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How to GREEN are Green Products

When it comes to cleaning your home, you can’t go wrong when using green cleaning products. But many homeowners often find it difficult to determine regular cleaning products from green ones. After all, what determines whether or not a cleaning product is green? Here at Universal Cleaners, we only use green cleaning products, and we’d like to share a few tips with you about choosing eco-friendly products to clean your home with.

Understand that there are Many Green Products

From toilet bowl cleaners to moping products, there are many green cleaning supplies for you to take advantage of. In fact, did you know that North Americans spend around $600M each year on cleaners? And this is just the monies they spend on products that are supposedly eco-friendly.

Purchase from Retailers You Trust

Although many cleaning products claim to be eco-friendly, this doesn’t mean they are. This is why you should always purchase your cleaning supplies from retailers you trust. More importantly, purchase the products from companies that go to great lengths to prove how green their products really are.

ALWAYS LOOK FOR THIRD-PARTY CERTIFICATION

Next, you’ll want to make sure the products you are investing in have certification of some sort through a third-party. There are two primary third parties that you should look for approval from, including EcoLogo and Green Seal. When purchasing cleaning supplies that have been approved by these parties, you can rest assured that they are eco friendly. In order to receive certification through these two entities, a product must go through extensive industry-standard cleaning tests. All ingredients must be disclosed as well as the possible effects if the product was to be ingested.

Furthermore, products that are friendly to the environment will have went through testing that ensures they don’t have negative effects on the planet, including both human and nonhuman life. The products must be biodegradable, and they can’t be acutely toxic to fish or algae. Additionally, there is a limit on the amount of phosphorous that the products can contain. And lastly, the products must be packaged in containers that are recyclable.

If you’re looking for green cleaning products, your best bet is to invest in ones that have the Green Seal. And don’t forget that when taking advantage of Universal Cleaners cleaning services, your business will always be cleaned using today’s latest environmentally-friendly cleaners.

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Home Cleaning Home Maintenance
18.05.2017

How to: Clean Ceramic Floors

Ceramic tile floors are a popular flooring option. They’re durable, but like all floors, they need care and cleaning. Here are some smart tips on how to clean tile floors.

Sweep or vacuum your tile floors a couple of times a week. Sand and grit can dull and scratch the surface. Once you’ve removed the dirt, you’re ready to mop. Mix a mild detergent with hot water and apply with a rag or chamois mop instead of a sponge mop. A sponge mop pushes dirty water into the grout and soils it. Change your bucket of cleaning solution often so you won’t have a dirty mop that leaves a cloudy film of dirt on the floor. If you do end up with a hazy film on your tile floor, remove with an all-purpose cleaner. Make sure it’s non-abrasive so it won’t scratch the floor. You can also make your own cleaner by mixing lemon juice or vinegar with hot water. Apply it to the floor and then buff dry with a clean cloth. You can use a towel that you push over the floor with your foot.

One of the most important things in knowing how to clean tile floors is keeping the grout clean. Dirty grout equals dingy-looking floors. Grout is porous and easily absorbs dirt, grease and other materials. Spray the grout with a commercially prepared grout cleaner. You can also use a mild bleach solution. It’s a good idea to wear gloves when using these types of products. For deep stains, allow the cleaner to sit for 10 minutes. Use a toothbrush or other small scrub brush to scrub the grout.

For stubborn grout stains, mix a paste of baking soda and water. Apply it to the stain, let it sit overnight and then scrub with a nylon brush. Don’t use a metal brush as it will scratch the tile. Let the grout air dry, then put on a silicone-based grout sealer to resist future stains and dirt.

Here’s how to clean ceramic tile that has been stained. For coffee, tea or juice stains, wash the tile surface with hot water and detergent, then blot with hydrogen peroxide. For grease stains, wash with club soda and water, or a commercial floor cleaner. For ink stains, soak a cloth in diluted bleach and lay it on top of the stain. Leave the cloth until the stain is gone. Rinse thoroughly when done.

Knowing how to clean ceramic tile floors properly will keep them looking lovely and help them last for years.

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Home Cleaning Home Maintenance Uncategorized
25.04.2017

How to Deodorize your Home

Learn how to deodorize your home using the following tips.

Treat the Cause Not the Symptoms

One common mistake many people make is masking the odor. While your candle warmer or favorite room spray may spread pleasant scents when used, you need to actually remove odors from your home if you want it to smell nice all of the time.

Now that you’re armed with this knowledge, you’re ready to learn how to deodorize your home.

How to Remove Odors from Your Home

Surely you’ve heard the expression “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” This adage holds true when it comes to figuring out how to deodorize your home. The best way to maintain a pleasant smelling house is to create a regular cleaning routine and stick with it.

To actually deodorize your home, you can sprinkle baking soda on floors and furniture and vacuum it up. Baking soda neutralizes odors instead of just masking them. Note: If you have pets, you’ll want to make sure they’re not in the room until you’ve vacuumed up the baking soda as it can make animals ill.

In addition, you want to look at other ways you can minimize smells such as:

Leaving gross shoes and sneakers outside or investing in foot odor products
Washing your pets when they’re dirty and keeping bedding and litter boxes clean
Taking out the trash regularly and cleaning your trash cans when they begin to smell
Washing dishes on a daily basis
Keeping sink drains free of food debris
Replacing your kitchen sponge before it starts to stink
Maintaining a clean refrigerator
Doing laundry on a regular basis
Keeping sporting and fishing gear outdoors or in the garage
Tossing out unrefrigerated produce or other foods before they spoil
Opening windows (when the weather is nice) to air out your home
Leaving your bathroom door open after showers so the room gets some ventilation
Making sure no one in the family is leaving food, dirty dishes or piles of smelly laundry in his or her room

What if You Can’t Remove Odors from Your Home?

If you’ve tried deodorizing and have directly treated what you thought to be the source of the smell, you may be dealing with a more serious issue than a stinky trash can or stale laundry. Foul odors that hang around could be a sign that mold is growing somewhere in your home.

A simple clean won’t do the trick when mold is involved. Instead, you’ll need to contact a professional that’s equipped to deal with this issue. And don’t put off getting help with mold control. When left to linger mold can cause serious health issues, including headaches, breathing difficulties, skin irritation, allergic reactions and aggravation of asthma symptoms.

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Home Cleaning Home Maintenance
20.04.2017

Spring Cleaning: Windowsills & Tracks

Use the following how-to guides to keep your windowsills, frames and tracks worthy of the shiny glass they support.

How to Clean Windowsills

Like baseboards, windowsills attract their fair share of dust. Additionally, if you’re lucky enough to live in a climate that allows you to open your windows often, your sills maybe covered with gummy smudges and fingerprints.

You’ll need:

Spray bottle
Dishwashing liquid
microfiber cloths

Fortunately, cleaning windowsills isn’t difficult, and it’s not a very time-consuming task either. Therefore, it should be fairly easy to work this chore into your regular cleaning schedule.

First, wipe the windowsills with a dry microfiber cloth to remove any dust. If you still have residue left, you can move on to the following steps.
In a spray bottle, mix a few drops of dishwashing liquid with warm water.
Spritz a microfiber cloth with your solution until it’s dampened.Note: It’s especially important to apply your cleaner to the cloth — and not the windowsills themselves — if you have wooden window frames. Oversaturating wood can damage the finish or paint. Worse yet, too much liquid could cause the wood to warp.
Gently wipe the windowsill and the frame. For heavier smudges, apply a little bit of pressure with your fingertips.
Wipe your windowsills down with a dry microfiber cloth.
Now that the windowsills are clean, maintain by dusting weekly or every two weeks as part of your routine house cleaning.

How to Clean Window Tracks

Even if you never open your windows, dirt, dust and dead insects will find a way into your window tracks. Because of this, you should make cleaning the tracks a part of your housekeeping agenda during your fall or spring cleaning.

If the dirt or dust in your window tracks is loose, you can use a vacuum cleaner attachment or a small crevice tool to clean it out. For packed on grit, however, you’ll need to put a little more elbow grease into the process.

You’ll need:

Vacuum with crevice tool
Plastic putty knife
Disposable wipes
Microfiber cloth

Follow these steps to clean window tracks when the dirt is really caked on.

Prepare the area by using a vacuum cleaner with a crevice tool attachment to clear out any loose soil, dust bunnies or expired insects.
Use a disposable wipe to remove soil build up from the center of the track.
Wrap a disposable wipe around a plastic putty knife and angle knife to clean the crevices and corners.
Wipe the track dry with a clean microfiber cloth.
Repeat as necessary until all of the dirt is removed.

Make sure your sparkling windowpanes aren’t dulled by dirty surroundings; dedicate a few minutes each week to cleaning windowsills and tracks. The overall effect will be worth it in the long run.

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Tree Pollen Allergy Cleaning Universal Cleaners Inc Hamilton Ontario

Home Cleaning Home Maintenance Uncategorized
18.04.2017

Cleaning Tips for Allergy Sufferers

Anyone who suffers from allergies can tell you: they’re for real. And the allergens inside the house, like molds, house dust, dust mites, and pet dander can be just as intense as outdoor triggers like springtime pollen.

To help allergy-proof your home and reduce the symptoms of hay fever and allergic asthma, The Mayo Clinic recommends a weekly house cleaning routine that includes:

Damp-mopping hard floors
Removing dust from all surfaces including easy-to-forget ones like ceiling fans, windowsills, window frames, and the tops of doors

Another tip: Keep your house cooler (70⁰ F or below) and drier (relative humidity at 50% or below) to create indoor conditions less hospitable to dust mites and mold spores.

For other tips to reduce allergens, you might consider replacing moldy shower curtains, switching out horizontal blinds for more washable roller-type shades, and hiring a contractor to install a vented exhaust fan above your kitchen stove.

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Quality Assurance Professional Cleaning Hamilton Universal Cleaners Inc

Home Cleaning Home Maintenance Uncategorized
28.03.2017

Your Changing Season Cleaning Checklist

As the seasons changes so should your cleaning strategies. Here are some of the most important tasks to check off your list to keep your home clean and organized.

Ceiling Fans

Are your fans turning in the right direction to properly circulate air? Rotating the airflow on ceiling fans during summer and winter will not only help create a more comfortable living environment, but also allows you to adjust your thermostat in order to reduce energy consumption and lower monthly utility bills. For a cool, summer breeze effect during the warmer months, fan blades should rotate counterclockwise in order to force the air down. In the winter, ceiling fans should run in reverse or rotate clockwise at a low speed, to pull air up and redistribute warm air throughout the room. Today, most ceiling fans include remote controls that make rotating the direction of the fan blades easy. If your fan does not have a remote, shift the switch or button on the base of the fan.

Air Filters

Changing your air filters is crucial to the proper performance of your HVAC system and protecting your family’s health. Air filters significantly affect your homes indoor quality. Dust, pet hair and other allergens often get trapped in your home’s HVAC registers and air vents. Additionally, if moisture is present, it is possible that spores from microbiological growth, such as mold, can be released into the home’s living space. As a general rule of thumb, replace air filters every thirty to ninety days. If you have pets or suffer from asthma and allergies you may need to change your filters more frequently.

Mattresses

To help alleviate allergy triggers, use an upholstery brush to vacuum mattresses in order to remove dead skin cells, pet dander and dust mites. Additionally, improved technology has enabled us to stopping flipping mattresses; however, to prolong it’s life and to prevent sagging and body impressions, it is important to rotate the mattress every three to six months. Do not forget to rotate your box spring while you are at it.

Fridge and Pantry

Next, turn your attention to the refrigerator and toss out any food that is expired. Remove all of the items and give the shelves and drawers a good scrubbing with a natural cleaning solution, such as vinegar, to sanitize the surface before replacing them. Then, inspect all items in the pantry and discard those that are expired. Pay special attention to spices and baking goods, which are not used as often.

Bathroom

One area of the bathroom that is often neglected is the shower curtain and liner, which can harbor soap scum, mold and mildew. While different factors come into play, such as ventilation and how many are using the shower, it is important to wash the shower curtain and replace the liner between three months and one year. For a greener approach, wash the curtain on a gentle cycle with mild detergent and ½ cup of distilled white vinegar and hang dry.

Wardrobes

The changing of the seasons should be your cue to evaluate what’s in your closet. You are more likely to wear what you can see. Accordingly it is important to swap out seasonal clothing, storing items you don’t need and hanging or folding ones that you do. Organizing and rotating your clothing will also enable you to see what you have and identify classic pieces that you will want to preserve. Sort clothing into keep, donate and toss piles to help declutter at the same time.

Safety First

Finally, your bi-annual cleaning ritual is a great time to test and replace the batteries in your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors.

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Home Cleaning Home Maintenance
22.02.2017

How to Make a Daily Cleaning Schedule

Your daily grind can make it challenging to keep your house clean and tidy. At the same time, it’s much more enjoyable to relax and unwind in a clean home. But where will you find the time to keep up with your housework throughout a hectic week?

Believe it or not, it’s possible to incorporate a daily house cleaning routine into your busy weekly calendar. How? By creating a housework schedule. Assigning specific chores to certain days of the week allows you to break down what may seem like an overwhelming task, so that you’re left with manageable cleaning jobs.

Take a look that the following house cleaning checklist for an example of what a little strategic planning can do for you.

Monday: Clean the Bathrooms

Your bathroom probably needs a little TLC after the weekend, so go ahead and get this chore out of the way early in the week. Save the heavy-duty cleaning, like scrubbing grout, for the weekend and focus on smaller aspects of the bathroom. Clean your toilet and get rid of all the toothpaste marks on the sink and mirror. You may also want to freshen up the linens in your bathroom.

Tuesday: Dust and Vacuum Common Areas

Dust, dander and the pet hair can all build up if left unchecked, so be certain to make time in your daily housework schedule for fighting fluff and fuzz. Lightly dust surface areas in your living room, dining room and bonus room. Remember to hit ceiling fans and blinds, and don’t forget to sweep cobwebs from the corners. Afterwards, run the vacuum to bust any dust that’s fallen, using an upholstery attachment to clean drapes and furniture.

Wednesday: Scrub the Kitchen

Naturally, you’re making sure your countertops are wiped down after meal preparation and you’re washing dishes on a daily basis, so those are two things you’ve already worked into your daily house cleaning routine. Today you’ll also focus on the other areas in the kitchen. Wipe down the refrigerator door and handle, along with the stovetop and your cabinets. Additionally, toss any expired food that’s in the fridge, and check your trash can to see if it needs to be cleaned.

Thursday: Tidy Your Entryway and Bedrooms

If you’ve organized your mudroom, it shouldn’t take too long to clean it up. You’ll probably just need to do a bit of tidying, followed by a quick sweep or vacuum. That means you have ample time to fit the bedrooms in your daily house cleaning routine.

Ask family members to pick up their bedroom floors, making sure toys, shoes and clothes are all put away or deposited in the laundry room. Then, do some light dusting of surface areas as you tidy items on desks and dressers. Afterwards, have family members take turns vacuuming the floors in their rooms.

Friday: Clear the Clutter from Your Mind

You’ve worked hard all week and stuck to your daily routine. Take a night off to veg out in your tidy home. You deserve it! If you must clean, toss the bedding in the laundry. That way you can relax with a book or movie as it washes and dries.

If you live with roommates or family members, make sure you get them involved in the daily house cleaning routine. Don’t forget to check chores off your house cleaning checklist so you can enjoy a feeling of accomplishment. And if you miss a day every now and then, don’t worry. Life happens, and you can always pick up where you left off next week.

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Home Cleaning Home Maintenance
22.02.2017

Have You Been Cleaning your House in the Wrong Order?

When you clean your house, do you randomly start in one room and then move to the next with little rhyme or reason why? If you do, you’re not alone.

However, it’s important to map out a plan of attack when it comes to cleaning house. If you don’t, your cleaning won’t be as efficient. Additionally, planning your cleaning makes the task more manageable.

So what’s the right order for cleaning house? Take a look.

Clean the Most Difficult Room First

The bathroom may be one of the smaller rooms in the house, but it’s also more time-consuming when to clean. You not only have to wash the shower and tub, but there’s also the toilet, the sink and all those little fixtures that need to be scrubbed and polished.

Because cleaning the bathroom is so time and labor intensive, it’s a good idea to make it the first room you clean. Afterwards, all your other chores will seem easier. Additionally, if you save the bathroom for last, you may be so tired when you get to it that you abandon the task.

Up Next: Dusting and Organizing

Now you’ll want to tackle the dusting throughout your house. Why? When you clean, all that dust has to go somewhere, right? Typically, that place is on the floor. And if you clean the floors before you take on the dusting, you’re just going to have dirty floors again.

Make your way throughout the house using a duster, dust mop and a vacuum cleaner. You’ll want to be certain you get those easily forgotten areas such as ceiling fans, baseboards and blinds. As you dust surfaces like the tops of coffee tables and dressers, take the time to organize disheveled areas.

Move on to Mopping and Vacuuming

Now your floors are covered with dust, so it’s time to clean them. First, vacuum throughout the house first. You’ll want to do this even on hard-surface floors, as vacuuming is much easier than sweeping and has the same end result.

Afterwards, you can mop or clean your floors as needed. In rooms like the bathroom and kitchen, you may need to mop the floor each time you clean your house. Floors in other rooms, however, might not need to be cleaned every single time unless there have been spills or pet accidents.

Final Course: Cleaning The Kitchen

If you regularly wipe down the counters and tackle spills when they happen, cleaning the kitchen should be fairly easy. After all, the floor is already clean.

To clean your kitchen, simply wipe down the outside of your refrigerator, cabinets and appliances. Next, clean your stovetop, microwave and sink. And that’s it for the kitchen. Easy, right?

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