Greenapple Cleaning Services

Cleaning a bathroom is no easy job. Trust us – we do it every day. We also know the difference between a truly “clean” bathroom, and what is considered a tidying. Bathrooms consist of an abundance of areas where mold and mildew can fester and stay present for months or years when left unattended. You may think you’ve cleaned a bathroom thoroughly but in reality, you’ve barely scratched the surface of removing anything deep seated and in some cases, almost impossible to see with the naked eye. Typically, when we visit a home, the presence of mildew and mold is almost guaranteed, even in bathrooms that look clean. Mold and mildew will be wherever there is water and moisture, and your bathroom will be the most likely area in your home where it will rear its head.

Mold and mildew are a big deal. Recent scientific studies performed by organizations like the Mayo Clinic implicate household mold and mildew with the rapid rise of asthma in the last 20 years, and it is no secret that mold and mildew can negatively affect your health – weakening your immune system and stoking allergies. In a bathroom, mold buildup will naturally occur on tiles, the grout of tiles, countertops, toilets, and any other spot. A common misconception is that you need to apply bleach to kill the bacteria. This is wrong. As a matter of fact, the EPA recommends in most cases that you try to kill mold without bleach, unless someone in your home is already having a serious reaction to the presence of mold.

Lemon Juice

EarthEasy, the online sustainable living resource and advocate, suggests using undiluted lemon juice for home mold cleaning. Lemon juice, one of the strongest citric acids, works best when applied with a spray bottle and/or sponge and left to sit. The acid in lemon juice kills mold and allows for easy cleanup with warm, soapy water.  Another common mold removal remedy involving lemon juice calls for a single cup of both lemon juice and table salt diluted in a gallon of hot water. Apply the solution with a spray bottle or sponge, allow it to set and rinse with warm soapy water as well. Undiluted lemon juice typically works better than most lemon juice mixtures.

Tea Tree Oil

Nothing works on mold as fast or as well as tea tree oil. Mix 2 teaspoons of tea tree oil with two cups of water in a spray bottle. Shake the mixture well and spray directly on mold. You don’t have to rinse tea tree oil, but any dirt or residue left washes away with warm soapy water. While a more expensive option, a small amount of oil cleans large areas of mold and mildew.

Sealed or Unsealed? That is the question.

You’ll need to determine this first. Most hardwood floors are sealed – but some aren’t. The simple reason for getting this out of the way first is that you never put liquid of any kind on an exposed and unsealed wood floor. Some clients will have wood floors that have been worn down, include unsealed areas, or in older homes in some cases, include floors that have recesses and spacing. You’ll often find this in 100 plus year old homes. The damp mop is an excellent method for doing a cleaning application on a sealed floor. Murphy’s Oil is also a great cleaning solution for sealed wood floors, and it contains no bleach or ammonia. It’s also home safe. Leaving water or any other liquid on a hardwood floor for too long is never advised, whether you floor is sealed or unsealed – however – an unsealed floor will have a significantly increased risk of wood damage and warping if water is left to sit for even a very short period of time. If your floor is unfinished, or has unsealed areas as a result of wear – we suggest simple vacuuming until the wood is treated.  Waxed floors also fall under the “no liquid” rule as well, as they are susceptible to water damage. We perform an assessment of hardwood in a home prior to beginning a job to determine the best way to approach cleaning it.

We always recommend vacuuming a hardwood floor prior to the cleaning application, as well as thoroughly cleaning and dusting baseboards. Dust settles very effectively on the edge of baseboards – transferring to the floor very easily after a cleaning. Swiffer cloths are a solid means for picking up dust, especially under areas like dining room or living room furniture. A damp cloth is also a good method. The surface of a floor is not the only area that needs to be cleaned.

Depending on the amount of traffic in your house, you may only have to clean hardwood floors once a week, however, as an extra precaution, we recommend people remove footwear when they enter the house. By doing this, you may limit the amount of heel marks imprinted into the floors and the maintenance required in the future, not to mention dust reduction.

Seems like a simple thing, but you’d be surprised how many hardwood owners inadvertently damage hardwood when attempting to clean. Even if a small area is unsealed, we recommend simply vacuuming.