Seattle House Cleaners

Everybody says to use vinegar, and water to clean hardwood floors, but they never tell you how.

First you need to vacuum, and an after market horse hair bristle, floor attachment. They cost about $12. You get them at the vacuum cleaner store, which in many cases is in with a sewing machine store, I don’t know why.

Vacuuming once a week or every other week is the best thing you can do for your floors. Keeping ahead of dust, dirt, and debris helps save the finish. You can also sweep, but vacuuming is best. Many people prefer a soft cloth, or lambs wool cloth for picking up dust. It’s like a sweeper. You see them all the time in the stores.

What we found is that the sweepers, over time, leave dust deposits in any spacing between floor boards. You are also dragging the dust around, and you need to dispose of the dust as you go, so we think vacuuming is best.

We use a small blue cannister vacuum from Sears that costs about $100, then buy the attachment. It’s a great investment.

Now for the vinegar part. It’s 10% to 20% vinegar to water. We use a spray bottle, and a damp cloth. We use a terry cloth. Ours are bar rags. We’ve found they hold together the best.

We use a broad flat surface cloth covered mop, but use the terry cloth over that. We rinse the terry cloth as needed, and ring it out well to be damp. We spray a section with the vinegar, and water then damp mop. We start in one corner then work our way out the door.  

Oh Boy it’s snowing! The kids are home, the dogs have been out, they are wet, the kids are wet, the floors are wet, and the place is a mess. You’re stir crazy so it’s a perfect time to clean.

We always recommend to dust before you clean the floors, but in this case we can make an exception. I know the temptation is to wait until all the snow is done, but the floors are wet today.

So you have to sweep, vacuuming water isn’t good for the machine. Sweeping will get the chunks up.

Next, it’s best to have a terry cloth rag. You can use a small towel. Rise it in water, ring it out until it’s damp, then lay it flat on the floor. Put the bristles of the broom on top of the rag, in the middle, and push it. Angle the bristles more by pushing down kind of sideways if you aren’t getting traction.

Depending on the floors you can get both back, and forth action with the cloth, and the broom. Rinse the rag as needed, and also pick up dirt with the rag before you rinse it. Tile floors you can only push the rag with the broom, but keep the broom in the middle of the rag.

It may take practice, but this method it used all over the world.

Some Cleaning Companies use Independent Contractors as cleaners. We tried having employees, and that didn’t work. Compensation was a problem. Paying an hourly wage while driving around, or having workers who were slower because they were “on the clock” got to be a constant battle. The most important part is that taxes, and insurance are a very heavy burden on a small business.

What we do is set people up in a business. They get a Business License, insurance, and a bond. They are a business that gets paid for performance. If they do a good job, they retain the client. If the job they do isn’t so good, they lose the client, and we don’t refer them more. They maintain their own equipment, and supplies.

There is a fine line of distinction between employees and contractors. We don’t tell the contractors what to do, but we do have a standard of excellence.

The contractors are also free to take on other clients. That is a problem some times, but what has worked out well for us is that our contractors refer people back to the company. Our contractors have a support system with us that they want to keep.

There is also a security in dealing with the client. It is very hard to keep a number of things together on your own. Advertising, bookkeeping, client relations, and public relations are a full time job that having an office can help with.

Some people look at House Cleaning as something easy that they can do themselves. The fact is that house cleaning is hard work that requires a whole different set of muscles than what you normally do. Cleaning a bath tub is the best example. You need to bend over, and scrub. If you do that all day, or just twice a day, every day, it takes a toll.

You may be able to scrub the tub once a month, and everything is fine. I’ll do a post about how to clean your bathroom in a few days. When you pay to have some one clean the tub for you it is a matter of value.

An interesting fact that came up with one of our first clients was that after she had a heart attack her doctor told her she couldn’t vacuum. It turns out that vacuuming stresses both the abs, and back. There are even a set of exercises you can do to tone your tummy using the vacuum. Kitchens are a set of stretches, and bending, floors are another set of pushing, and pulling motions.

Your house cleaner is doing manual labor, but you also need them to look past the dirt, and leave the home looking tidy. You are paying for a skill set. Some people recognize the value of a good house cleaner, others need more convincing. It’s just another reason we have this blog.

Our original web site for cleaning was A Spring Cleaning which was established in 1988. That company prepared properties for sale, and did about 25 properties per week in the Spring. Many of the top agents in the area used our services. We are more selective now that we have our regularly scheduled client base.

At this time of year there are a lot of projects that we recommend. First is to do outside cleaning, like walk ways, fences, decks, and low siding. We have a method of spraying a bleach solution mixed with a little detergent. About 25% bleach to water is best. For decks, and walkways you can use a watering can.

The trick is to let the solution work for at least thirty minutes. That’s what makes this time of year ideal. There’s enough moisture in the air to keep the solution from drying out. Mildew is also weaker after freezing weather. It makes it easier to kill.

We don’t pressure wash now. Our goal right now is to kill mildew.

Seattle House Cleaners dot com is the blog site for our main business of Seattle House Cleaning. We are regarded as one of the older, more established companies.

Along that theme we encourage other people who have an interest in the cleaning business. My opinion is that every one needs help around the house, and house cleaning is one of the most affordable luxuries you can have.

Having a house cleaner frees up your time. It helps with your daily attitude. Your children get more of your attention, and it adds a structure to your home.

We would like our cleaning industry to have all of the tools to give you a better performance at a reasonable cost.

This blog site is a way for us to share information with others in the business, and give you some insight into the way our industry works.