Spring Cleaning Tips

Windows

and 1/4 cup of distilled water. When cleaning your windows, be sure to pick a cloudy day to do so. Cleaning windows on a bright, sunny day will have the sun dry them too quickly, resulting in streaky windows. Using a microfiber cloth will have you get the cleanest windows on the block. Birds Beware!

Sliding doors

During the winter, we generally don't use the sliding doors of our house as much as we do when the weather gets warmer. People often start to entertain outside when the weather starts to warm up, and those sliding patio doors get a lot more use. To help clean the sliding tracks so the doors don't start to stick, simply use an old tooth brush, or similar smaller brush to fit into the track grooves. You can then use your vacuum hose to suck up the debris. Then finish the tracks off with a microfiber cloth to grab any remaining debris.

Carpets

If you've recently installed new carpeting, schedule professional cleanings every 12–18 months to keep the warranty valid. Older carpets, however, you are able to just rent a carpet cleaner to tackle that deep clean yourself. Try to take note to the cleaning and drying instructions on the model to ensure a proper deep clean of the carpet. This will also help you take precautions for mold to not grow under the carpet padding.

Re-arranging the furniture

Spring cleaning is the perfect time to re-arrange the flow of furniture in your rooms. If you don't plan to re-arrange your furniture, you should still move it around a bit to give underneath furniture, and appliances a good deep cleaning. Most people generally just sweep, and vacuum around furniture and appliances when they clean their home. But, at LEAST once a year (really every 3 months) you should move the furniture and appliances around to clean underneath them. Dust, debris, and food can easily get pushed underneath these areas when doing normal cleaning.

Clothes you no longer wear

Each season, take time to clean out clothing you no longer wear and donate it to charity. A simple tracking method is to place metal rings over hanger tops after doing laundry. When you wear an item, remove the ring; after the next wash, replace it. At the end of the season, donate anything that still has a ring—it hasn’t been worn in at least 3 months. If that feels too soon to part with something, use the same system over a full year. If the ring is still there after a year, it’s probably time to let it go.

An annual maintenance inspection

Once a year consider having a home maintenance inspection done by a certified home inspector. Generally it is a good practice to have your home inspected annually. The reason annually is recommended is that a professional home inspector is not only trained to identify existing problems in your home, but to also identify potential issues that can lead to problems in your home. Another reason would be that problems in a home can occur rather quickly and the sooner they are discovered, often times the cheaper they are to have repaired.

Here at Trademark Inspection Services, we love helping our clients, past or present, in anyway we can. We hope that this blog serves you well in your spring cleaning this year. Check back in future season for more helpful tips.