Let’s Admit it, we have no matter how well we take care of our vehicles, our lovely city, Calgary, takes a toll on them, and from time to time, they drip oil all over our lovely clean driveways. Then you are stuck staring at a dirty oil stain, on your fresh driveway. The Calgary snow hides it in the winter, but then, as the spring comes, you see it again. House cleaning services should extend past the interior walls of the home. Our cleaning company recommends you add oil stain cleaning to your spring clean routine, and here’s 3 easy methods to clean the oil off your driveway.
Fun Fact! The Cleaning team from the best Calgary cleaning company, wanted to pass along a life hack for our Calgary friends. Try using coca Cola on the stain. Just dump it on, let it sit, and rinse off. Works great in a pinch, and on a budget
Cleaning oil off Driveway: Cleaning supplies you may need
Small stains:
A detergent with a bucket
Fresh water
And a stiff bristle brush
For small, hard to remove and older stains: poultice method is recommended
Clean kitty litter
Basic acetone or paint thinner
Clean sheet of plastic just bigger than your stain
Stiff bristle brush
Bigger stains:
Generic degreaser or microbial cleaner
A bucket or hose for water
Stiff bristle brush
First, start by looking at the oil stain, and sizing it up. The size of the oil stain on your driveway will be a good indicator of what method you can use to clean the oil off.
Small oil stain on the driveway: Pour the cleaning detergent of choice on top of the oil stain, and let this sit for 10 minutes. This will allow the detergent to start breaking up the oil stain, and do some of the hard work for you. While that’s sitting, fill up the bucket with very hot water. Be careful not to burn yourself. After 10 minutes has passed, use the stiff bristle brush and hot water, and vigorously scrub clean the oil stained area. You may have to repeat the process a few times, to get a truly clean driveway.
Oil stains On the Driveway: How to Clean
For medium oil stains on the driveway: Start with mixing your poultice. This can be created when you mix your absorbing material, like kitty litter or garage sawdust, with your chemical. Together, they will create a paste, and work in unison to remove the oil stain. To understand how this method truly cleans the oil off your driveway, you need to know what each part does. Simply put, the chemical loosens the oil and releases it from the driveway, and the absorbent material, pulls it up and absorbs it within itself. Apply the paste ¼ inch thick all over the stain, and let sit 24 hours. One vital cleaning step not to miss, is to cover the poultice with plastic, so it doesn’t dry pout too fast. After 24 hours, rinse the affected area on the driveway off with a garden hose and some fresh Calgary water.
Outdoor House Cleaning
For large driveway oil stains: Three North Clean recommends using a professional enzyme/ microorganism that will actually eat away the oil. We use this same concept for kitchen odours, and smoke damaged homes in Calgary. With the super cold winters people tent to smoke inside more, and cleaning smoke of walls is a nightmare, unless you hire a professional cleaning company like us. Applying the same methodology to your driveway, you can purchase a microorganism product from amazon, like Terminator HSD. You can use, any microbial concrete cleaner, as a matter in fact. Just be sure to follow the specific cleaning instruction on the bottle, as they will vary cleaning agent to cleaning agent.
Garbage disposal cleaning is not hard. Once we explain a few basics to you, its a task you can frequently, and cost-effectively do.
Garbage disposals are something they didn’t teach you about in home economics or health/nutrition class. Nowadays we all use the internet or word of mouth to learn how to clean certain accessories in our homes. Whether your garbage disposal is stinky or you just want to do your weekly/monthly cleaning of the sink, always remember these steps so as not to damage your garbage disposal.
There are 2 easy steps to cleaning your garbage disposal, and they should be part of your home cleaning routine
“SAFETY ALERT: Never put your hand, or any object, inside the garbage disposal to free up stuck items
Make sure to run your garbage disposal with cold running water to ensure all the excess food has been removed before we start cleaning. Always make sure to run water with your garbage disposal so as to get all the food particles out of the sink line, and you don’t burn out your disposal.
For a green cleaning solution, grab some vinegar and freeze 5-6 vinegar ice cubes in your ice cube tray. This is something you can teach your house cleaners to do easily to ensure that your garbage disposal is getting cleaned on a regular basis. Once frozen take the ice cubs and push them into the drain where the garbage disposal is located. Turn on your hot water and then your garbage disposal. Run this for a good 1-2 minutes making sure to get all the ice crushed up and melted. Remember to keep your garbage disposal running for about 15 seconds after the ice is all chewed up by the disposal and all unwanted or missed food particles are gone.
The last step is to get rid of the vinegar smell and keep your sink smelling fresh and clean. Take a lemon and cut it into slices. Cut those slices into halves until you have a bunch of half-moon shapes. Make sure to take out all the seeds so as not to put extra stress on the garburator motor. Take all the pieces and push them into the garbage disposal. Turn on the cold water and the garbage disposal and run for 1-2 minutes (or until all the lemon pieces are gone). Again make sure to run the disposal for about 15 seconds so as to make sure all the food particles are gone. This will get the disposal smelling good after the vinegar smell and finish off the cleaning job.
Garbage Disposal Cleaning
Alternatively, you can purchase store-bought cleaning solutions for this too. CLR creates a great product that is popular in the maid service industry. It’s a garbage disposal foaming cleaner, and it’s used for every deep clean that’s done.
Calgary Cleaning Companies
Make sure to always keep it local with Calgary cleaning companies when choosing your cleaners and let us know how this worked for you!!
The fight against grime and dirt. Every homeowner’s weekly cleaning challenge. And don’t get us wrong, it’s every cleaning companies daily cleaning challenge. But then your family wants a pet. You adopt a cutie pet from a local Calgary pet shelter, and fall in love. Little did we all think there’s a new cleaning challenge headed our way. Pet hair, pet dander, pet accidents, and so much more. As one of the best cleaning companies in Calgary, we wanted to share with you, from experience, what are the best per hair vacuums to buy. In the following article, we’ll list our top five picks for vacuums to help you tackle that pesky pet hair in your home. We’ve done our research and tested them out, to find you the best vacuums of 2020, each one selected and sorted based on their price, power, ease of use, mobility, versatility and key features.
Let’s take a look at our number one pet hair vacuum pick.
SAFETY ALERT: Let Three North Clean help you with the fight against dog hair and cat hair year round
Cons: Need to occasionally clean soft bristle roll, small dust cup
This is by far our number one pick as one of the best pet hair vacuums, it is the most well-rounded, versatile and affordable vacuum for how powerfully it eliminates pet hair and messes around your home. Some key features of the Shark APEX that help it stand out from the crowd are its DuoClean head and Zero M Self-Cleaning technology. This simply means that it’s great for deep cleaning both shaggy, heavy carpets and smoothly zapping up messes on hard floors. You can be free to move from floor to floor, all while using the tailored bristles on the brush-roll to sort through pet hair to keep your vacuum head clean and free of hair. No scissors required.
Some of the best qualities and features of the Shark APEX are its easy maneuverability with the swivel head while maintaining powerful suction, it’s lift-away canister for getting under couches and chairs, and LED lights to spot those hard to see messes. It even has a fully sealed canister with a HEPA filter to keep dust and dander under control. This is especially helpful if you have sensitivities or allergies.
Purchase includes a 12” Crevice tool for those hard-to-reach places by the food bowl or dog bed, an upholstery tool for couches and chairs, as well as an amazingly powerful motorized pet power brush for those stuck on hairs and stairs. Remember to spray an anti-static carpet product on your carpets and furniture to make your pet hair removal process a breeze.
As you can see, we couldn’t speak more highly of this great vacuum. If you’re looking for an alternative crowd favorite for a slightly cheaper price, check out the Shark Rotator Lift Away. Beware, there are no LED lights though!
Similar to our Top Pick, we have another Shark brand vacuum, the Shark Navigator. I promise we aren’t being paid for this article!
The Navigator is definitely the best vacuum for the cheapest price. It has many similar benefits and features to the Shark APEX, but also has a few key differences. Firstly, there is no DuoClean, so the soft bristle brush isn’t there to help be more gentle on hardwood, and it’s not as effective at picking up different sized messes on hard, and bumpy or textured, floors compared to the APEX. You may have to sweep over the same spots a couple of times since it also has reduced suction. However, keep in mind that these differences are minimal. So if you’re looking for the best pet hair vacuums, and on a budget, this also puts less of a dent in your wallet, the Navigator just might be your new best friend!
P.S. it doesn’t have the LED lights either! We personally find the lights to be super handy while cleaning up tough to see crumbs and dust, so we couldn’t go without it. But we’ll let you be the maker of your own purchasing decisions.
Our next pick is the Dyson V11 Absolute. This vacuum is a beautiful work of art, making cleaning your house feel like less of a chore and more of a blissful hobby. The smoothness and lightweight feel of using the V11 Absolute is worth the hefty price tag, as it’s also extremely unforgiving on the largest of messes. Whether it’s fluffy, clumpy pet hair in your carpets or crushed Cheerios and Fruit Loops all over the kitchen floor, the V11 will absolutely destroy anything it comes across. It’s three cleaning modes and automated power means it automatically adapts its power settings across all floor types, efficiently saving you battery to maximize its astounding 60-min run time. That is so much power in such a tiny package.
Cons: Needs bags, separate attachment for hardwood floors
Next up is the Miele Complete C3 Cat & Dog Powerline vacuum. This vacuum is both pricey and powerful, but unlike its pricey counterpart, the Dyson V11, it’s heavy-duty and corded, and meant for all messes and built to last. The life span of this vacuum is well tested, and with proper maintenance of the vacuum head to free it of hairs and replacing bags and filters, it’s predicted to last you up to 20 years! It is well worth the money if you’re willing to spend your hard-earned cash to invest in this vacuum and its accessories.
The best feature of the C3 is the noise reduction feature to keep your skittish furry friends feeling safe and comfortable. Its sound-optimized motor and extra insulation provide a quiet clean for the entire family.
The downside to the ease of use of this vacuum is the separate attachment heads for carpets and floors. However, the extremely soft bristles and lack of wheels on the floor attachment will guarantee that your vacuum will take extra good care of your hardwood floors. It’s an especially good vacuum to own if the majority of your home is hardwood, and using the C3 is an extremely comfortable experience. From the sleekly designed handle and long-reaching stick to the smooth tiny wheels and lightweight body, cleaning with a heavy-duty vacuum has never been easier. After your clean, just press the button to automatically rewind the cord, slide the easy lock handle to attach to the body and you’re done.
Price: $899.99
Last But Not Least: Our Final Pick For a Carpet Pet Hair Vacuum
Pros: Automated, dual rubber rolls for carpets and floors
Cons: Gets stuck on thick, shag rugs
Our final pick is the future of cleaning. Never has is it been easier to clean with a robot in the house. Some of the coolest features include:
Smart Mapping: The Roomba automatically makes a detailed map of your house after the first few cleans using smart laser technology.
Scheduling and Alexa: Use the minimalist app from Amazon to schedule cleans and spontaneously ask Google to clean your kitchen!
Selective Room Cleaning: Store up to 10 maps and select specific rooms to be cleaned, as well as no-go zones for the Roomba to avoid.
Dual-Rubber Bristles: With two alternate spinning rolls and a varied bristle design, your Roomba will never get tangled in hair, and you don’t need to worry about cleaning up your robot.
Of course, with something this easy to set up and use there have to be some downsides. One of the biggest downsides of the Roomba is after initial mapping, if the docking station or “home base” is moved, it will be unable to reorient itself and identify your floor plan. As well, this robot and hassle-free lifestyle come at a couple of costs: the $750 price tag and the time you have to spend cleaning the shaggy rug your robot keeps getting stuck on.
P.S. If you have the money, splurge to get the Roomba i7+ for a self-cleaning docking station and single bag that allows for almost 3 months of use.
Price: $749.00
Bonus Best Pet Hair Vacuums Tips
Its always best to call in a professional carpet cleaning company to clean up any pet accidents on your carpets, and they will also be able to pull the pet hair and dander out of the carpet and underlay. But you want to do as much preventive carpet care as you can, after your pet has an accident. here are some links to products that will help you keep your carpets safe, until you book your professional local carpet steam cleaning company
That’s it for our review of our top 5 pet hair vacuums for tackling pet hair, and a bonus couple of suggestions for tackling pet urine and feces in your home, should a pet accident occur. We hope this article helped you narrow down your decision on which vacuum suits your needs and helped you find the right one to fit your Calgary house cleaning budget.
At the beginning of this year, we were greeted with headlines and reports of a global health crisis that led to moments of spiraling rationality which prompted stockpiles of toilet paper, bottled water, and non-perishables. In this early period of chaos that has since become our world’s “new normal” many people were quick to discover a sudden lack of cleaning products on the shelves of stores. This unexpected shortage of basic Covid cleaning tools is cause for stress under normal circumstances, but during a growing pandemic that stress was amplified with fears of not being able to adequately protect your family and yourself from an invisible threat. Many questions of what the best ways to prevent the virus started flying and lots of those questions are still out there. We here at Three North Clean are ( our whole cleaning team) here to help you find the best cleaning solutions for you at any time, and in 2020, Covid cleaning is what we are obsessed about.
While the claim of Clorox sprays and Lysol wipes rate of bacteria-killing was an immediate draw for many people in search of an effective way of killing potential virus-carrying bacteria, they very quickly became and continue to be an elusive product to come across in your local supermarket. In an effort to alleviate some of the stress related to finding equal or comparable alternatives to these products we will be discussing various products that will be easier to come across, natural alternatives and how they compare in effectiveness, non-product based ways to ensure a clean home, and the history of how health crisis’ of the past have changed home design in ways that we can learn from for fighting the virus’ of today. With this information, we hope to provide you with the tools that best suit you and your lifestyle for health and wellness through the pandemic as well as maintaining it for preventative care in the future.
SAFETY ALERT: Kick Covid and Coronavirus in the butt, this is how you do Covid cleaning
The branded names mentioned above like Clorox and Lysol provide a sense of comfort because of familiarity; these are names you’ve seen in your home, on the shelves of stores, and in commercials with claims of enormous effective rates. And yes, they are as good as start to Covid cleaning solutions. This level of trust feels key when trying to do your best for your family, but the search for a familiar name led many people to pay hugely exaggerated prices on the secondary market. An alternative to this unnecessary spending (which we know is especially important during
this time of such economic uncertainty) is looking into smaller markets that import products from other countries. Many urban centers have Asian markets that will carry products equivalent to the western brands most North Americans know and trust. A recommendation of mine would be Vinda covid cleaning wipes, an antibacterial wipe with the same 99.9% effectiveness rate that Lysol touts but is also a product that didn’t experience the production shortage known to have happened to North American brands. Broadening your search for lesser-known Covid cleaning brands or products that achieve the same end result can save you time waiting on shipping, money from not having to pay secondary market prices, and allow you to keep your peace of mind knowing you have an equivalent product to keep your home safe and clean without delays.
Another alternative to classic brands is simply mixing your own cleaners. Playing with chemicals is a dangerous game that we do not recommend but simply diluting bleach to various concentrations allows you to create effective cleaners, with disinfection ability approved by the C.D.C (Centre for Disease Control), for an array of tasks around your home. This is a simple and cost-effective way to disinfect many surfaces in your home with only one product.
Ensuring the items we bring home from the grocery are free from dangerous bacteria is a new and daunting task. For metal cans in good condition, our recipe for disinfection is washing them in soapy, warm water followed by a rinse and a dip into a gallon of warm water with one-fifth of a cup of bleach. Allow to air dry and enjoy your canned goods without the fear of contamination. As for things in plastic packaging, wipe down the containers with the same bleach-to-water ratio as above and allow them to air dry. It is not recommended to use bleach or bleach-like cleaning products on porous surfaces such as cardboard or directly onto produce. When looking to disinfect other household surfaces such as countertops, doorknobs, light switches, or other surfaces that won’t absorb water use a solution of one-third a cup of bleach for every one gallon of water. Some other important things to consider when using bleach to disinfect things in your home: Always wear protective equipment such as rubber gloves Ensure airflow, such as using fans or opening windows Check to make sure your bleach has not expired Use a product that contains 5.25-8.25% sodium hypochlorite (this is the active ingredient in bleach). If the percentage is not specified, chose another product.
Allow bleach and water solution to sit on surfaces for a minimum of one minute before wiping to ensure the product has had enough time to disinfect.
Clear the surface of any dirt or debris before spraying or wiping with bleach solution. For the most effective clean, we recommend doing a dry wipe to remove crumbs and dust, washing with soap and warm water, then spraying the surface with your diluted bleach solution and allowing it to sit for one minute before completing a final wipe with water to remove any residual chemicals. The main selling point of all of the cleaners mentioned is their high rate of effectiveness; something at the top of most people’s minds since we’ve all begun to take action against the spread of COVID-19. While this is a massively important part of choosing the best cleaner for your home, another imperative aspect in knowing what will work best for you is being educated on the negative attributes of what you use. Alongside the high rates of germ-killing power, are potential hazards for yourself, your pets and the environment. The corrosive properties of chlorine bleach allow it to damage soft tissue such as eyes, skin, nasal, and throat passages in both humans and animals. While lots of these ill-effects can be mitigated with proper equipment usages such as rubber gloves and ensuring there is adequate airflow such as open windows and fans, the risk of agitation is still there and increases with the presence of children and pets or others who do not know the proper handling of a material with such a potential for damage. As for the environment, the dumping of drainage water with bleach present has been known to cause cancer in wildlife as well as damage ecosystems by killing all of the good forms of bacteria necessary for plant and marine life to thrive. This damage also extends to mammals who drink from contaminated sources.
While the dangers of bleach use are not something to dismiss while Covid cleaning, the decision of deciding how high to rank the importance of negative factors is a personal one that should be weighed alongside the pros and be given special consideration during a pandemic.
Natural Covid Cleaning Products
Something that has been gaining traction in the world of cleaning products during the need for Covid Cleaning is natural cleaners- and not just vinegar for windows or essential oils as air fresheners either. Many of us are familiar with the comfort of the big-name chemicals but aren’t on board with the dangers we spoke about earlier such as the long-term personal and environmental effects these chemicals can have. Some good news is that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published research on the viability of something called Thymol that has the same 99.9% effectiveness rate that created Lysol wipes trustworthy status in the western psyche. Thymol is an aspect of the thyme plant we all know and love for its scent and flavor that has also made its way into many skin care products in recent years for its antibacterial properties without being harsh for sensitive skin. Those antibacterial properties are gentle enough for use on the face, but studies were done by the EPA also show it’s strong enough for use as a medical disinfectant, a fungicide, and virucide (the key to what we’re looking for today). As for the environment, the same study states that Thymol is known to naturally degrade in normal biological processes as well as posing no known risk to human, animal, or plant life. The Canadian government has approved this seemingly wonder extract to be effective against Covid-19 specifically, so if you’re willing to go for a new kid on the grocery store shelf consider trying a cleaning option such as the Seventh Generation* cleaning wipes, which have thymol as their active ingredient, boast the same 99.9% effectiveness rate as harsher chemicals, and come without the guilt and concern of hazardous corrosive agents hanging around you, your family, or the environment.
Non-product-based cleaning strategies
It is easy to see why cleaning products play a key role in protecting your home from The Coronavirus but another line of defense lies in some quick and easy home routines as well as some longer-term strategies that can help ensure a clean home not just visually, but on a bacterial level as well. All of the talk in the world about natural versus non-natural cleaning agents and percentages of effectiveness will only take you so far. Another important factor in keeping your home clean is identifying the areas that these products need to be used on and how you’re going to clean all of these surfaces. A mental “walk-through” of your routine upon entering your house can be a great place to start.
What did you touch while you were out? Did you sanitize your hands and credit card after it touched the same payment pad that everyone else’s cards touched? How many people came in contact with the products you brought home?
This line of thinking can quickly become overwhelming, but rather than creating a vast (and what could easily become semi-ridiculous) cleaning list for every time you leave and bring something new into your home, it could serve you well to make a slightly more pared-down but more methodical checklist. Aside from continually sanitizing your high touchpoints such as doorknobs, light switches, cellphone, and countertops think of what you’re not going to touch again after entering your home. Wiping down all of your keys every time you come and go along with all of the other increased cleaning measures only adds to the stress of pandemic cleaning when you could simply commit to not touching items such as your purse, wallet, or outdoor specific clothing after leaving them in a designated space after entering your home. Decreasing the mental load of all the individual items you need to keep sanitized can help you to focus on doing a great job cleaning the other things around your home you need regularly. Each person’s cleaning routine will be different depending on what your home life looks like. The most important thing is to identify your high-touch zones, such as the bathroom or eating area, where bodily fluids are most at risk for spreading and then make a strategic plan for these spaces that will keep you and your family safe from outside germs as well as each other.
Long Term Cleanliness Solutions Learned from History
Pandemics of the past such as the Spanish Flu in 1918 or Tuberculosis that
gripped America from 1895-1954 and still affects many around the world have led to a lot of home design innovation. Changes in design based on cleanliness have frequently been ignored in more modern homes for design or cost-prohibitive measures but now may be the time to revisit these ideas when searching for a new place to live or starting a renovation.
A fairly simple way to rid your home of bacteria that causes germs is some fresh air and sunshine. Researchers at the University of Oregon proved what Florence Nightingale had been onto (long before 2018 when the research was published) with the idea that it would be beneficial for hospitals to be built to let daylight in. The study found that opening your blinds and letting the sunshine in has almost the same level of germ-killing power as using UV light to sanitize, a well-known and often used form of killing bacteria in water. So next time you’re looking to move, favor a place with a large amount of natural light and the ability to open the windows. Some examples of pandemic design would include non-porous counter surfaces, white subway tile backsplash for the kitchen, a powder room or half-bath at the entryway of the home, as well as radiators designed to overheat. All of these ideas were not created equally, but all were designed to promote not just the appearance of cleanliness in the home but increase ease of cleaning to help people maintain their homes during and following health crisis’.
Subway tile and avoiding wooden countertops are fairly self-explanatory; they allow for easy identification of mess as well as the ability to sanitize the surfaces. The innovation of a half bath upon entry was put in place with ice and milk delivery men in mind as a place to wash before entering your home following being in potentially infected people’s homes. While most of us no longer rely on ice delivery to keep our groceries cold it’s still very beneficial to have a bathroom easily available for people entering your home who can wash up before coming into the main living space. On the less useful for modern life end of the spectrum would be a radiator designed to heat the apartment or home on the coldest day of the year with all of the windows open to allow
for adequate sunlight and fresh air to flow in. A more energy-efficient model of this would be upgrading your living space with an air filtration system so that you don’t need to keep all of your windows open in below-freezing temperatures. Obviously, these strategies for Covid cleaning mentioned are not accessible to everyone but are simply here to suggest some ways in which you can use a health and germ-conscious thought process for future home design decisions.
Wash the dishes, sweep the floor, make the bed, and take out the trash. These are just a few of the everyday chores most of us have accepted as a regular necessity in maintaining a semi-presentable and comfortable living space. But what about the more nitty-gritty bits of your home? You know, the ones that fall into the out of sight, out of mind category that you’d rather just put off until you have to acknowledge them. I’m talking about the missed cleaning spots like invisible specks of oil, bacteria, mold, and dead skin that builds up over time and can end up damaging your belongings, fill your home with allergens and impact your health in the long run.
Today we’re going through my top 7 list of places in your home that might need a little bit of extra attention including various upholstered or otherwise, fabric-covered things, tough spots in the kitchen, and some bathroom bits. We’ll be covering how to get them in their best shape and how often you should be either adding them to your to-do list or calling in a professional to make sure the job gets done correctly.
Missed Cleaning Spots on Fabrics in Your Home and Their Dirty Secrets
Your Mattress
If you’re getting the recommended eight hours of sleep a day, you’re going to be spending one-third of your life on your mattress. This is a large missed cleaning spots area and I’m here to help you keep it at its cleanest regardless of if you’re a bit of a drooler or share a pillow with a few pets.
First things first, buy a regular mattress pad (the kind you just slip over the edges like a fitted sheet) as well as a cover specifically designed to keep bed bugs, dust mites and other highly undesirables out! Nobody wants to think that they’ll become victim to a bed bug infestation, but those things prey on unsuspecting people and don’t discriminate based on how clean you are or what part of town you live in. These covers that go around all six sides of the mattress are also specifically designed to have a tight seal that doesn’t allow for odor-causing bacteria to form within the mattress itself. Rather than a cleaning trick, this is more of a preventative measure that keeps you from having to do the much more extensive (and expensive) cleaning procedures associated with a bed bug infestation. If you chose to heed this warning, also pick up a slip for your box spring and pillowcases to cover all of your bed bug-inviting bases. This tip is especially helpful if you live in multiunit housing as it’s been shown that they can travel between walls, on pipes, or any other way they can to find a new home.
Secondly get a regular mattress cover. This kind you can get nearly anywhere that sells bedding. These are designed to catch the sweat, drool, and dead skin cells that can make their way through your sheets and provide a secondary layer that’s easily washable to ensure these odor-causing bacteria and other bodily fluids don’t make their way to your much more expensive and harder to clean mattress.
If you’re washing your regular bedding once every two weeks as recommended by The Good Housekeeping Institute, throw the mattress cover in every other time along with the regular sheets and pillowcases.
Keeping your home bedbug-free and your mattress free and clear of stains and smells is well worth the extra cost of a couple of types of washable covers.
Rugs and Carpets
No matter how careful you are about taking your shoes off at the door, some dirt and outside germs are bound to make their way into your house and find a home in your carpets and rugs. Regular vacuuming is the tried and true surface-level way of keeping your floor dirt and grime free, but when it comes to deep stain removal, you’ll need to call in a professional carpet cleaning company. If you’re in Calgary, feel free to contact Three-North Cleaning to get an estimate and book an appointment.
With many options on the market, you may be tempted to go for the less expensive route of buying your own mini-unit or renting something from the grocery store. We recommend against this as these units don’t get up to the same temperature and aren’t as powerful as the ones, we as a professional cleaning company with portable or truck-based units can provide.
The higher temperatures guarantee a deeper clean that kills germs that cause long-lasting odors and increased power allows us to remove as much of the water and cleaning solution from the carpet as possible. This increases the quality of the clean and stain removing ability, dries the floors at a much faster rate, and allows you to put your furniture back in its place and get back to regular life sooner than rental units would be able to accommodate. Carpet steam cleaning ensures you get the missed cleaning spots out of your rugs and carpets
Curtains
In cold climates like those all across Canada, many people turn to a thick set of curtains to block out any drafts that come in from their windows, especially if you have the unfortunate luck of only having a single pane of glass separating you from the outside. An effect of this is that the fabric will slowly absorb any moisture that collects on the inside of the glass as a result of condensation from snow and rain and because of air temperature differences, as explained by professional curtain cleaners here. This water carries bacteria from the air and is the cause of mildew buildup in your curtains.
To avoid living in mildew filled home which can cause congestion, eye irritation, and difficulty breathing, wash your curtains in your regular washing machine twice yearly with your regular detergent, but only if you have ample drying space as most curtains are not made from a fabric that will stand up to the heat of traditional dryers. If not, I would recommend bringing them into the dry cleaners at the same frequency mentioned above.
There are also steps you can take to slow the likelihood of mildew growing on the curtains, to begin with. These include hanging your curtains as far away from the window as possible in order to reduce direct contact with the condensation as well as choosing more breathable fabrics that won’t trap as much moisture as synthetics typically used in blackout curtains. If the problem is acute, investing in a dehumidifier will drastically slow the potential of mildew growth, to begin with.
Upholstered Furniture
Pets and children sometimes make a mess in hidden spots, so it’s easier to have missed cleaning spots with kids and pets around. In homes with pets or children, the idea of getting a sofa or armchair in a pattern to camouflage stains or buying a cover with the intention of being able to easily wash away any food or dirt that makes its way onto it may seem like nearly foolproof plan. Unfortunately, what neither of these methods takes into consideration are the bacteria particles that make their way deep into the fabric of the couch and the odors that they have the potential to cause.
To keep your furniture looking and smelling its best, regular maintenance of vacuuming away any crumbs and spot cleaning when stains arise is a great place to start. The upholstery experts at Delta ChemDry recommend a deep, professional clean once to twice a year in order to eliminate severely saturated allergens and bacterial matter.
While there is no true equivalent to the power and drying ability of a professional unit, if you’d like to reduce the frequency of having to pay for a company to do the dirty work you should look into at-home steaming units, these will reach a high enough temperature to kill most of the germs living just below the surface of your furniture’s fabric. Here CNN does an excellent job detailing all of the places throughout your home that steam cleaning can benefit, including your furniture.
Individually, vacuuming, spot cleaning, having a washable cover, or steam cleaning are not enough to keep allergens from living within your upholstery or to stop bacteria from creating odors within them; but when used together in combination with a semi-regular professional servicing, you can feel confident that your furniture is in tip-top condition and cleanliness.
Keeping the Kitchen Clean: Are You Ignoring Your Missed Cleaning Spots?
The Oven
Missed cleaning spots are not always hidden. Many times they are in plain sight, but just a lot of work to clean. Most modern ovens (and even some on the older end) come with a built-in “self-cleaning” function. These work by either blasting incredibly high heat for an extended period of time or by using the power of steam to loosen hard to get cooked on food, with the intention of saving you time on your hands and knees scrubbing away at the built-up grime. The intention of these functions is for you to be then left with the easy task of wiping down the interior of the oven with a damp rag to see the filth free shine.
These functions also have some downsides. Models that use the high heat method, will lock the door and run the oven for hours at temperatures ranging from 900 to 1000 degrees Fahrenheit. This has been known to release carbon monoxide into the air as well as being a sure way to increase your energy bill. Steam cycles will usually require you to add a cup of water to the bottom of the oven before allowing it to run at a much cooler 250 degrees Fahrenheit for about two hours. The downside to this method is that it often only works to loosen food debris on the bottom and lower sides of the walls, leaving you with some areas that will still require scrubbing.
For people with older styles of ovens or ones where these functions no longer work you are left with using the strong, abrasive products that will require some scrubbing. While many of these products vary greatly between how long you need to leave them and if you need to turn the oven on for them to work or not, they all have one thing in common: they are very intense on both your oven and your senses and will require a good set of gloves, ventilation, and a mask if you have access to one.
Oven maintenance is clearly not the easiest task on this list, but it is one of the most important. Without proper cleaning measures you’re leaving the door open to the danger of a grease fire and on the lower, but still the undesirable end of risk, old food spills smoking every time you turn on the oven. This will result in having to deal with the smell of smoke as well as whatever you’re cooking or baking taking on the scent of burnt food.
To avoid this becoming a big, tedious task we recommend using whatever method works for you once every three months. This will reduce the dangers of having a buildup of food and grease as well as make it into a smaller job each time you do it.
The Refrigerator
One of the easiest to hide messes are the ones that live inside your fridge; just close the door and don’t think about it until your next snack break. Much to our dismay, an unkept refrigerator can not only cost you a lot of money in the long run. To keep your fridge looking and working its best, we recommend you follow these steps once a month.
Refrigeration is known to slow but not stop the breakdown of food, which is what causes it to rot. This means that when a carton of strawberries goes ignored for too long and some juices leak out into the produce drawer that juice will continue to grow bacteria. Mix this situation with a few other long-forgotten fruits and vegetables and you’ve created a melting pot of germs inside your fridge. When airborne, these germs have the ability to jump from different foods, causing what was once fresh to rot more quickly.
Eating your fresh foods quickly after purchase and regularly cleaning all of the components of your fridge with hot soap and water, followed by sanitizing will drastically reduce the potential for foods spoiling before their time.
What is Missed When Cleaning In the Bathroom
Bathtub and Shower Floors
In a dream world, the bathtub floor would simply be cleaned by the washing away of soap from your body. To my chagrin, this is not the case. Bathtub floors have been found to have up to 1,000 bacteria per square inch. These bacteria can cause mold growth, stain your grout as well as being the source of foot fungi which cause infected toenails or athletes’ feet.
As a preventative measure, we recommend that you take one minute after each shower to wipe down the walls and floors with a clean microfiber cloth. Since bacteria love damp environments this will drastically cut down on their ability to make your shower their home. Following this key step, the next thing to do is getting yourself into a weekly cleaning routine. The shower can seem like a daunting task, with many nooks and crannies waiting for you to scrub, but if you keep up with a regular sanitizing schedule the time commitment and the number of gross things you have to see and touch will be dramatically cut down.
To start, make sure you remove anything that covers the surface of the tub or shower floor including non-slip mats and drains stoppers. Giving your bathmat the same care as your bathtub floor is key in reducing the number of bacteria your feet will be exposed to. You’ll want to be sure you’re prepared to tackle physical debris such as loose hairs, build-up of soaps, and any bits that made their way off your body but not down the drain by having hot soapy water and a scrub brush. After you have cleared away the dirt, it’s time to sanitize. Many products on the market are designed to tackle shower-specific problems such as water stains, grout lines, and soap build-up. There are many options to chose from with a wide range of natural to harsher chemical makeups. As long as you make sure the product has a sanitizing agent such as chlorine, vinegar, or hypochlorite’s your shower will be well taken care of. Using known sanitizing agents is the only way you can be certain that the source of the bacteria has been irreversibly killed.
There’s a lot of cleaning hot spots around the house that are easier to ignore than tackle head-on. Hopefully, this list of a few places that are worth giving a little bit more attention to helps you to prioritize the parts of your home that will keep you and your family healthy as well as preserving the life of your belongings.
If there’s no time in the schedule to check these missed cleaning spots and tasks off the list be sure to check out the Three North Cleans website if you’re in Calgary. We’ve got you covered for your overall house and carpet cleaning needs.
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