Home and office cleaning

A Breath of Fresh Air: Allergy & Asthma Cleaning Tips

It’s spring cleaning time again! And although most people associate this yearly ritual with doing “a full sweep” of their home from floor to ceiling to get things fresh and ready for the warm weather months, there’s actually a very good reason beyond just neatness and cleanliness to pull out the mops and wring out the sponges: eliminating your home of allergens, particularly for those suffering from allergies and asthma. Spring cleaning is about health and hygiene, too!

Luckily, we no longer have to beat our rugs with a broom or air out our linens over a clothesline or tie rags to poles to wash down the walls like our grandmothers did. These days, we have an array of convenient and affordable products and tools at our disposal to help us swiftly and successfully dispose of allergy- and asthma-inducing agents, including disposable wipes, replaceable wet/dry mop cloths, spray disinfectants, lightweight vacuums, and rentable steam cleaners. So set aside a weekend to attend to a top-to-bottom spring cleaning to keep your household both sanitized and safe.

Here are some tips to make the best use of your time in the most targeted areas, starting with two things to keep in mind: (1) make sure the cleaning products you use aren’t allergy or asthma triggers themselves and (2) if you’d rather keep that weekend to yourself, call in a professional company to tackle your spring cleaning for you!

  • Ceilings: Take advantage of extension rods and poles to wipe down your ceilings and loosen the dust and cobwebs lurking in corners and crevices. You don’t have to capture every last bit with your mop or vacuum attachment—you can sweep up anything that falls to the floor later.
  • Walls: Next, proceed to your walls, using a dampened dust mop to wipe them all clean, starting from the top and swiping downward. Again, you can later vacuum up anything that falls to the floor.
  • Nooks & Crannies: Now it’s time to manually reach wherever and whatever you didn’t already capture—spaces behind furniture, in back of the refrigerator, the backs of the shelves in your curio cabinet. You know where those pesky areas are that stay hidden but should still be accessed every now and then!
  • Carpets & Floors: Vacuum all wall-to-wall carpets, area rugs, and throw rugs thoroughly to suck up all the loose debris that’s been collecting in them all winter. If you have wood or tile floors, it’s time to fully mop them. Thereafter, do touch-up vacuuming and mopping weekly to stay on top of everything your family walks upon.
  • Curtains: Once a year, you should remove your curtains and wash them. If that’s not practical or possible for heavy drapes, use your vacuum’s attachments to reach into folds and pleats, where dust is often trapped and overlooked. If heavily soiled, it’s worth a trip to a professional cleaner’s to breathe new life into your window dressings.
  • Linens: Once the curtains are drying, keep the washer running for all your bedding linens in every room. This includes cleaning pillows, mattress pads, and bedskirts. Dust mites love to hide there, so before reassembling your bedding, consider purchasing dust-mite-proof covers for your pillows and mattresses.
  • Knickknacks: All the little things that make a house a home? The statues and figurines, the picture frames and pottery, the souvenirs and collectibles? They can be BIG dust collectors. Turn on some tunes and wipe every single piece of bric-a-brac down with a dust rag or damp cloth. Vinegar works great on glass surfaces.
  • Windows: Save the biggie for last so you can look forward to looking both out of and into your home through gleaming windows once your annual deep cleaning is done. This requires cleaning your windowpanes inside and out since smudges and buildup collect on each side. And don’t forget to remove the screens and hose them down too, getting off all the pollen and outdoor pollutants.

Spring cleaning is a big effort, but it has a big payoff—especially for your family’s respiratory systems. You can do it yourself, or you can call in some experts to help. We’d be happy to be at your service!

Home Services Enterprise  |  301-674-9564  |  www.homeservicesenterprise.com

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