9 Pro Tips for Winter Cleaning Your Home
Although Spring is the most popular time of year for a thorough deep clean, winter cleaning your home is just as important. The colder months bring rain, snow, salt, slush, and mud, and a good winter cleaning routine is essential. Why not use the extra time stuck indoors to tackle some cleaning projects around your house?
Here are 9 Pro Tips for winterizing and cleaning your home:
1. Prepare Your Entryway
Most of the dirt and debris in your home gets in through the front door, and with winter snow and mud, it’s easy for your entryway to become a mess quickly. To prevent this, you can do a few things to make your entryway as winter-friendly as possible. Keep your entranceway cleaner by removing clutter and placing a moisture-absorbing mat at the door for people to dry their feet. Place a rough mat outside the door for people to brush snow and mud off their boots. Winterize your home entryway by adding a bench or basket so your family members can drop their soggy messes right when they enter the door. You may even want to consider a no-shoe policy in your home.
2. Take Care of Carpet and Floors
Floors can get pretty trashed in the winter. Salt collects between every carpet fiber, and hardwood floors present an unpleasant whitish sheen from melting salt water. To combat this, take the time to steam clean your carpet and scrub the floors. If you don’t have a place for snowy boots and shoes, put out a couple of cookie sheets (the kind with the raised edge) for them to drain by the door. This will help keep that mess off the floors. Vacuum your entryway frequently and consider placing washable mats down in areas of your home with a lot of traffic. Covering these areas with mats will help protect them from excessive wear and tear and extend the life of your floors.
3. Check Your HVAC System
An efficient HVAC system will improve indoor air quality, reduce the amount of dust in your home, and lower energy costs throughout the cold winter months. Indoor air quality is an increasingly common concern, especially when homes are closed up in winter. According to the EPA, you should change your HVAC filter at least every three months and more frequently when continuously running your furnace to keep your house warm. In addition to changing the air filter, cleaning your ducts can improve your home’s air quality and flow, provides asthma and allergy relief, remove musty odors, and reduce the potential for mold and bacterial growth
4. Tackle the Kitchen
Being stuck indoors all winter often means you do more cooking in your kitchen. Use the colder months to spend extra time cleaning the cupboards, wiping out the drawers, giving your refrigerator a good cleaning and throwing out expired food, de-griming backsplashes and hood vents, and of course, don’t forget the oven. Baking and cooking for the holidays and preparing comfort foods on chilly days can cause the oven to get pretty grimy. Regular cleaning and degreasing will help prevent smoking fires, strong odors, and baked-on food spills. A cleaning service is perfect for handling all of these tasks.
5. Clean Out-of-Sight Areas
Most of us clean the things in our field of vision, which is natural, but the tops of doors, windows, cabinets, and appliances collect just as much dust as coffee and end tables. This goes the same for spots down low, like baseboards and stair railings. While we tend to clean the top, and even bottom, of our cushions, under our furniture, gets little to no attention. Move out your couch, kitchen table, bed, and other bulky furniture to clean around and underneath them where dust can hide.
6. Wash the Windows
Since you will be stuck inside this winter, the least you can do is have a clear view. Use a vinegar/water/dish soap mixture to clean your windows inside and outside. You’ll appreciate the extra sunlight shining through, especially during those darker winter days. Spray the window with your chosen cleaning solution and use a clean towel or paper towel to dry using a Z-shaped motion. Ensure you always work top to bottom to prevent dripping water or cleaner from dirtying a portion of the window you’ve already cleaned. Never use hot water when cleaning your windows during the cold months, as hot water can cause the cold glass to crack,
7. Clean Your Dryer Vents
Homeowners often forget to clean their dryer vents because they’re out of sight and out of mind. While it’s essential to empty the lint filter each time you use the dryer, you should also consider cleaning the venting system once a year. Lint or other obstructions cause wear and tear on your appliance and increase the time it takes for items to dry. And the longer it takes to dry things, the higher your energy bill. Cleaning your dryer vent can also reduce the risk of a potential dryer fire. According to the National Fire Protection Association, dryers and washing machines cause an average of 15,970 fires annually, with dryers causing 92% of them.
8. Check the Fireplace and Chimney
During the summer months, dirt (and sometimes inquisitive animals) can hide in chimneys, so give them a good clean before lighting. Fireplaces are often the focal point of the room. Keeping them clean inside and out helps prevent fires and makes the room look tidier. According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), fireplaces, chimneys, and chimney connectors are the heating equipment that causes the most residential structure fires. Also, keep your fireplace’s glass doors clean. Over time, soot sticks to the glass, and removing the buildup is critical for maintaining a clean firebox. Clean doors provide a clearer view of the fire and a cozier atmosphere.
In addition to the glass doors, the fireplace hearth can also be stained by soot. Keeping the outer hearth clean and soot-free means regular cleaning (about every six weeks). Concrete hearths can be cleaned with oxygen bleach; slate hearths require water and hydrogen peroxide; for brick hearths, you can use water, a scrub brush, and a special brick cleaner. Your best option for safe fireplace cleaning is to hire a professional fireplace/chimney sweep service.
9. Hire the Pros
Winterizing and cleaning your home will make it more comfortable for you and your loved ones and ensure easier maintenance when the rain, snow, slush, and mud arrive. While some people look forward to the cold weather and anticipate following the above pro tips, many of us just don’t have the time. For tasks like HVAC maintenance, Chimney/ fireplace cleaning, and duct and dryer vent cleaning, it’s best to call in professionals with the skills and equipment to get the job done right.
For the rest, Clean Nation Company can handle deep winter cleaning your home to ensure a happy, healthy, and clean home. We’ll take care of the work, so you can take care of your family and have the time to enjoy the things you love. We offer multiple options for cleaning services: weekly (the most popular), every other week, once a month, and one-time deep cleans. Our quality services are 100% guaranteed. If there’s an area we’ve missed, call us within 24 hours, and we’ll re-clean it. Our cleaners are background checked, bonded, and insured. “Honesty,” “quality,” and “integrity” are some of the words our customers use to describe our company.
What we offer:
- Over 50 years of combined experience in the cleaning industry
- Recurring and one-time cleanings
- Flexible Scheduling
- Professionally-trained cleaners
- Licensed, bonded, and insured
- Customized cleaning solutions
- Quick response times
- Emergency Cleanings
- Electrostatic Spray disinfection
- Highest standard of clean
- 100% satisfaction guarantee
- OSHA, HIPAA, EPA, CDC, compliant
- Google Guaranteed
Call Clean Nation Company at (509) 217-4729 today for more information about our quality services or request a consultation and free quote by filling out our online contact form. We proudly service Spokane, Spokane Valley, Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, Liberty Lake, and surrounding communities.
Clean Nation Company
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