Think about cleaning your house on the microbial level. Zoom in until pollen spores and dust motes are your players, and your home is an enormous semi-enclosed ecosystem of corners and hidden spaces. There are millions of dirty, dust, pollen, and so-forth types of particles floating around in your home at any given time. It’s normal. We sweep and vacuum them away all the time but this level of thinking is the difference between daily cleaning and deep cleaning.
Daily Cleaning on a Microbial Level.
Cleaning is about removing any rogue particles from the home based on exposure and risk-level. You want your countertops to be a clean line from particle-free stone to clean filtered mostly-particle-free air. Every cleaning task takes this on.
Counters & Surfaces
Now consider how a quick swipe with a soapy sponge effects your microbial countertops. You are sweeping the vast majority of the surface with a very thorough, dissolving, cleansing, and lightly scrubbing surface. You can sweep into the corners and come up with almost every particle – based on pressure and grout. With a thorough sponge technique, you can get your kitchen mostly clean and germ-free – at least in the most relevant areas.
Floors: Sweep, Mop & Vacuum
Take a broom and quickly sweep a room. You have cleared most of the dust, durt, and definitely most of the larger debris – out to whatever depth and furniture you swept. But the broom always leaves a small percent behind, depending on the broom, and there’s always some dust left in the corners.
Mopping sops the same soapy water over a large area. It’s easier to get corners, but your mop grows dirty over time. Consider the particles dissolved, picked up, and left in the mop bucket.
Vacuuming is great for a high percentage of particle collection, especially on hard floors. But there is always more dust to extract with a steam cleaner during deep cleaning.
Deep Cleaning on a Microbial Level
Deep cleaning is about understanding the microbes and seeking them out where they hide. Consider the corners that are hard to reach, or the upper sides of cabinets that you never see. This is where dust goes. When air and surfaces are disturbed, more dust (and dirt and old pollen) is blown back into your home’s main areas.
Deep cleaning means seeking out those corners, furniture undersides, dusty upholstery, curtains, and deep-pile rugs are seen to. Not just the tile, but the grout. Not just polishing the fixtures, but sanitizing the drains. Cleaning the dust built up inside appliance cabinets and the mold hiding underneath carpet pads.
Counters and Surfaces
Take your surface work to a new level. During deep cleaning, increase the strength of your cleaning mixtures and use hotter water. Work deeply into each corner and don’t hesitate to soak a tough spot or scrub with cleaning powder.
Look for new surfaces, including vertical surfaces. Scrub your cabinet doors, for example, and every side of each countertop item. Look for surfaces you have never scrubbed and go deeply into each corner.
Dry Floor Cleaning
Deep cleaning your floors means moving furniture and shampooing carpets. If you don’t normally clean underneath furniture, there is a civilization of particles ranging from dust bunnies to hair spiders to actual spiders. Corners and furniture undersides hide dust that escapes later in fluries – making a clean floor dirty again with no new dirt tracked in.
Start with the vacuum, applied to every single floor type in the house. Use your attachments and make use of the hose extension. If you can, turn up the suction where safe, and strategically raise or lower the beaters.
Damp Floor Cleaning
Mop more like you clean the counters – with attention to every inch and corner. In some areas, you may want to clean directly with a sponge and soap on-site. Sealed wood floors are safe to mop, but don’t leave them soaked for long. Change your water often and use a stronger cleaning solution. We also advise wiping down the baseboards, as they hold a great deal of dust and spiderwebs around every floor edge.
Carpets
Carpets may need to be treated for moisture or mold damage. Clean with powder cleaner, then steam cleaning. Carpets and rugs older than 10 years should be professionally cleaned or replaced. Replace carpet pads if possible, especially if there has been spills, messes, or pets.
Appliances
Remember that appliances are a secrete hidden trove of particle-level grime. Your entire HVAC system is covered in dust – inside and out. Your water heater builds up sediment in the bottom. All filters and filtration systems need to be cleaned over time. Your pipes build up with clog-causing grime of various types. Even your dishwasher needs to be descaled from water mineral buildup from time to time.
—
When you deep clean properly, you won’t need to deep clean again for a while as those storehouses of particles recharge. Daily cleaning can extend that time between deep cleaning by keeping the particle’s chance to build-up at bay. For more on either daily or deep cleaning your property, contact us today!