Category Archives for "articles"

0 What Is Air Duct Cleaning

Lots of people don’t know about the increasing problem with indoor air pollution. Many cleaning companies have started to offer services and products made especially for improving indoor air quality. You may or you may have not seen an advertisement, gotten a coupon or have been offered cleaning services for your air ducts to improve the air quality in your home. The price usually ranges between $450 to $1000 per air duct system, depending on what the services exactly are, the size of the system that is to be cleaned, how accessible it is, what’s the climatic region, and how much dirtied it is.

The air duct cleaning is actually cleaning heating and cooling system parts.

If the components of these systems haven’t been installed, maintained and operated, they’ll probably become contaminated with dust and debris. If there’s moisture, there is a bigger change for mould to appear. That leads to the release of spores in the living areas of the home. These pollens may cause allergies and other health problems. If you decide to get the air ducts cleaned, make sure that the cleaning service company agree to clean all the components, and that they’re qualified. IF they fail clean everything and forget to clean even one place, the contamination will spread everywhere again and all the cleaning effort and money spent will have been in vain.

There are some different methods of cleaning air-ducts but they all are essentially the same, as there are established standards. Usually, the cleaning company will provide and use specialised tools for dislodging the dirt and then use a powerful vacuum cleaner.

The service provider may also ask you if you wish them to use chemicals which kill the contamination. After cleaning everything, some cleaning companies may also offer covering the inside surfaces of the systems, as they believe it will lessen the chance of contamination and the harmful results. This has yet to be proved, though.

0 How To Know If The Air Ducts Are Properly Cleaned

If you’ve decided to have your air ducts cleaned, and have already chosen a cleaning company that will carry out the procedure, then there is a big chance that right now, as you’re reading this, they’re finishing their work. Of course, you wish to know if the cleaners have done their job properly. How do you determine that?

The best way to know if the air ducts are clean is to look. Some cleaning companies use photography to prove they have cleaned everything. Everything should be visibly clean and spotless; also there shouldn’t be any debris. Ask the cleaners to prove they’ve completed the service as agreed – ask to see every component of the system.

You may find that making a checklist will help you with determining the quality of the cleaning. Here are some points, which you should mark with “yes” or “no”. If you mark even one point with negative, then there’s a problem with the service they’ve done, and you should insist that they fix it.

• Have ALL the components of the air ducts system been successfully reached and cleaned?
• Have the cleaners demonstrated that the duct works and the plenums are clean (those are components where air moves)?
• Can you see the heat exchanger’s surface?
• Can you see both sides of the cooling coil?
• Does light shine through the other side of a cooling coil when you point a light at it?
• Are the coil fins unbent and evenly distant from each other?
• Does the coiled drain pan work properly and is it clean enough?
• Are the blower blades cleaned of all dirt?
• Is the blower compartment visibly clean?
• Does the return air plenum look clean enough?
• Are all the filters fitted accordingly?
• Is the supply air plenum dry and clean?
• Do the interior ductwork surfaces look clean?
• Is the fibre glass undamaged?
• Are there any new access doors attached with more than duct tape?
• With the system turned on, is there strong air-leakage?
• Are all the vents well attached to the walls/floors/ceilings?
• Does the system work in both heating and cooling modes?

0 Things You Should Consider About Air Dust Cleaning

There are various factors which should make you consider having the air ducts at home cleaned.

1. If there is visible mould on the inside walls of the ducts or other components of the system, then you should seek professional help. When it comes to mould, there are a few tips to recognition:

• you can’t of course, check all the areas of the air ducts for mould, so if the cleaning company say that there is mould, ask them to show you.
• there are many things that could resemble mould; as only an expert can determine what the dark spot you see is, it’s recommended that you bring a sample on a clear strip or sticky tape to a laboratory (it’s not that expensive).
• If you have insulation on your air ducts and it gets dirty, it cannot be cleaned – it has to be replaced.
• even when you remove the mould, if the environment that caused its appearance in the first place is not changed, it will continue to grow.

You must also clean your air ducts if they are infested with rodents or insects, or are clogged from too much dirt that is released into the home.

There are also some other considerations at hand. You should know that this procedure – air duct cleaning – does not prevent health problems. It has not yet been determined if air pollution is caused by dirty air ducts, and if the pollution level goes down after the cleaning. There may be dirt in the ducts, but that does not necessarily mean that it enters the living area. It’s just one of the many possible causes. Most of our everyday activities – cooking, cleaning, smoking, or even moving can make you come in contact with contaminants – and the risk is even greater than with dirty air ducts. It hasn’t also been proven yet that the household dust in the cooling or heating system can pose a threat to health.

It’s not recommended that you clean your air ducts except in emergency, at least that’s EPA’s opinion. They say that it is still uncertain what the benefits of the procedure are. They, however, advice you to inspect your fuel burning systems, if you have any. Make sure that they function properly before the heating season, or you may become the victim of a carbon monoxide poisoning. There’s no proof that cleaning the air ducts will improve the system’s performance, but cleaning the fans and heat exchangers should help.

If you feel that you should, after all, have the air ducts cleaned, seek a professional’s guidance. The system’s service company will do. Also, inform yourself about the services that different air-duct cleaning companies offer.

0 You Can Clean Up your House In a Week

It may sound barely possible to most housekeepers, but you can actually take care of your entire home in a week since it needs cleaning every now and then. There is dirt and dust reaching every room, dirty dishes in the sink,since the sink is used daily, clothes in the washing machine, tones of mail that needs to be sorted out. Busy daily schedules and active lifestyles tend to leave to that and lessen your housekeeping time. But, however, if you feel ready to take action and make major changes you’d better read on.

This article is designed and tends to help you bring back some order and organization to your home duties in a week’s time in order to have a lot of more free time.

In the following few days you are going to do some basic cleaning for each room in your home from top to bottom without skipping even the hardest to reach corners.

Each room or section in the house shouldn’t take you more than half an hour of care per day to complete. Keep in mind that this is not deep cleaning, but what is called surface cleaning, it is a lot easier and you can do it by yourself. For deep cleaning you can contact professional cleaning companies after you have finished what you have started, or in simple words after you have set the start of this job with the cleaning basics. If you have kids at home  try and work approximately around their nap times during the day or you can even try to involve them in little ways with some simple yet important work you think they would be capable of. Do not forget that children love to “dust” and “sweep”, it is like a little game to them and they often do not see it as a job and have fun with it. Don’t overwhelm yourself. That is  why you are scheduling the cleaning work of your home over a week’s time.

To make this plan work fully you should continue to keep up the basic order in your house by putting things away every day. Wash up the dishes after you have cooked and eaten, nobody wants a sink full of dirty dishes, this actually complicates your duties. Put away clothing. Clear off the surface of the glass, mirrors, drawers, shelves and tables in every room, throw away the rubbish and sort out the mail! Start off the beginning of every day with a clean slate.

You can work through each room in the order that you have created and think that is most comfortable and time-saving for you. The layout below is based on how I tackle with the problems and duties in my home. This planning is individual based on everybody’s work and energy level. You can follow the article or do it your own way, which is probably the best way after all.

I also find it helps a lot  if I have a list with steps of what I have going on for the day and the present week. This keeps me away from becoming disoriented and not being organized ending up procrastinating the duties which follows with nothing getting done.

That is where the role of these checklists comes into use. There are cleaning checklists for each area and every different room of the house including  for instance planlists for the kitchen, bathroom to name a few. Even if you are aware of how to take care of them, sometimes it helps having the steps ordered right in front of you.

So, to conclude, involve the people you live with in this process to work things faster, make a planlist for each room and do your daily routine housework regularly to prevent transforming your weekends into a complete cleaning nightmare after you have not cleaned anything during the current week.

Good luck

0 Dusting Tips And Interesting Facts About Dust

Dust in residential and commercial premises contains various sources of tiny particles such as human and animal hairs, human skin cells, outdoor soil dust, dirt and debris, different fibres and other materials.

Dusting is an inevitable part of domestic cleaning procedures that should be done as frequently as possible in order to avoid any unwanted allergic reactions. Living in a big, vibrant city such as London entails daily accumulation of dust particles of various nature. No matter how often you dust your living area, dust particles seem to multiply with remarkable speed. Millions of tiny dust particles adhere to every nook and cranny of your home and they might be the reason for various skin irritations and allergies.

There is not a single place in your home where it is impossible for the dust to settle – your carpets and rugs, draperies and curtains, covers and mattresses are the perfect breeding ground for domestic dust. A most favourable place for building up of dust and consequently of various germs are carpets and area rugs, which should be thoroughly cleaned at least twice annually.

To fight dust accumulation in your home you should air the rooms regularly, run the vacuum cleaner daily and dust all shelves and units as frequently as possible.

Prevention is the best method for reducing to minimum speedy dust accumulation. Using entrance mats is a great idea to reduce dust accumulation at your home. Regular changing of air filters improves the air quality of your living area. Micro fibre clothes are the perfect tool when it comes to dusting since they have the ability to entrap even the smallest particles. Make sure that the cleaning tools you use are clean – thus you will not only move dust from one place to another.  Regular brushing of your pets also contributes to reducing dust build-up. To avoid double dusting of the same area you should dust it from top to bottom. Dust control might also be successful if you reduce the clutter and all unused items to minimum. We cannot eliminate dust forever by any means; we may just prevent the rapid build-up of dust particles, and thus make our homes cleaner, more comfortable and healthier.

An interesting fact about domestic dust is that in a residential area of six rooms, located in a temperate climate zone, about 15 kg of dust are accumulated annually. One cubic centimetre of air contains between 50 000 and 100 000 dust particles. Seven percent of natural dust is due to volcano eruptions. Most of the domestic dust presents dead human skin cells.

0 Benefits Of Deep Office Cleaning Services

Once you hire a professional cleaning company for the needs of your office area, you will immediately notice the benefits of having professional cleaners around. It will not only improve the overall look of your business, but will also boost your employees’ productivity. There are thousands of advantages related to the regular deep cleaning of office areas.

Deep, thorough cleaning of offices involves various activities, which are a lot easier if the office space is well-kept and cleaned on a daily basis.

Deep cleaning of office spaces might begin by dusting all lighting units. Where necessary, they are being demounted, cleaned and mounted back on their place. Heating devices and air-conditioning units should be cleaned by using a special cleaning product. Filters are to be washed, window blinds are to be dusted and wet cleaned on both sides. Next on the cleaning list are windows and windows frames, which should be cleaned by using professional cleaning products.

A very important step in deep office cleaning procedures is taking care of all computers, peripherals, phones and faxes. Their surface tends to wear out quite rapidly due to everyday use – it is oftentimes stained with toner, ink, glue, other dust and dirt particles. Unless they are cleaned with professional cleaning products, they start looking old and neglected.

Usually, in a hasty and hectic work environment, we clean our work place only perfunctory – the desktop, the shelves are dusted without moving a single item. With deep office cleaning all desks and shelves are cleaned on all sides and all items, folders and papers are moved aside and then put back on their place.

Chairs and other office sofas are cleaned depending on their type – ranging from upholstered to leather office furniture – they are properly taken care of.

Bathroom and toilet units need special attention and more strenuous cleaning. They should be washed, disinfected and odour-free. The cleaning process there start by applying a strong detergent everywhere – on tiles, sinks, toilets, floors. It should be left for ten minutes to settle and start working. All professional cleaning equipment, brushes, sponges and micro-fibre cloths are used to leave the premises clean, fresh and spotless. Finally, everything should be washed, dried and polished.

Depending on the type of flooring, the relevant cleaning method is applied. No matter if it is a carpet, hard floor or tiling – you may rest assured that your office floors will be properly taken care of.

Professional office cleaning services in London are actually an important necessity for every business. Make sure you choose a company which will answer your needs and expectations. Improve the image of your company by choosing to work with well-trained professionals, using last generation cleaning equipment.

0 Cleaning In The Sky

My brother and I came up the roof, where we had to get inside the metal cage, while two of our colleagues were watching for our safety. My brother tried to joke with them that we must have privileges, because we cleaned less windows than them and now we are going to be hidden in the shadow of the building and they would have to make sunbathe under the bright sun on the roof.

It was funny, but I knew my brother is worried.

When we got into the cage he was tensed and it was hard for him to do his job calmly. I on the other hand was feeling great. My vestibular system seemed to be fine and I wasn’t afraid of the fact we hang outside the 16th floor. I knew that our cage is good attached to the roof. I even found that cleaning the outer side of building’s windows is my favourite part of my job. Hanging in the air made me feel free and the wind cooled this warm day.

I was cleaning and polishing the windows with fast and accurate moves. It seemed that when I had adrenaline in my blood it helped me in cleaning. And the fact that I was doing my job quick helped my brother to forget about his fear for some time. He had to be quick not to retard our work. We cleaned these windows all day long. My brother did not let his fear stop him.

When we finally finished all the building was shining. We waited for our colleagues to get down from the roof and we gathered all the cleaning devices and saddled them in the van. Then one of our colleagues Steve gave me a card. I asked him what is this, and told me that a beautiful lady from one of the offices gave it to him to forward it to me. He knew nothing more. I looked at the card. There was a name, a position “manager” and a telephone. Well, I was not wrong about the ladies in offices, I taught smiling and I put the card in my pocket.

While my brother and I were on our way home, I joked that I wander why he became a cleaner, when he could be a gardener for instance. Then he would never have to climb up the buildings. He just smiled.

0 Cleaning At Home

Little by little my parents, and especially my father, were getting used to the new situation. It’s not that he didn’t want me to work as a cleaner. In fact, first he did not want me to work anything at all. As I told you, he wanted me to study in the university, but I told him about my job when I had already took the engagement and he could do nothing to stop me. As time went by he realised that this was the only way for our family to live decently. Besides, all of the modern English women worked. And my father realised that I feel happier and complete when I can work. I helped my family with the money and there were some more left, so I could go out with my friends and by some things, which every young girl likes.

The situation in my family home got much more easy and peaceful. The constant anxiety about not having enough money was gone. My father wasn’t worried all the time anymore. My mother had a smile on her face. And my brothers and sister… well they have always been merry. The only demand to them was to study their lessons.

I helped my family not only financially. I used my new knowledge, I had learned at work, for the cleaning of our home. I explained my mother what are the specifics of all the modern cleaning detergents and in the weekends I cleaned our apartment. My mother was very impressed of how easy some spots of wine, fruits, oil etc. are being removed by these new cleaning products. Some months ago she used to think that if some of these spots fall on some clothing, it must be thrown away, because it can’t be washed anymore. As I showed her the new easy ways of cleaning such dirt, she was fascinated.

For my mother’s birthday my father and I gave her a new cleaning system. She was so happy! You can’t even imagine how much time she spent exploring her present. All day long she was reading the instructions and trying to use one or another function. My mom was very funny, because she had no perfect reading skills in English and she relied on her senses. From time to time we heard strange noises of humming of the cleaning machine, accompanied by my mother’s murmur.

In a week she managed to learn all of the functions and benefits of her new cleaning machine and she could handle the devise smoothly. My father and I were joking that now we only have to buy a big apartment with expensive carpets and furniture, so my mother to use all the potential of her cleaning machine.

0 How to Make Your House Look Clean and Cosy

There is no other place like home. It is a warm, cosy, safe and irreplaceable part of our everyday life and often an isolator keeping you far away from work and stress.
Here are some tips on how to take care of such a special place like your house in a short period of time.

Do the dish washing regularly after meal time,nobody likes dirty dishes being forgotten in the sink.Clean the dust every week. Use your hoover between 2 and 4 times a week if you have pets, this is against unwanted fur on the furnitures that can later cause unpleasant allergies or even asthma.
Clean all the glass surface in the house,make everything look shinier, in that way you make the whole house brighter and neat. Don’t forget your fridge. Throw away the food that is out of date or you won’t eat, organize what is left, then clean the shelves with some water and baking soda. Clean all the electric gadgets in the kitchen as often as possible, so next time when you need to use them they will be clean and ready to be used.

And last but not least, keep in mind that most of the time when you have people around your place they will need to use the bathroom,so prevent everything from the toilet seat to the shower from bacteria.

To make your rooms look cosy buy paintings and cushions in different bright colours that match, put some flowers in the vase and you will see that your home looks probably at its best.
Let some fresh air in all rooms every once in a while, for example just open the windows in the mornings for less than half an hour and that would be enough. Do not turn the lights on too often, sun light has always been better.
Use dimly lit lamps and new sheets in your favourite colour for your bed that match with the colours of your curtains,cushions or carpet.

Throw away old furniture, clothes and things you no longer use, leave some space for walking and put flowers instead (but not in your bedroom).
Sunbeams and lighter colours for the walls make every room look bigger, so let some sun shining in your home.

The golden rule is the less furniture you have,the better your rooms look,good luck!

0 Indoor Air And Your Health

Today we know much about indoor air pollution, but many people think that if they don’t have any immediate health problems such as allergies or strange syndromes, the air in their house is clean.

You may not know it, but air pollutants may either give a result soon, or show up years later.

Immediate results usually appear after a single or repeated contacts. Those are irritations of eyes, nose and throat, headaches, dizziness, fatigue. These symptoms don’t last long and are easily treated – sometimes only a removal from the pollutant is needed. Some symptoms of well-known illness, such as asthma, hypersensitivity, and pneumonitis and humidifier fever may show up if a person is exposed to an indoor air pollutions.

There are several factors that determine if the reactions are immediate or will appear later. Age and already excising health problems are two of them. There’s also the personal sensitivity to different pollutants, which greatly varies with each person. Some people become sensitive to some pollutions only after a repeated exposure to them -that includes chemicals too.

Some of the immediate results are seen in normal colds and other viral illnesses, so it’s usually difficult to recognize the symptoms of indoor air pollution. It’s important to note where the symptoms appear at their strongest. If they fade when leaving the house and return with entering the house, then there’s no doubt what the problem is. An effort should be made to determine where exactly the problem lies.

The later-appearing results may take years to surface, and may take either only one exposure, or a repeated one. They include serious diseases such as heart disease or cancer – those are often fatal. Even if you don’t feel that you have any problems with the air in your home, you should still try to improve its quality. Research the potential dangers of certain air pollutants.

The indoor air pollution is common, and causes many negative health effects. However, no one is sure yet what pollutants and what periods of exposure cause each health problem. There’s also the difference in the reaction of different people. Much more research is needed before we know the effects of each pollutant.