Among the many ways of covering a floor in a house, carpets are by far one of the most popular, as well as the most sensuous. There’s nothing like sinking your toes into a soft, deep rug or carpet. But what do you need to know before deciding where to put carpet in your home and what sort to choose?
First of all, you need to decide whether you want carpets. Carpets do offer many advantages. They add a lot of warmth to the house (especially to the feet). They also make the house much more family-friendly: children can lie down to play much more comfortably on carpet than on boards, and toddlers learning to walk will find carpet a much softer landing during the inevitable tumbles that are part of learning to walk.
Carpets reduce the amount of dust in the air (and landing on surfaces that need dusting), as the fibres trap dust inside them (yes, you will need to vacuum the carpets, but this writer finds this easier than dusting). They’re also safter – you don’t have the risk of slips and falls that lower friction surfaces tend to have. On the disadvantage side, carpets are harder to clean: spills are harder to clean up, mud can’t just be mopped off, and soft, squishy stuff can get trodden into the fibres. There are carpet cleaning professionals though who can steam clean your carpet and make it healthier.
However, you shouldn’t go and carpet the whole house. Generally speaking, wet areas of the house, such as kitchens, bathrooms, laundries and toilets, should not be carpeted. Carpet is a lot harder to dry off when a spill happens, and it will start to deteriorate and/or smell bad. In the kitchen, what gets spilt is often something that stains (e.g. coffee), so your carpet will be ruined very quickly. And you don’t really want me to describe in detail what happens to carpet in toilets, do you (ewww!)? It can also pay to have a carpet-free area near doorways so people can remove muddy shoes and stand dripping umbrellas in somewhere that is easier to clean up. If you absolutely have to have carpet in these areas (e.g. in front of the toilet on a cold morning), then choose a loose fitting one that is easy to pick up, shake out and wash – synthetic fibres or an old-fashioned rag rug will do.
Take care when choosing your carpets. Consider the fibres – synthetics are cheaper but can feel a bit nasty; natural fibres are less durable but give a much nicer “feel”. A blend of natural and synthetic is best. Thick shagpile is very cushy, but is harder to vacuum (and things have a tendency to get caught in the longer pile – high heels can be tricky to wear) – again, a shag rug is probably better than wall-to-wall shagpile.
Consider the colours, too. While white carpets may be raved about by some interior decorators, they are best avoided by real people with real lives – it gets filthy very quickly! The same goes for any solid light-coloured carpet, e.g. beige, tan or grey – they will show every bit of dirt and grime. However, solid dark colours (black, navy, deep red) also look untidy very quickly – every bit of light-coloured dirt (hairs, fluff, miniscule bits of paper) will show up. The best colour choice for a carpet is something with a flecked pattern – although the exact colour is up to you!
To make your carpets last longer and to keep them in good condition for longer, get into the habit of removing your outdoor shoes when you come in – maybe even keep a pair of “indoor shoes” or slippers by entrances and exits if you don’t fancy walking around in bare feet. This is the custom in many homes (particularly Asian homes) and you can really see the difference!
Home cleaning is one of the tasks which some people love, and others detest. People who love it, do it since after all maintaining and decorating one’s house gives everyone the satisfaction of having accomplished their personal goals and living in a healthier place. So, what is the best ways to clean your home. While you can go about doing it in several ways, you need some home cleaning supllies first, these supplies available these days make the task of house cleaning much easier. There are many companies in the field which undertake house cleaning and provision of home cleaning supplies. The house cleaning tool suppliers claim that the products made available by them are the safest and make the house cleaning work faster than any thing else.
The home cleaners: The home cleaning supplies usually include the stain removal products, HEPA filters and vacuum cleaners. Other supplies include the traditional ostrich down feather dusters, mops, brooms, brushes, home care units, floor mats, window cleaning products and the marble, granite and stone care products. Spring cleaning and cleaning options are also offered by the companies in the concerned business. Aspects like clutter control are also dealt by the home cleaning supplies. Most of the home cleaning tool suppliers provides free catalogs for the customer’s convenience.
The home cleaning tool suppliers also provide for expert guidance and trained people for the cleaning process. The companies in the concerned business have realized the potential of an organized cleaning business. In today’s world people do not have the time to clean their own house but a home still remains their most loved possession and the concerned home cleaning supply companies have realized this situation to make a good business. These companies or entities provide people with home cleaning supplies and also with efficient people for the same purpose.
Relevance of cleaning supplies to the people: The people also find it very convenient as they just need to spend some cash and get their home cleaned. The best aspect of this facility is that their valuable time is saved. Most of the companies actually provide for customized house cleaning solutions. The customized home cleaning solutions provide special ideas for home cleaning based on the size, shape and location of the house. These companies also offer online guides or steps for the purpose of ensuring a speedy and efficient cleaning process.
Most of the home cleaning companies also provides speed cleaning techniques, which include specialized techniques of doing the concerned cleaning task efficiently and in a much faster way. Most of the people like to depend on these companies as they help to save their valuable weekend time which they are free to enjoy with their families rather than sit at home cleaning.
The house cleaning kits: The most famous amongst the home cleaning supplies are the home cleaning kits which include all the necessary kits which may be required for the purpose of cleaning. These kits include the vacuum cleaners, brooms, brushes, feather duster, blue juice concentrate, red juice concentrate, red juice and blue juice concentrate spray bottle, cleaning cloths, heavy duty scraper, tile juice, white pad and other possible items or kits that can be helpful in the home cleaning process.
Walls tend to absorb smells. The process is so gradual that regular occupants of the area will not even notice it but visitors will. It’s always worthwhile to get a friendly outsider to tell you if your walls smell. This is a common problem in offices because of the large number of people and the limited ventilation which allows cigarette and other odours to linger in the air and get absorbed by the paint on the walls. While regular wall cleaning is something you can talk about with your office cleaners, a sudden visit by a client may necessitate quick action to deodourize the walls.
Remember that the smell a wall absorbs has nothing to do with how clean it is. These are two separate issues. Before you begin to work on the odour, you need to first clean the walls with a brush or cloth. Proceed with the following steps only after the wall is free of surface dirt.
* Spread out a plastic sheet to protect the floor or carpet where you are working from damage due to spills or dripping.
* Fill a bucket with warm water and add very little liquid cleaner to it just enough to create a few bubbles when the mixture is agitated. If excess cleaner or detergent is mixed into the water, a soapy residue will be left on the walls.
* Dampen a sponge or a soft cloth and start wiping the wall.
* Start at the top of the wall, using a step ladder if necessary, and moving from side to side, work your way down to the floor level.
* If there are stubborn stains that do not come off, leave them for the time being and go back to them after this process is finished and try using a spray on cleaner.
* Use paper towels or a clean thick cloth to absorb any excess moisture that may be left on the walls.
* Open all the windows and let the walls dry completely.
This should take care of odour emanating from the walls. But before declaring the job over, you need to clean the air filters of the ventilation and heating / cooling system to prevent the odours trapped there from reentering the room and being absorbed by the walls all over again.
If after you complete the deodourizing of the walls, you still find a smell in the room, then its time to look at the upholstery, furniture and carpet cleaning done too.
Cleaning the kitchen using natural cleaning products may feel a bit like walking a tightrope. On the one hand, as you are preparing food, it is extremely important that surfaces, etc. are kept scrupulously clean. On the other hand, you want to minimize the amount of toxins you use – after all, you don’t want to eat toxins, after all.
Actually, it’s not that hard. Many of the products you use in your cooking already are also good at keeping things clean and killing germs. And you don’t need to worry about toxins, as you are going to eat the “cleaners” anyway – well, the majority of them. The only one you won’t eat is good old soap.
* Spills, etc. on the top of the oven clean up very easily if you get onto them as soon as possible. A fresh spill will wipe away with no need for anything fancier than a dishcloth. The longer you leave a spill or stain, the harder it will be to get off, as it becomes baked on. Of course, use common sense. If a saucepan boils over onto a hot stove, don’t go poking around with a cotton cloth unless you want to start a fire and/or get burned. Wait until the oven is cool enough to touch and use a bit of water on the cloth.
* Keep a little dish of baking soda in the refrigerator to absorb smells. Replace fortnightly with fresh baking soda (hint: use the old baking soda to clean the refrigerator instead of just throwing it away).
* Boiling water is the easiest and most effective way to sterilize anything that needs it, such as items that have been used for cutting raw meat (especially chopping or cutting boards) and baby bottles. Baby bottles should be boiled for 10 minutes to make sure of all germs, but just pouring the boiling water over a chopping board or knife will be enough. Some doctors recommend that if a stomach bug is going around the family, pouring boiling water over the cutlery and leaving it to soak for a few minutes before doing the dishes is a good way to stop the bug spreading.
* Baking soda mixed with water cuts through grease just as efficiently as any commercial chemical cleaner. In fact, some commercial cleaning products proudly state that they contain “added baking soda”. Save pennies and reduce the amount of toxins by just using the baking soda. Baking soda is suitable for most surfaces. It will even clean the inside of the oven.
* If your microwave oven smells a bit stale, put a small bowl of water with half a lemon or a splash of vinegar (or a bowl of straight vinegar) inside it and microwave it on high for a few minutes until it boils. This will banish the smell of last night’s curry and will make burnt-on ick easier to get off.
* Baking soda and water left to sit inside teacups and teapots gets rid of those ugly brown tea and coffee stains. Add a bit of vinegar for extra oomph to get rid of really tough stains.
Alternatively, buy coloured mugs and cups in dark colours that don’t show the stains. After all, the stain won’t hurt you, and you could save yourself a bit of time. Black chinaware looks particularly stunning.
* Save crushed eggshells to clean out those awkward glass decanters. Mix with warm water and a bit of baking soda and swirl around and around. Leave overnight, swirl again then tip the eggshells out (hint: pour them over the garden rather than down the sink – they keep slugs and snails at bay). Rinse out any residue by swirling vinegar in the decanter.
* Water is the universal solvent. Instead of scrubbing endlessly at stuck-on residues of mashed potato, porridge or white sauce, fill the saucepan with water and leave it to soak overnight. Most of the old gunk will have almost floated off the bottom and sides of the pan.
* Strong-smelling herbs stored in dry goods helps to repel silverfish and ants, etc. Bayleaves are best, as some of the smell will enter the products in question, and a bit of bay flavour won’t hurt your rice, flour or beans, whereas lavender or peppermint may be a bit of an odd flavour in, say, a stew… unless you want to experiment.
Now that spring has almost sprung, to quote the famous old bit of doggerel that is rapidly turning into a cliché, it’s time to start thinking about eating outdoors in the warmer weather. And the really big question is: did you clean your barbecue before you put it away for the winter? Oh dear. You’re going to have to clean it now, aren’t you?
Ideally, you should clean off any residues left from cooking after each barbecue session, in much the same way as you would clean a saucepan or grill tray after cooking in it. This is fairly easy to do – a quick wipe with a paper towel or two (or a nice reusable cloth) and maybe some dishwashing detergent (of the sort for washing by hand) some warm water and a dishbrush. Do this once the barbecue has cooled down or you run the risk of burning yourself and/or melting the plastic bristles of the brush. Believe me, burnt-on melted plastic is a pain to remove.
However, there are some things that you can do to help clean the barbecue while it’s still hot. Turn the flame up to high and this will burn off a lot of the gunk. It will pong horribly and emit black smoke, but don’t panic. After you have turned the flame off and the hot plate is still a hot plate, sprinkle salt all over it. Then, once the machine has cooled down, brush the salt off. It will have absorbed a lot of the liquid fats, etc., and it will also help to scour the metal.
Once you have done either of these post-cleaning methods, you should dry your machine and coat it lightly with a little vegetable oil to “season” the metal (the same as people used to do with cast-iron skillets and stop them from rusting).
Too late now. You’re confronted with rancid fat, mysterious burnt on bits, mould and rust. What are you going to do now?
First of all, switch the barbecue on. While it’s heating up, find a wire brush and spray dispenser. Fill the spray dispenser with water. Spray the water over the hot plate and get busy with the wire brush. This will be like steam cleaning for your barbecue and remove a lot of the rust as well And it kills the mould.
If you don’t want to do this – or if you still haven’t got a new gas cylinder for the barbecue yet – then you can clean the top off with a mixture of baking soda and water, plus a good dollop of elbow grease. Enjo cloths also do a great job at cleaning barbecues, especially the special green ones designed for fats and grease. A paste of salt and vinegar will help remove the rust – you may need to leave the paste on for about ten minutes and you will need to scrub it off fairly hard. Try not to use one of those commercial cleaners and rust removers but stick to the home-made natural rust removal methods: you are going to eat off that barbecue.
I’m not going to pretend that cleaning off a barbecue that has been left neglected is a picnic – I’ve done it myself – but the experience should be enough to teach you to clean, dry and season the barbecue machine properly before you put it away next time. It’ll mean one less spring cleaning job next year.
Most new parents become all too aware of their baby’s health and how vulnerable a little immune system is. The automatic reaction from most people is to try sterilising and boiling everything in sight in case a germ dares to attack their offspring. Children’s toys are cleaned thoroughly by dry cleaning. Surfaces are doused in vast amounts of cleaning product to ensure that every germ lingering in the kitchen is dead. High chairs are swabbed with more products. And to deal with the inevitable pong from nappies, out come the air fresheners.
And if a new parent hasn’t hired one before, the arrival of a new baby often is a good excuse to hire a professional house cleaner. The need to protect babies from germs combined with the exhaustion of caring for a new baby is often the motivation.
But just wait a minute. If you get too obsessed with germs, you could actually be doing more harm than good. Most of those commercial cleaning products are poisonous – that’s why they kill germs. And once your baby gets mobile, he or she will put their hands on everything and put everything in their mouths, which means they’re getting this stuff into their systems. And let’s not even start on the hazards of having those cleaning products in the house – they all have to be stored out of reach in a high cupboard rather than being kept under the kitchen sink – the most common place to store cleaning chemicals.
If these chemicals get into their systems, it can cause developmental damage to the organs and various other systems. And even if small children don’t ingest the product you’ve used for cleaning the floor or cleaning the bathroom, an over-clean house can also be a problem, as it can lead to auto-immune problems. If a developing immune system doesn’t get a few bacteria to practice on, then it starts reacting to non-threats, leading to asthma and eczema and similar problems.
So what does a concerned parent to do in order to keep their home safe for their new baby?
* Use natural cleaning products. They are less toxic than commercial cleaning products. Older children can use these products or even make them without any hassles.
* If you have to use a commercial cleaning product, then rinse after using them. Store it up high where smalls can’t get it.
* Don’t bother drycleaning soft toys. Drycleaning fluids are really nasty, and your little one will breathe them all in. If you have to clean a soft toy, do it by hand or just pop the toy in the machine – most modern soft toys can handle a trip through the tub.
* If you need to clean your carpets, book a steam cleaning or hire a professional carpet cleaner that uses chemical carpet shampoos. Regular vacuuming of carpets and sweeping of hard floors will get rid of the worst of the grub that might cause a problem for your child.
* Strengthen your child’s immune system. This is best done by a healthy diet. Breastfeeding is great for this and also means less cleaning work – no sterilising, measuring or scooping to be done, and breasts can’t be dropped onto the floor by accident mid-feed.
* Don’t panic. A happy, healthy child is reasonably resilient. As my sister-in-law said, you spend the first few months sterilising and boiling everything in sight, then as soon as they’re mobile, they’re in the garden eating slugs and coming to no harm.
But you can still hire that professional cleaner – busy new parents need all the help they can get.
Household cleaning products contain antibacterial ingredients which are widely available and used by a lot of people. Such products are also quite popular. A possible benefit of using the antibacterial product for home hygiene must be weighed against theoretical risk for antibiotic or antiseptic resistance. Studies and research surveys have been conducted too, to view the benefits of the household cleaning products to the household people using it on a frequent basis.
Surveys conducted on the product usage: There is an advantage of such community based studies as it has an opportunity to track down infections, if any in the household. It was found that, even though such antibacterial cleaning and hand washing products are being used frequently in the United States, a lot of people spread skin bacteria by using products having non-antibacterial soap. Dirty hands are the primary source which spread numerous viruses; one can avoid such bacteria by regularly using the antibacterial ingredients.
The primary concern of such studies was to measure the public health effect rather than determining the causative agents and surveys were conducted about the access of infections symptomatically. This was done because specific symptoms measured the load of household illness.
Findings of such surveys done: The findings, however conclude that some of the infections can be caused by either not using the antibacterial products or by using too much of such products and not washing the hands properly after using the same. Further, the spread of diseases like gastrointestinal infections or any skin infection can be due to hereditary factors as well where household members have lower immunities and resistance to disease.
This survey conducted even suggests that the care providers and the manufacturers should educate the consumers on the appropriate use and limitations of any household antibacterial products. There is also an additional research which is indicated to understand the possible health benefits connected with the increased use of household cleaning products, irrespective of whether such products contain antibacterial ingredients or not.
Interventions: The household people are recommended to use antibacterial products for laundry, hand washing and for general house cleaning. All such products are available at the counter.
Usage of the antibacterial product: Over the past few years, there has been a majority of household cleaning products which advertise antibacterial qualities and the demand for this has increased. However, too much usage of such products is not recommended and improper usage of the product can cause the surviving bacteria to change and become super germs to avoid the antibacterial ingredients. Such germs are antibiotic resistant. If a person wants to use antibacterial products, he should ensure that he uses them for the proper duration in order to prevent their adverse effects.
One can even reduce indoor air pollution. Ones home may become an energy efficient domain which can reduce the use of certain resources like coal or oil. And, the reduction of fresh air in the house can cause the indoor air to be more polluted with toxic chemicals and fumes.
First of all, locate where the equipment has been stored in the back of the garage and remove the bike helmets, seed packets, watering cans, screwdrivers and tins of paint off it. Now get to work with a duster and some hot soapy water and a brush or three– you might actually be able to find out what colour the machine was. You probably also need to apply a bit of spray-on lubricant to get all the moving parts moving again, as they’ve seized up.
Oh sorry – you’re in the minority of people who actually uses their home gym equipment regularly and has kept up the good work for more than six months. Your self-discipline and dedication is to be congratulated. Either that, or you’re one of the smart folk who has hired a machine of some kind. But either way, you want to clean the machine and have it looking sparkling.
The main cleaning issue when it comes to home gym equipment is sweat. As the seats and other places that come in contact with your person are probably covered in vinyl or some synthetic material, staining is unlikely to be a problem as it would be with natural fibres. Old sweat will make your machine sweaty and sticky, so regular house cleaning is important. Your best bet for cleaning this is to use a natural cleaning product – after all, your skin will be in contact with the surface with your pores wide open, so you don’t want unpleasant chemicals getting in. You want to use the machine to improve your health, after all.
A home-made vinegar based cleaning spray is your best bet for cleaning home gym equipment. If you use a strong solution of vinegar, you will be more able to kill any bacteria that (yummy!) are feeding off your old sweat. Besides, the vinegar will also help tackle any staining that is trying to happen. To improve the germ-killing powers and the scent of this home-made cleaning spray, add some lemon essential oil – it will also make you feel more alert when you breathe it in. One of the real beauties of this spray is that it’s not just good for cleaning the sweaty bits of the home gym equipment, but it’s also good for cleaning the chrome/metal bits and for a host of other cleaning jobs such as cleaning windows and even cleaning toilets.
You can also prevent a lot of the sweat getting all over the machine if you put a towel down on the seat or other pad to soak up your shed body fluids, and use the dry bits of this towel to wipe things down (including yourself) after your workout. Wash the towel after each use, and add vinegar to the final rinse to keep it smelling fresh and feeling fluffy – you can even use about half a cup of the vinegar spray mentioned above. This is also a good move if you don’t have home gym equipment and go to a “proper” gym so you don’t wallow in someone else’s sweat and don’t leave yours for other people.
If you have had the machine for a long time, it pays to make sure that the moving parts are well lubricated so you don’t have to work harder than you have to (OK, this may be a bonus, but you may damage the machine). While natural products are usually best, you really can’t beat mineral oil for lubricating moving parts. You can use the old oil from your car for lubricating this (it’s also good for lubricating bike chains) – apply it carefully and sparingly with an old rag or with an old toothbrush.
If you are using a window cleaning company to have your home or office cleaned regularly, you are probably thinking that since this is something that the cleaning company will be doing anyway, there’s no need for you to bother about this. Please don’t jump to conclusions and read on.
Blinds reflect the condition of your home or office both internally and externally. A person looking at your windows from outside and seeing dirty blinds will jump to conclusions about the state of the interior and a person seeing dirty blinds inside will focus on that and not on the rest of the room, no matter how clean it may be.
The problem with blinds, especially in a place like London, is that open windows and pollution often wreak havoc upon them. It may at times be necessary to clean the blinds before the visit of a London cleaning company is due.
Here are a few tips on how to go about it with the minimum of effort. These apply to all blind materials Ð wood, vinyl, fabric or aluminum.
Start by vacuuming the blinds using a brush attachment. If need be wash the brush before use so it does not leave more dirt than it removes. Always move the vacuum cleaner nozzle in an up to down movement because doing it upwards could cause the blinds to un- hooked at the top.
Once the vacuuming is done, use a clean lamb’s wool or feather duster on the slats, once again using an up to down movement. If after this you see some stains or spots on the slats, use an all purpose cleaner to remove them. Never spray or apply the cleaning product directly to the slats. Dampen a cloth and rub the stain the remove it. If the stain does not come off, leave it alone and either wait for the cleaning company next visit or get a professional blind cleaning service to do the job for you. Many London window cleaning companies will offer blinds cleaning as a part of their services portfolio.
Please note that blinds should never be soaked as this will lead to the loss of the fire retardant and grime repellant chemicals they are coated with. Fabric blinds may also shrink. Also never wipe blinds with hot water as this may cause fabric colours to run.
For fabric and vinyl blinds use a dry sponge to scrub away stubborn dust and grime. Be careful not to rub too hard or you could damage the surface finish of the slats.
The market is flooded with hundreds and thousands of solutions cleaning products. However people are always on the lookout for effective solutions for cleaning. You can use the traditional or conventional products, but some of these may be harmful to the skin and general health due to their semi-poisonous fumes and harmful chemicals. Today, there has been a significant shift from the conventional products to natural and biodegradable cleaning products. The biodegradable products are safe to use and environment friendly and have many advantages. You can use many natural cleaning solutions like lemon juice, vinegar, mineral oils, pine oils, vegetable extracts, fruit extracts and so on which are safe and less expensive than the other products.
Daily Cleaning: All people would love to stay in sparkling clean houses. One has to take due care on a regular basis to keep one’s house neat and tidy. If one plans out a daily and regular cleaning schedule, then the task is simplified to a great extent and one will be able to achieve it easily as well. You can work out a time table for a daily, weekly and monthly task. In this way, you will not be overloaded with work at one time. Kitchen cleaning and bathroom cleaning can be done on a daily basis. You can do the vacuum cleaning and dusting on a weekly basis. The curtains and furnishings can be washed once every two months and so on.
Cleaning Products Solutions: The consumers can choose from a wide range of cleaning products solutions based on their requirements. The various types of cleaning liquids available are liquid detergents, detergent boosters, delicate fabric wash liquids, hydrogen peroxide bleaching agent, detergent neutralizer, fabric softener, machine ware washing liquid detergent, liquid rinse aid, silver ware detarnisher, lime scale remover, grease cutter, surface sanitizer, shower sprays, antibacterial liquid hand soap wash, floor cleaner, bathroom cleaner, odorisers, glass cleaning solutions, carpet cleaners and so on. There are some specialty products also like floor polish, wooden surface polish, metal polish water based and solvent based stain removers.
Different Brands for Solutions Cleaning Products: There are many brands in the market for solutions of cleaning products. They include Stanley Home Care Products of the Fuller Brush Company, CleanAir America, Blue Wonder, American Cleaning Solutions and Clean Solutions and so on. You can get extremely valuable resources online as well for the purpose of cleaning solutions.
In the fast moving and jet setting world of toady, life has become very busy and not much time is left for tasks like house cleaning. Both the partners are busy with their respective careers and have little time for cleaning up of the house. In USA, professional home cleaning solutions are offered by US House Cleaning Services. Home Cleaning is a booming business in the USA.
Natural Solutions for Cleaning Products: Natural solutions used in cleaning products are getting popular by the day as they are efficient, effective, cheap and biodegradable. They have many health benefits and reduce the chemical pollution to a great extent. You can make home based cleaning products by using various natural ingredients like baking soda, borax, white vinegar, washing soda, isopropyl alcohol and so on.
