10 Home Cleaning Tips from Professional Cleaners

Got some time to clean your home? Here are some pro tips for getting your house back into peak condition.

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Cleaning Carpet With Vacuum
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Professional Carpet Cleaning Tips

Dirty carpet isn’t just unsightly. It’s bad for your carpet’s longevity. To keep your carpet looking its best for as long as possible, focus on cleaning entrances and high traffic areas more often. Vacuuming at least once per week lets your carpet go longer between deep cleanings. To clean like a pro, vacuum high traffic areas twice. Deep clean your carpet at least once per year.

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How to Speed-Clean Chandeliers

Chandeliers can be cleaned fairly quickly. Here’s how:

  1. Spread a plastic tarp on the floor under the chandelier to catch the drips.
  2. Turn off the light and spray this solution on the chandelier until liquid beads start to run. (You’ll use a lot of spray, but it beats wiping.)
  3. The spray will rinse off the dust. The solution that’s left evaporates quickly and doesn’t leave water spots.

This spray works well on hanging crystals, but don’t expect it to remove dust from crevices. If you’re tired of cleaning your chandelier,  you might prefer to replace it with a new ceiling light fixture.

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How to Clean Hard Floors Faster

If you’re still using a regular old mop for everyday cleanup of your hard-surface floors, there’s a better way. Save the mop for really dirty or muddy floors and spot-clean using the tool the pros use.

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cleaning grease with a hot rag
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Cut Grease With a Hot Rag

Grease and dirt build up on kitchen cabinets over time. Here’s how to cut through the grease on your cabinets:

  • Heat a slightly damp sponge or cloth in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds.
  • Put on a pair of rubber gloves.
  • Spray the cabinets with an all-purpose cleaner containing orange oil.
  • Wipe off the cleaner with the hot sponge. For stubborn spots, let the cleaner sit for five minutes.
  • Wipe in the direction of the wood grain, rinsing and reheating the sponge as it becomes saturated.
  • To wrap things up, wipe the cabinets with a cool, damp cloth. The orange oil leaves a shiny coating. This works for any wood or metal surface.
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microfiber cloth
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Polish with a Microfiber Cloth

Microfiber cloths are great for putting the finishing touches on mirrors, countertops, tile and fixtures. After cleaning the surface with your favorite cleaning solution and drying it off with a terry cloth rag or a microfiber cloth, polish it to a mirror finish with a fresh, dry microfiber cloth.

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Clean Out the Garage With a Leaf Blower

Forget the broom — clean out the garage with a leaf blower. It’s fast (about five minutes), you don’t have to move heavy stuff, and you can clean work surfaces and shelves along with the floor.

  1. First, put away papers or anything else you don’t want blown away.
  2. Open the overhead door.
  3. Put on a dust mask, earplugs and safety glasses, then turn on the leaf blower and blow out the dust and debris.

Use the leaf blower to get under workbenches and clean off the benches themselves. If you don’t own a leaf blower, grab your shop vacuum and connect the hose to the exhaust port.

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How to Clean Rust Stains

All-purpose cleaners won’t remove rust stains from sinks, tubs and toilets, even with a lot of elbow grease. The trick is to use a stain remover like Iron Out. Look for a rust stain remover or a product that contains diluted hydrochloric acid (also listed on product labels as hydrogen chloride, HCL or muriatic acid). Be careful not to use a product containing bleach — it’ll set the stain. For alternative methods, these hacks will illustrate how to prevent rust spots.

For toilets, add Iron Out to the water in the bowl, then clean with a stiff nylon-bristled brush. For sinks and tubs, first wet the surface with water. Apply Super Iron Out to a damp sponge (wear rubber gloves and a mask — this stuff is powerful!). Wipe the stain with the sponge until it’s gone. Rinse the surface with plain water to remove all the Iron Out.

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Remove Pet Hair with Duct Tape

That’s right. We’ve found another use for duct tape — cleaning. The stickiness of duct tape makes it perfect for a makeshift pet hair remover, and this method is faster than vacuuming. It also works on seats in vehicles. A sponge or cloth wrapped with duct tape works great for getting into corners.

Wrap duct tape around a paint roller cover, sticky side out. Roll the paint cover over furniture or carpet to pick up the pet hair. Add more tape as the surface gets full of hair.

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soap scum
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Remove Bathroom Soap Scum

Soap has a nasty way of forming a hard-to-remove film on tile in tubs and showers, which makes it difficult to clean the bathroom. You won’t get rid of it by rubbing. Instead, wait for the surface to dry, then scrape off the scum with a 4-in. plastic putty knife. For grout lines and textured surfaces, use a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.

Keeping shower doors clean and streak free is a challenge — unless you know the pros’ secrets. Start by cleaning any mold, mildew or streaks off the glass with a glass cleaner. Use a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to get into the cracks in textured glass. Scrape off tough buildup with a razor blade. Dry the doors with a cloth.

To prevent soap scum buildup, stop using real soap and start using a synthetic. Chemically speaking, any soap in a liquid or gel form, and some bar soaps (Zest and Ivory), are actually synthetic soaps and much less likely to leave a tough film in your tub, shower or sink.

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FEB_2008_012_T_01
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Spot-Clean Food and Drink Spills

The best way to prevent stains is to treat spills immediately. That’s why pros love stain pens, like Tide to Go and the Clorox Bleach Pen Gel, which are designed to remove small stains from upholstery, grout, caulk, porcelain and clothing. (Avoid the bleach pens for colored fabric).

Just press the tip into the stain to release the solution, then rub the tip across the stain to remove it. Inexpensive and portable, they’re great at removing food and drink spills.

Tip: Before applying a cleaning solution to an entire surface or fixture, first test it on a tiny area to make sure it won’t damage or discolor the finish.