Category — Cleaning Tips

The call came unexpectedly. It was my mother. She was in a panic about the need to clean year’s worth of dirt off the windows on her house. “I love ll the views,” she said, “but I don’t want to spend the whole ay cleaning windows.” No problem, I told her. In “Name that Tune” fashion, I told her how she could clean windows with not five, not four, but only three window-cleaning tools — and do it faster than she ever thought possible. “This, I want to hear,” she said.

Outdated methods

Too often, window cleaning turns into a dreaded chore. That’s because until now we’ve cleaned with everything from old shirts, discarded towels, newspaper, and pallets of paper towels. If that’s what I had to work with, I’d board up my windows. But, clean windows aren’t out of your reach.

The problem with windows is that we think we need gallons of specially formulated window spray to get them clean. After only ten minutes of spraying and pumping, you’ll wind up with kung-fu grip and a huge bill for all that spray. But with a small investment in a car window sponge and squeegee cleaning stick, some ammonia, and a few microfiber cloths, you can clean your windows in no time.

Microfiber is my absolute, hands-down favorite cleaning cloth – for everything. Whether it’s dusting, cleaning shiny surfaces like granite, glass-topped cooking surfaces, or polishing stainless, nothing cleans as well as microfiber. Look for microfiber cleaning cloths in the automotive sections of dollar stores, megamarts, or variety stores. These cloths will leave your windows completely streak-free and won’t deposit lint on them or give you blackened hands like newspaper does. Simply put, if you don’t use microfiber, you’ll wipe those windows until your arm wants to fall off, leaving you feeling like the Venus di Milo.

The recipe

To clean your windows, fill a bucket with water and then follow the instructions on your favorite bottle of sudsy ammonia to make your cleaner. A whole bottle of ammonia costs about a dollar and will make gallons of cleaner, making it an economical choice. Or, you can do what I do and simply add a quarter cup of sudsy ammonia to a gallon bucket of water. (Sudsy ammonia has a little bit of detergent that helps make the dirt come off easier.) Put in your squeegee and get the sponge wet with the ammonia water. Scrub the windows with the sponge, squeegee off the excess water, and polish dry with a microfiber cloth. Bada bing, bada boom, you’re done.

Ah, that’s great for the outside windows, but what about the inside windows, you ask? Dampen a microfiber cloth with your ammonia water and wring it out. Wipe the inside windows with the wet cloth and follow with the dry cloth. Voila! You’re finished again in nothing flat.

The phone rings. It’s Mom, singing my name. Her arms are still moveable she’s happy to report, and her hands aren’t in a frozen death grip from all the squirting of window cleaner and she’s finished with the inside and outside windows in under two hours. Now that’s a job well done and done, well, fast. Every carpenter will tell you that any job is easier when you have the right tools – and that’s true for window cleaning too.

Until next time, make your living space more beautiful with sparkling windows.

Tile floors are wonderful. They’re easy to keep clean, they’re durable and tough, and they look good for a long, long time. There is only one drawback: grout. In short, grout is tile’s Achilles heel. When tile floors don’t look good it’s usually because the grout has become stained. So, can you revive your grout once it’s gone bad? Sure, you can.

Most of the time grout becomes stained because it was either not properly sealed with a grout sealant when the tile was put down or because the sealant has worn off with time. Often tile is set and no seal is ever applied. Many homeowners are also unaware that grout needs to be sealed. Fortunately, there are some new grouts with sealant already in the mix, eliminating the need for the very tedious job of sealing the grout once the tile is set.

Oxygenate grout

If your floors look dirty because the tile grout is stained, you have some cleaning options. The first option is to clean the tile yourself by damp mopping with a bleach alternative, such as Oxiclean. Make a solution of two gallons of hot water with one cup of oxygen powder. Make sure the powder dissolves completely and then mop as usual. I like this option because oxygen bleaches don’t have fumes like chlorine bleach does and they aren’t as risky with carpeting, fabrics, or pets. If that doesn’t work, apply the mix with a long-handled plastic bristle deck brush. The extra brushing action will often do the job without making you get on your hands and knees to scrub.

Bleach with caution

If the grout still looks dirty, try wet mopping with chlorine bleach. Make a solution of two gallons of hot water and one tablespoon of liquid dish soap. Add one cup of liquid bleach and mix. Mop the floors with the bleach solution being very careful not to get any of the solution on carpeting or fabrics.

Go pro

If your grout still looks bad, this brings us to the second option: professional cleaning. Because many people have built houses in the past ten years and are using more tile, and because more and more tile goes unsealed, the need for grout cleaning has become clear. Luckily some carpet cleaning services, such as Stanley Steemer, now offer tile grout cleaning in addition to regular carpet cleaning services. They can also add a sealant during the cleaning process that will help keep your grout clean for a longer time.

Once you’ve gotten the grout looking good again, it’s worth it to take steps to keep the grout from getting dirty again. This would include sealing the grout with a sealer (available at your home center and tile stores) and placing area rugs at areas such as entryways, hallways, sinks, stoves, bathrooms and anywhere there’s a lot of traffic and opportunity for dirt.

Tile floors are wonderfully convenient and easy to maintain. A quick sweep and they’re clean. But, when the grout gets dirty, tile floors get ugly. Try the cleaning steps above and see if you don’t notice a difference in the way your grout looks. And, if not, there’s always the option of hiring a service to clean it for you – and sealing it, too. Either way, though, do take the time and seal your tile after cleaning. Check with your local tile company or home center for sealants or for help with sealing. Sealing it is the only way you can ensure the grout in your tile floors looks good for a long, long time.

To get out carpet stains of specific types, you need to learn the specific steps for those stains. However, there are some general rules for getting out any stains, and some things to try before you get too technical in your efforts. Taking these simple steps may get many things out without the need to get out a specific stain removal guide.

Stain Removal Rule Number One

The most important point is to prevent spills from becoming stains. In fact, until they are more permanent, carpet cleaners refer to them as “spots,” which are generally easily removed, rather than “stains,” which require some special procedures. Rule number one then, is: Act Fast. The longer you wait after something spills on or marks your carpet, the more permanent or difficult to remove it becomes.

Also, don’t believe that there are “stain-proof” carpets. Such a thing has not yet been invented. Many modern carpets are very stain-resistant, but this is not the same a stain-proof. Generally, this just means that the stain will take lopnger to set, so you have more time to get the spill or mark cleaned up.

To Get Out Carpet Stains

Don’t rub stains or spills into a carpet. You’ll only make it worse. You want to blot it up. This means using white paper towels or a clean white cotton cloth and pushing it straight down on the spot to soak it up. This is the way you get out liquid carpet stains or spills.

With semi-solids, such as peanut butter or jello, you should first scoop up any excess carefully with a spoon. What if you find the spill hours (or days) later, and it has dried and hardened? Break it up and vaccuum first. At this point, whether you have blotted, scooped or vaccuumed, it is time to clean up the remaining spot.

Usually, this involves using a liquid solvent (cleaning solution) of some sort to loosen the carpet stain and allow more blotting of it. Try water first, before you move on to other solvents. Water is the universal solvent, the safest to use on almost any stain. If water doesn’t work, then you’ll want to get out that stain removal guide and choose a solvent acording to what kind of stain it is.

Whatever solvent you use, here is the basic routine:

Apply the solvent to a clean white cotton cloth and work it into the stain. Start from the outside of the spot and work your way in, to prevent spreading the stain to the surrounding carpet. Extract the solvent by blotting it up, then rinse with a little water and blot that up.

Repeat the process until the spot is either clean or no more stain is being extracted. You can test this by pressing a clean part of the cloth into the stain to see if there still is some transfer. If so, keep cleaning.

Always extract solvents completely. Some solvents, especially the stronger carpet-cleaning solutions, can damage the carpet and even remove the color from the fibers if not completely removed. Blot it up, rinse it and blot up the rinse water, and rinse again.

If you have a shop-vac, use it to get out carpet stains. It can extract the solvent and water quickly, allowing you to more quickly repeat the process. This not only makes it more likely that you’ll fully complete the process, but it also is potentially less damaging to the carpet than a cloth might be.

Finally, when you have gotten out as much of the carpet stain as is possible, dry the area as quickly as you can. You can put some plain white paper towels over the spot with some weight on them to get the last of the moisture out, or you can place a fan where it will blow on the spot for a couple hours. Fast drying prevents any remain stain that is deep down in the fibers from wicking up to the surface where it could become visible again.