Cleaning Tips And Tools
Upholstery Cleaning Tips & Guidelines
July 7, 2011 | 
Author Article by Sarah Simmons
Furniture can be very expensive – especially if it’s upholstered. If you have a chair, loveseat or sofa that’s dirty, don’t just resign yourself to buying a slipcover to hide all the stains. By cleaning the upholstery carefully and with the proper techniques, you can keep your upholstered furniture looking brand new. Read on for upholstery cleaning tips and guidelines.
You want your home to always look its cleanest, but that can seem like an insurmountable task when family and friends are constantly spilling food and drinks on the sofa, putting their dirty shoes on your ottoman, or wearing-and-tearing your loveseat. It isn’t impossible to keep your upholstered furniture clean between professional carpet cleanings, however.
Check the Fabric
The first step in cleaning any furniture (or any carpet or piece of clothing) is to check what kind of fabric it’s made from. If it’s made from a synthetic fabric such as polyester, nylon, or acrylic, it should be safe to clean. However, if the fabric is a natural fabric or synthetic/natural blend, such as poly/cotton, you will want to do a spot test first. This means testing a small hidden patch of the fabric first (such as the backside of a cushion) to ensure whatever type of cleaning product or technique you will be using doesn’t bleach, smear, or ruin the fabric. If the fabric of your furniture is made of more than 50% cotton, professional upholstery cleaning may be your best bet – especially if you are dealing with an especially large stain or all-over filth.
Act Fast
The easiest stains to clean are those that are treated while they are still fresh, so it’s important to act fast when cleaning your upholstery. The longer you leave a stain to sit, the harder it will be to remove. Remember that moisture is not your friend when cleaning carpet or upholstery, so use as little water or cleaner as possible for the best results. Baby wipes or sanitary wipes are often the best tool for cleaning stains because they offer just the right amount of water and soap and evaporate quickly.
Vacuum Regularly
As much as you might hate vacuuming, it’s important to vacuum the cushions and backs of your furniture on a regular basis. Use a soft brush that’s safe for use on fabrics to remove loose soil; your vacuum cleaner may also come with special upholstery attachments that make it easy to reach small corners and creases in furniture. Vacuuming regularly will reduce overall grime and soiling of your upholstered furniture and is especially beneficial if you have animals or someone in your household has allergies.
Oil and Grease Stains
You may be saying you don’t have oil or grease stains, but check again. Your monthly movie night may be leaving greasy butter stains all over your furniture. For oil and grease stains sprinkle salt, baby powder, or cornstarch on the spot as soon as you discover the stain, and rub it in carefully to absorb as much of the grease as possible. Once dry, brush off the grease and powder (into a dustpan) and wipe with a damp cloth.
Ink Stains
We’ve all had a pen in our pockets burst or mark the sofa or chair we’re sitting on, but how do you remove the ink? Spray hairspray onto a clean towel and dab at the stain. Dry and next blot the stain with a towel dipped in rubbing alcohol. Next dry and apply acetone or nail polish remover with another clean towel. If the stain still remains, blot it with a clean towel and spirits of turpentine.
There are many other kinds of stains obviously, but grease and ink stains are the hardest to remove. Just remember the key with cleaning upholstered furniture is choosing the appropriate type of cleaning method. For example, cleaning a store-bought chair from 2005 is much different than cleaning a hand-embroidered antique sofa. Always check the fabric, and if you have any doubts about cleaning a particular piece of furniture, don’t hesitate to call your local carpet cleaning company.
Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning of Houston (http://www.oxifresh.com/tx/harris/houston-carpet-cleaning/) is one of the leading Houston carpet cleaners on the market today. Their innovative products and technology continue to set the standard, making them a very popular for upholstery cleaning and carpet cleaning in Houston.
Bedroom Spring Cleaning Tips and a Checklist
Article by Kenneth Mccormick
When you think about spring cleaning you probably imagine the big jobs. You think about cleaning the kitchen. Maybe you visualize the closets or your basement. Perhaps the garage is on your list. Most people don’t think about their bedroom. However, you spend a lot of time in your bedroom. A clean bedroom means better sleep. It means a cleaner home. And the good news is, it’s one of the easier rooms to spring clean.
Here’s a quick checklist and some expert tips to help you get started.
* Clean ceiling fan.
* Using your vacuum cleaner extension, vacuum corners of the room from the ceiling down.
* Dust all furniture.
* Dust lamps and bulbs. Be careful to not get cleaner on light bulbs. It’ll make them burn out more quickly.
* Use a soft cloth and furniture polish on all bedroom furniture.
* Remove curtains and wash according to instructions. If you have blinds or shutters, dust/wash with a damp cloth
* Vacuum floor. If you have a steam cleaner, steam clean the carpets.
* If you have hardwood or tile flooring, sweep then mop the floors.
* Change your linens. Spring is the perfect time to put on lighter linens. Replace the flannel with a light weight cotton. Change the bedspread to a lighter, more spring like color or texture.
* Flip your mattress. Vacuum your mattress.
* Clean under your bed. Move it and vacuum underneath it too.
* Clean your windows and mirrors.
* Open your windows and clean the tracks.
* Using your vacuum cleaner attachment, vacuum heating vents/radiators.
* With a clean damp cloth and a bucket of soapy water, wash any marks off of your walls.
* Clean out your drawers/closet. Using the four container method clean out your closet. This is a quick process if you do it twice a year. The four container method is as follows: Keep, sell, donate, trash. If you haven’t worn something in a year or more it needs to go.
* Dust your shoes if they’re not tucked away in storage containers.
Tips
1. Group like tasks. For example, when you’re dusting, dust everything. When vacuuming, vacuum everything from ceiling to floor.
2. Clean your closet last.
3. Make it fun. Listen to music. Open the curtains and/or windows to let the light and fresh air in. Reward yourself for a job well done.
4. Set a time limit. Give yourself an hour to accomplish your bedroom spring cleaning.
5. Gather your tools and cleaners in advance. This saves you time.
Your bedroom is a great place to start your spring cleaning. It doesn’t take long. It’s fairly easy and you’ll feel like you’ve accomplished something. It’ll help you get in the cleaning mood and ready to tackle the rest of your home.
We pride ourselves on the respect that we show to your house and your belongings. Who desires to employ a residence window cleaner that will wear dirty shoes in their home or drip dirty water on the carpet? We at A Far better View normally wears booties over our shoes inside your property and we often use drop cloths under every single window we wash (this is only portion of what makes us your hom
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Spring Cleaning Tips, and Vacuums
Article by jn
Spring Cleaning Tips, and Vacuums
Spring cleaning doesn’t need to be in the springtime, but anytime is a
great time! Especially during the summer months where many young adults
are moving in and out of apartments and to colleges, cleaning up is an
excellent solution to start the school year right. Make sure that you
have the right cleaning tools, especially a vacuum!
Vacuums are Versatile
Vacuums offer you a wide range of cleaning implements and accessories
that can tackle many different cleaning tasks. They are also a great
investment for your home in the following years to come if maintained
properly. A great vacuum can make or break a good cleaning experience,
so choose wisely! If you are not sure what kind of vacuum is best for
you, consult this
vacuum buying
guide to assist you.
Dusting
Vacuum cleaners often have extension wands that can help you
achieve great results.
While dusting, start from the top and finish at the bottom.
When you dust walls, you can clean it using a canister vacuum.
While dusting blinds, use an nozzle attachment and wrap it with
a dust cloth to collect excess dust.
Vacuum cleaners are excellent for dusting inside cabinets, as
they do not disturb glass and china.
Hard Floor Surfaces
Steam
vacuums and hard floor vacuums are excellent solutions to dusting, cleaning,
and polishing your floors.
The nemeses of hard floors are grit and dust, which sand down
the gloss and integrity of your floors. Place a dirt mat by the door
to help reduce wear and tear.
If you have spilled candle wax on your floor, place a paper bag
and lightly iron over.
If there is spilled gum on the floor, ice it until it crumbles
off.
Steel wool at different densities can help you rub out stains on
your wood surfaces.
Remember to wax wooden or vinyl floors periodically to keep it
in good shape.
Carpets
Upright
vacuums provide a wide cleaning path and easy use for large
carpeted areas.
If wax had spilled over carpet, take a soft cloth like cotton
flannel and lightly iron over it to absorb the wax.
Greasy stains can be lifted with an aerosol shaving cream. Use a
hair dryer to heat and speed dry, then vacuum over.
You could also sprinkle a stain with baking soda, cornstarch, or
talcum powder. Leave for 8 hours and vacuum.
Hydrogen peroxide helps remove blood stains from fibers.
Baking powder on carpet will absorb odors before vacuuming.
Too much pet hair? A vacuum specifically
designed for pets is a great tool to help you pick up their shed
hair.
Occasionally refresh your carpet by shampooing them. You can use
carpet
shampooers to achieve such results.
Handheld Vacuums
Handheld
vacuums are great to use for all sorts of applications.
Consider a litter box and a cat that tracks litter everywhere.
Spilt cereal or other items can be easy vacuumed and retrieved in
bagless handheld vacuums.
Have a pet? There are handheld vacuums that can pick up pet hair
from your couch or sofa.
Furniture
Take an anti-static dryer sheet and rub it over your fabric
furniture to magnetically attract all loose hairs.
Vacuuming your furniture with a
HEPA vacuum
can help reduce symptoms of allergies or asthma, and go slowly!
The vacuum crevice tool will help vacuum corners and edges
otherwise hidden by furniture.
Dust brushes work well over leather furniture.
Furniture should be vacuumed weekly for best results.
Plan Your Path
When doing a complete cleaning (including disposing of
unnecessary items) start with your home office. Remember to recycle
what you can!
Then tackle the bathroom and kitchen. Throw out any spoiled
food. Cleaning out your fridge with a handheld
steam cleaner
would make it exceptionally easy to do.
The bedrooms are often next, because you can create a pile of
clothes that can be donated to the local charity. You could also
start running the laundry while you clean.
Living rooms are last, as they are the largest rooms.
Vacuum cleaners will be
the main tool of choice to help you clean this room to peak
presentation.
Remember to devote at least an hour to cleaning your home. Don’t
worry if you don’t get it done in time, because there will be plenty
more opportunities to keep your home tidy and neat!
JN is a content writer that enjoys long walks on beaches, candlelit dinners, and owns two lovely tabby cats. She longs to have a home by an open park to play fetch and frisbee with a border collie.
Cleaning Tips And Tools
Keeping up with daily household chores can be a daunting and tiresome task to do. However, to achieve the great look of your home, you need to complete occasional deep clean, and general cleaning. You cannot do these tasks all by yourself, what you have to do is to get every member in your family participate. It is easy to enjoy a clean and neat home, but maintaining it as clean as possible all the time can be crucial. Give everyone a role to perform during the cleaning session. Even young ones can get involved by wiping out dirt from small space or helping an older family member clean larger space. Also, if you allow a family member to choose one task to accomplish, it will lessen the workload for the parents as the day ends. Cleaning the entire home does not end the chore, it is also entails a great deal of patience when dealing with home tools and equipments.
Take into account the kind of tools when cleaning them. Each tool has its distinct part which means you need different cleaning approach.
Before you sink into the floods of household chores, you need to plan the entire task you will have to do. Your planning will include the lists of supplies and other important tools in cleaning your house. Always make it to the point that everything is in their proper place. Try to make arrangement of the things you need to have. If you fail to do so, you might end up fixing the vacuum in the entire day. You may consider getting a garbage bag around the house with you rather than making repeated trip to and fro. You also need to use the appropriate cleaning materials that will make the job easier.
Once you are finished in cleaning up all the mess, you may proceed on the upper level of the room and make it towards the ground floor .
Remove all the unnecessary dirt in all the corners of the room as well as the spider webs. After that, you may start cleaning the shelves starting on its peak. In this manner, all the dirt and dusts will eventually fall down on the floor where it will be easier for you to vacuum. Another tip in cleaning your room is to clean one room at a time. One you are finished with the first room, you will get to experience a fulfillment in your cleaning task.Check all the headboards of your children’s bedroom sets to make sure if this will lasts for a long time.
A clean home is like a dream paradise that will always looks accommodating and inviting. Each home is a highly personal belonging, how you take care of it is completely up to you. If you routinely clean your house, it will appear as good as new all the time. It makes you feel good about yourself when your house is tidy and clean. More importantly, as much as hygiene is concerned, you must maintain a home that is free from disease-causing dirt and microorganisms. It should be conducive to health maintenance and health restoration.
Ethan Mark Henkel enjoys writing for Home and Bedroom Furniture which sells Simmons Beautyrest World Class and Discount Bar Stools as well as a host of additional products.