Contents
General cleaning of the apartment: from A to Z
Under the spring rays of the sun, the house should sparkle with cleanliness. And it doesn’t matter whose hands will achieve this effect – with your own hands or a whole regiment from a cleaning company will come to you. The main thing is to know for sure that everything is being done correctly. We guarantee: no material will be harmed when using our advice.
In order!
It is recommended to start cleaning by washing windows: glass, frames, mosquito nets and window sills. Then you should clean the ceilings, chandeliers and walls, wiping the sockets and switches in parallel. In general, the trajectory is from top to bottom.
Be especially careful when cleaning technically complex devices – TVs, speakers, players, etc. The cloth for cleaning must be soft and dry, as any liquid getting inside, for example, a TV, is very dangerous.
Feather accessories are best cleaned of dust with a simple shake. You can also try vacuuming them from a long distance. Bone objects, graphics and cardboard products are cleaned only with a dry soft microfiber cloth.
Fragile world
General cleaning of the apartment
Even if the porcelain or crystal bears the sign “machine wash is permissible”, it is better not to tempt fate, but roll up your sleeves and wash it with the help of special products. With glasses in general, everything is simple – just rinse in cold water. If the cookware is not engraved with gold or other metals, non-abrasive cleaning agents can be used. Or ammonia – this is how our grandmothers did. If the porcelain is hand-painted, then you should be especially careful. When cleaning ceramic surfaces, the use of abrasives and metal brushes should be limited as much as possible, especially if the tile has a glossy surface, on which even micro-scratches will be noticeable. Your helpers are a vacuum cleaner, a natural soft bristle brush or a microfiber cloth.
Attention!
Little secret: you can use bleach to combat particularly stubborn stains on the tiles, as it does not have a negative effect on them.
This “strong material” is very durable and reliable, but do not forget that it is alive. In the absence of proper care, any natural stone products fade and lose their attractiveness. But the main thing here is not to overdo it. For example, acidic cleaners will handle all kinds of dirt, but they can destroy marble. Alkaline-based products are softer in their effect and safer for the structure of the stone. When concentrated, they are applied pointwise and easily remove paint marks, old coffee stains, grease and markers. By the way, in a diluted state, an alkaline cleaner is used when it is required to open the pores of the stone for further processing with protective polish compounds. Various mastics are also produced that close the pores and cracks in the stone, all kinds of strengthening putties and polishes. They clean, polish and protect the surface at the same time. By the way, do not clean, for example, slate with a granite cleaner.
Attention!
Today there are a huge number of products designed specifically for different types of natural stone – both “wild” and polished.
Plastic furniture is experiencing a rebirth today. First, it’s trendy.
Secondly, plastics are insensitive to moisture and even relatively resistant to “meeting” strong acids and organic solvents.
To clean plastic items, arm yourself with a sponge and a small amount of non-abrasive detergent and then rub the surface with a soft cloth.
Extra stubborn stains can be removed perfectly with toothpaste, lemon juice or vinegar.
Attention!
Never rub plastic with cleaning agents containing acetone, alcohol, ammonia, formaldehyde, and formic acid.
A clean house should smell fresh. Getting rid of household odors is not very difficult. It is necessary to deeply clean furniture and carpets using special means to remove one or another odor.
But for a more effective fight against unwanted aromas, it is best to use an ozone generator, which disinfects the room at the same time.
However, ozone must be used with caution, as it is an extremely active gas, the illiterate use of which is dangerous to life and health. Simply put, there could be an explosion.
Attention!
If you use a microwave oven with a cheat sheet, this device is not for you. It is better to call a specialist for help. He will select the required gas concentration, correctly set the generator operating time.
Of course, hardly anyone would think of scrubbing metal items with a sponge coated with a metal material (although there are stories about housekeepers who did just that). It’s simple – the product must be rinsed, and then, to give an effective shine, polish with a soft dry cloth. But this is done with ordinary metals, but precious metals are more capricious and susceptible to the influence of the environment. Darkened gold and gilded items can be freshened with onion juice – rub the surface with it and leave for one and a half to two hours, then rinse with cool water and let dry.
Gold that has lost its shine should be washed in soapy water with the addition of ammonia (half a teaspoon per glass of water), rinsed and wiped with a lint-free cloth. Silver is cleaned by applying special pastes or sprays with antioxidants to it. Secret: at the end, the object must be rinsed first with warm and then cold water. Darkened silver can be “revived” with aqueous solutions of baking soda (50 grams of baking soda per liter of water), ammonia (tablespoon per liter of water) and tooth powder.
Attention!
If from childhood you hate the smell of onions and generally against “traditional medicine” – do not be trifling! Use an expensive professional metal cleaner. And be especially attentive to decorative coated items.
The curtains can be washed (and even then not all of them), the chair cannot be “washed”. It’s a pity. But there is a way out. Today, the safest and most affordable way to clean interior textiles (furniture upholstery, curtains, carpets) is vacuum cleaning with a vacuum cleaner, with which you can remove 70% of all dirt. But stubborn stains, adhered and dried particles (for example, gum) are best removed by dry cleaning: “dry” or “wet”. “Dry” dry cleaning, in turn, is hydrocarbon and perchlorethylene. But you may not remember the last word – you cannot use perchlorethylene at home, as it is poisonous and toxic. But the hydrocarbon formula is quite safe for health. Wet cleaning of furniture is carried out with aqueous solutions of chemicals or foam. The most effective and gentle method of wet dry cleaning is the so-called water extraction: a cleaning solution is injected under pressure into a cloth or pile and immediately pulled back. The fabric is then washed and dried with cold air to prevent mold and mildew. By the way, this is the best way to clean mattresses, pillows and blankets.
Attention!
Mechanical stress (even if you use very soft brushes!) Can damage the fibers and lead to premature wear of the material. A clean, but shabby carpet is not at all what you were aiming for. It is so?
The sofa, like your shoes, is leather, but we hope you understand – it cannot be cleaned with shoe polish and wax. Gasoline is also banned. Use products that say “for leather furniture.” Aerobatics – branded sets from the manufacturer of your favorite sofa. But in any case, it is better to start cleaning from inconspicuous places. Apply the composition with a soft cloth – if it turns to the color of your skin, then the product is not suitable. Few people know that almost all types of leather should be washed two to three times a year with clean water – preferably filtered, the one you use, for example, when brewing tea. Pillows, armrests and other parts of furniture with “high traffic” should be treated with warm soapy water using a soft sponge. Grease and oil stains on suede are a serious test, but there is a way out. Apply a thick layer of crushed chalk or chalk, leave for 24 hours, then blow off thoroughly or brush off with a soft brush.
Attention!
It is better to entrust the elimination of too strong contamination to the specialists of cleaning companies.
No one argues that wood is the king of the interior. But you also need to look after him as a royal personage. Anxious and thoughtful. No, no one asks the tree to water – on the contrary, water leaves streaks, and the calcium contained in it can eventually destroy the structure of the fibers. But cleaning, impregnation and polishing must be done regularly and very carefully. First, use a soft dry microfiber cloth to wipe off most of the dust and dirt. Then treat with an impregnation, which creates the thinnest air, dirt and moisture impermeable layer on the tree. It should be applied parallel to the fibers. Moreover, serious companies often use not household napkins for this procedure, but single-disk machines with special brushes. Nowadays, it is especially fashionable to coat wooden surfaces with oil – after all, it is very environmentally friendly. But the oil must be renewed – evenly rub it into the wood with a cotton cloth, first perpendicularly, and then parallel to the direction of the fibers. The final chord after thorough drying is polishing with special aerosols or creams.
Attention!
Remember: there are no universal floor-to-dresser wood cleaners and nutrients.
The editors would like to thank the following companies for their help in preparing the material: Lotus Cleaning, House of Porcelain, Neuhaus and Ebony & Co.
For information on how to carry out general cleaning in your house, read also in the special project. April subbotnik with WDay.ru