, but with past events that were simultaneously fantastic, and hidden from public awareness... would that be considered an alternate reality? If not, it makes those premises "hard" SF, or, at least, harder than steampunk.
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