As Spring quickly moves towards Summer, we know some of you are still working your way through your spring home maintenance projects, ensuring your home is clean floor to ceiling. There are two things, though, people often forget when cleaning their homes: ceiling fans and baseboards.
Spring time is especially great to clean your ceiling fans as a preparation for hot summer days. While you may think neither of these things can affect the cleanliness or air quality of your home, they can actually make quite an impact.
Ceiling Fans
Dust mites love stagnant dust, and the top and sides of ceiling fans are a great place for them to get comfy. A spinning, dirty fan can send these dust mites all over a room and its furnishings. Depending on how long it’s been since your ceiling fans have been cleaned, this can actually be considered a health risk, especially for those with allergy or sinus issues.
We suggest cleaning your ceiling fans at least at the beginning and the end of each season. We know cleaning ceiling fans can be a real struggle, but if you wait too long then eventually you could witness a huge clump of dust and dirt fly from your fan. Imagine having guests over for dinner and all of a sudden, a massive dust clump started spiraling towards the floor. Talk about embarrassing!
To avoid such an awkward moment, here’s what to do.
How to Clean Your Ceiling Fan:
Pro-Tip: Clean your fans first, this way any dust or dirt that falls onto furniture or floors will still be cleaned later.
Step 1: We recommend taping your fan’s switch, or switches if you have multiple fans in your home, down securely. Safety precautions are always a good idea.
Step 2: Lay down a towel or drop cloth underneath the fan, try to make sure it covers the size of the blades. This will make for easier cleanup as you wipe off each blade and dust or dirt fall down.
Step 3: Choose your method. There are several ways you can clean a ceiling fan, but here are our top 3 picks:
1. Spray the inside of a pillow case with a mixture of water and 2 tablespoons of distilled white vinegar. Slip the pillow case over each blade, and slide it off to trap dust. We recommend continuing to use the same pillow case, and moving it for each blade, using clean sections each time.
2. Buy a product specifically for cleaning ceiling fans. Not everyone has a step ladder tall enough to allow optimal reach, but there are adjustable high reach cleaning kits available. You can find a variety of these at your local home improvement stores or online. We recommend finding a microfiber fan duster as this will trap more dirt and dust, and send less of it flying through the house.
3. If your fan is a bit grimy, use a cotton cloth or wash cloth along with the same water and vinegar mixture used for the pillow case method. You could also get away with your multi-surface spray, though we suggest reading the labels to ensure the material of your fan is covered.
After cleaning: Take the towel or drop cloth you laid under the fan, along with the pillow case if used, and go to your outdoor trash can or dumpster and shake out the dust bunnies. Turn the pillow case inside out to make sure you’ve shaken out as much as possible. Then, throw the drop cloth and the inside out pillow case into the washer to clean them as well and you’re all set.
Baseboards
You may think these get cleaned when you sweep or mop, especially if you’re one of those people who use the broom or a Swiffer to quickly wipe them down, but in reality, you want to give your baseboards a little more cleaning care at least once each season. This is specifically true if you have pets, as your furry friends’ hair can coat those baseboards pretty heavily if gone too long without cleaning.
Like with most cleaning projects, there are various ways you can clean baseboards, it really just depends on how dirty they are and how much time you want to dedicate to cleaning them.
Magic Erasers
One tool that many people use to deep clean their baseboards is the well-known Magic Eraser, or another brand that makes a similar product. These are great at getting rid of those seemingly hard to get rid of scuff marks, and trapping dust and dirt. If you’re more of a DIY person, here are some great instruction on how to make your own version of Magic Erasers.
Cleaning Wipes
You can also use your standard cleaning wipes, just be sure to check the label to know the material of your baseboards are covered. This may take a bit longer, and the scuff marks may be more difficult to get rid of, but if you stay on top of cleaning these, a simple and quick wipe down with cleaning wipes may be all you need each season.
Floor Scrubbers and other Baseboard Cleaning Products
Some baseboards are ornate and have lots of hard to reach crevices. If you have baseboards like this, there are specially designed scrubbers and tools online and in home improvement stores that you can purchase. Many of these have longer handles so they will prevent you from having to get on the floor and exhaust more manual labor than you probably want to.
Pro-Tips:
If you use a form of water, be careful that you use sparingly and don’t let it seep behind the baseboards down the wall. Remember, you can always add little by little.
Want to make them smell a bit better? Use dryer sheets. They’re great at capturing dust and will add just a subtle sweet scent.
Happy Cleaning!
Your home is your safe space and where memories are made, and it deserves to be clean and provide you and your family with a healthy environment. Stay tuned for more spring cleaning tips and home improvement ideas on our blog. Like us on Facebook and know when a new blog has been posted!
Did any of these cleaning tips work for you? Let us know in the comments below or join the conversation on our Facebook page! Feel free to share any of your tips and tricks, too!