Classy and Fresh – How to Prepare up Your Home for Spring
No one likes spring cleaning, and healthy homes go beyond the daily dusting and vacuuming. When is the last time you washed that one wall, you know THAT one? By following our tips, we can get you, your family and home ready for a healthy, clean spring season.
- Get Your Mind Out of the Gutter
Cleaning your gutters isn’t hard but requires a few steps. Grab the ladder and clean the leaves and debris from your gutters. Put on some gloves and remove as much as you can with your hands and remove any leftover gunk with a wash from the garden hose. You can shove the hose into the downspout to really push the gunk and debris through the bends. I’m sure you’ve done it already but just make sure your downspouts direct water at least five feet from foundation walls. If this task feels like one of the Twelves Labours of Hercules to you consider mesh guards or gutter whiskers so that come next spring this is one thing you can leave off your Honey-Do List.
- That’s Wall Folks!
Nothing can make your space look and smell cleaner than washing those walls. Remove all paintings and wall art and move all furnishings away from the walls in the bathroom, kitchen, bedrooms and living areas that you wish to clean. Place drop cloths to protect surfaces like hardwood and avoid plastic because when wet they become slippery surfaces. Dust the walls and any permanent design features like cornices, trim, baseboards, basically anywhere more difficult to wash. Prepare two buckets: one with your cleaning mixture and the other with clean water for rinsing and use a different sponge or cloth for each bucket. Be aware of what kind of wall you are cleaning; paint vs wallpaper will change how you clean them so be informed! Once your wall is clean don’t forget your baseboards and outlets, often both are white and contrasted against a clean wall they can reveal you’ve cut corners and make sure to completely dry outlet covers before replacing.
Cleaning recipe
- 4 litres of warm water
- 1 generous squirt of dishwashing detergent
Cleaning PLUS recipe
- 4 litres of warm water
- 1 generous squirt of dishwashing detergent
- A cup of white vinegar
- A cup of clear ammonia
- No-Filter Is Acceptable for Instagram But Not Your Furnace
It is time to replace all filters in your house. The furnace filter is a pretty obvious one, but there are more furnaces needing replacement or at the very least cleaning, including whole house water filters, range hood filters and air vent filters. You should replace these filters every 3-6 months depending on the type of filter you have, and we cannot stress enough never run any of these without a filter, especially running the furnace or air conditioning without a furnace filter. An added touch you can put dryer sheets in your air vents and when the heat kicks in your house will get a little burst of fragrance.
- Don’t Suffer A Shower Outage
When we’re spring cleaning, nothing beats a good shower after all the chores, but if your showerhead is spraying unevenly then the nossel tiny holes have gotten plugged. You’ll be surprised by how much natural shower-cleaning ingredients like vinegar and baking soda can remove, and vinegar will neutralize all smells which can also be incredibly helpful for plumbing and drain cleaning. To start, unscrew the faucet aerators, sink sprayers and showerheads, and soak them in an equal parts vinegar and water solution. For extra cleaning power, scoop a few tablespoons of baking soda in the vinegar for soaking. Let them soak for an hour, then rinse with warm water and scrub with a toothbrush if needed. If you can’t remove your showerhead or if your showerhead is made with chrome, stainless steel, or other protected metal surfaces you can soak your showerhead by submerging it in a plastic bag using the same vinegar water solution with an elastic band to hold it in place.
- Hose Line Is It Anyway?
A clogged dryer vent can be a fire hazard and should be cleaned every time you rotate laundry loads, but how often are you cleaning the hose and the vent in the back? A dirty dry vent is a serious fire hazard and it’ll waste your time, energy and money, additionally the dryer won’t work well either. To clean it, disconnect the vent from the back of the dryer and use a vent brush to remove lint. You can buy dryer vent brush kits, complete with everything you need to get this bad boy running clean, safe, and efficient. On the outside of your house remove the dryer vent cover and use the brush to remove the lint and make sure the vent cover flap moves freely.
- What A Pane to Wash!
We know, washing windows in a pain the butt, but with some tips we can help it be quick and easy. Do you ever find your windows are dusty and dirty looking, right after you just cleaned them? Cleaning your windows with wadded-up paper towels or newspaper, spray cleaner, and a bunch of rubbing just moves dirt around from one spot to another by putting a static charge on the glass, which attracts dust and dirt. There are many ways to clean your windows, and often using vinegar is a tried and true method. We want you to ditch the cloths, paper towels, and spray bottles and adopt the squeegee method. By Using a squeegee your windows look cleaner for longer. If you do wish to use a sponge prior to the squeegee we strongly recommend using a natural sponge vs synthetic because they absorb more water and dirt but also are more coarse allowing for less effort.
- Have You Found Pests? You Can Vent to Us.
Some bungalows with a crawl space have exterior vents along the foundation walls, so this might be a spring-cleaning option you can skip over. Cleaning the vents is integral to provide more efficient air circulation that helps prevent excess moisture and mold growth, but also keeps your heating and cooler costs lower. By cleaning these vents along your foundation, you can also prevent pests from taking up residence underneath your home. The vent screens collect leaves and other debris from fall and winter and so we feel spring is a great time to clean them out and check for damage. The vents by easily cleaned by hand or use a shop vacuum but remember to repair any damaged screens promptly – pests can get through even the smallest holes.
- I Wouldn’t Go So Fire as To Skip Checking This.
One of the most important and often forgotten are your smoke alarms and CO detectors. It is important for the safety of your home and family that they are checked often, it is recommended that smoke detectors should be tested at least once a month and batteries should be replaced at least once or twice a year. To test your device, press and hold the test button on the smoke detector, it can take a few seconds to begin. A loud, ear-piercing siren should emanate from the smoke detector while the button is pressed, if the sound is weak or nonexistent, replace your batteries. It is cost effective, only takes a few minutes and can save your family’s lives.
While you’re checking fire alarms, you can also install a water detector alarm, they too are battery operated and are installed where your sump pump is. These handy devices will alarm you at water leakage and any early signs of flooding or a sewer backing up. Water alarms can keep your home clean and dry, which ultimately equates as healthier.
Spring is the season of new beginnings, hopefully our suggestions have given you some. Afterall, cleanliness is next to… healthiness and maintaining your home means when you call us it’s for a refresh, not a repair.
Building Communities Together. North Canadian Construction.