House And Office Cleaning

The lifestyle of most of the people is the cause of their over looking the not so pleasant task of cleaning the carpets. But, if they were aware of the harm caused by dirty carpets and rugs they wouldn’t be so negligent about this important aspect of housekeeping.

It’s important to have clean looking rugs and carpets not from the point of view of aesthetics alone, but for your health too. It is too well known that dirt, dust particles and mites get deposited in the fibers of carpets and germinate there. But where do they come from? These are carried into your home very conveniently by your shoes and on getting into the fibers of your carpet they begin to get multiplied. They are too tiny to be seen by a naked eye. Yet, they are big enough to affect your general health, and breathing in particular to cause you allergies. That should leave no doubt why the carpets need to be kept clean.

Now that we know how important it is to have clean carpets and rugs let’s find ways of keeping them clean. Periodically you should clean them using a vacuum or broom to tidy up the whole thing. But that removes dust from the top layer of the carpet and pushes down a part of it. So, it has to be supplemented by steam cleaning. Once in a while it should be cleaned by a professional carpet cleaner who has access to industrial grades of antibacterial cleaning agents to thoroughly clean the rugs and carpets. Such cleaning agents used by a professional also sanitize your rug. Moreover, the equipment used by a professional cleaner is more powerful than you get in stores and use yourself. These cleaners employ steam for cleaning and that helps to kill germs and bacteria.

Another reason for not using a machine for cleaning your own rug is the diversity of cleaning machines and cleaning agents available in the market to day. For a layman, not educated on the subject, it’s quite a task to make an accurate assessment of the machine needed for cleaning of rugs and carpets at home to get those professional results. There are foam cleaners reported to clean your rug all thru its fibers, but in essence all that is expected of you is to spray the foam on your rug, let it remain there for a while and then clean it using a clean damp sponge. You can imagine the kind of cleaning such products and procedure can do! Such cleaners merely clean the surface and the rug starts looking clean, but what about the germs and microorganisms that’s already gone down to the padding and fibers of the carpeting.

It’s nice to have clean new looking rugs at home with the added feeling that they will not have detrimental effect on your health. Have them steam cleaned professionally a couple of times every year. Talk to your cleaner and persuade him to have some kind of an annual maintenance contract for the benefit of all concerned.

You must be aware of a number of cleaning agents available in the market for cleaning of your hardwood floor, but are you aware that one such cleaning agent may already be there in your kitchen and that is economical while being effective. And, it’s vinegar and water!

Apart from convenience of availability, using vinegar and water has other advantages like:

- It evaporates quickly without leaving any spots.
- As it has no strong chemicals, it can safely be used when you have pets and children at home
- It is mild, and does not damage the wood or cause its stripping.
- Unlike some of the cleaners that need to be stripped off later, this won’t build up.

Before applying this mixture of water and vinegar clean the floor thoroughly by sweeping, preferably vacuum it. Add a cup of vinegar to two gallons of water and mop the entire floor with this mixture. Let it dry.

If you are keen to have a shining floor, you have to use one of the commercial products formulated for polishing floors. But, mind you, they tend to build up layers that you’ll have to remove ultimately.

Another way of achieving similar results is to bluff your floor with olive oil, which again is readily available at home. No doubt it is cumbersome. Pour a drop or two of the oil on a rag and rub it on the wood by hand. Just that much of oil generally suffices for about ten square feet of floor area. Olive oil, being stronger, moisturizes hardwood and leaves a shine on that. That way it’s better than a mixture of vinegar and water. However, make sure to rub the oil so that wood absorbs it, else it may leave a slick coating on wood. Like vinegar, it is equally safe, as it has no chemicals that could harm anybody in the family nor it is injurious to your hands.

Once you have a clean floor, measures should be taken to keep it that way. Make use of area rugs and don’t forget to keep large mats near the main entrance to the house to prevent entry of dust and dirt. Using adhesive felt pads at the bottom of furniture helps preventing the scratching of floors as you shift any piece of furniture.