General Cleaning | Sonoran Cleaning Services

A study has shown that the average American dedicates an average of 110 minutes a day to household chores. The majority of this time is spent scrubbing kitchen counters and doing laundry, with a separate study showing that 24% of Americans consider laundry and surface cleaning their preferred chore. There is, however, a gaping hole in this study. A dusty, grimy and neglected hole, one that you might say hasn’t been dusted for months.

There are many plausible reasons as to why dusting becomes an afterthought to homeowners, office workers and anyone who spends long stretches of the day indoors.

One that it’s not immediately obvious. Dust, being made out of tiny particles such as dead skin cells, soot, spoors, decaying insects, and dust mites isn’t going to immediately stand out. You’d need a microscope to see the first layers of dust, and most of us have a nasty habit of dusting once the fetid pileup has become visible to the naked eye.

The key is to be aware that there’s dust all around even when you think there isn’t, it’s just natural – especially if you live near a construction site or work in a large office.

Next, you need to create a plan of action to stop the onset of dust and the many complications it tends to bring with it. With these complications ranging from serious respiratory problems to increased absenteeism from the workplace – it’s clear to see why we should dust and dust right.

Here’s a helpful guide to help you hone in your dusting skills and banish those tiny dust particles from your environment for good!

Get the Right Tools For the Job

Before you even begin dusting, you’ll need to be equipped with the proper tools for the job. Adequate dusting equipment is particularly crucial to ensure that you’re not just spreading the dust around. The best materials are those that will attach, absorb and hold onto dust particles.

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Microfiber cloths, electrostatic clots and even just a dampened cloth of any material can achieve this task. Microfiber and electrostatic cloths are highly efficient, durable, and don’t require you to use little to any chemical cleaning agents.

Also, microfiber or feather dusters are a great tool to use as well, as the surface area of the material will collect the most dust easily.

A vacuum with strong suction will be needed when cleaning high up surfaces, floors, carpets, upholstery, and couches. A dry and wet mop is also recommended if you wish to thoroughly dust your floors.

Why You Should Be Dusting Regularly

Dusting of the office place on a regular basis is crucial towards environmental safety. Not only will a dust-free area limit the number of sick days taken due to respiratory problems, but it will also increase creativity, satisfaction, and productivity of employees – not to mention keep all your electronics in working order and free from overheating or sluggish run-speeds.

How Often Should You Dust?

Only dusting during your annual spring clean just isn’t going to cut it anymore. Cleaning experts recommend that you dust easy-to-get-to surfaces at least once a weak and those hard-to-reach nooks and crannies once a month.

This is considered your safest option if your environment is of average dustiness. Dusting your surroundings daily if you suffer from respiratory problems or suffer from an allergy that flares up from pet hair or dust is vital.

Dusting of the office place should also be undertaken daily hence why many companies hire nightly cleaning services in order to keep their working surroundings spic and span!

How to Dust - The Proper Technique is Key

Start from the top and work your way down should be the motto of all good dusters. Think about it, any dust you dislodge from the higher surfaces will float their way down to the floor where you can then snap them up using the vacuum or mop.

It’s also recommended that you pick a distinct motion and stick to it, Clockwise or counter-clockwise for example. By being consistent in your movements you’ll be able to track exactly what ground you’ve covered and there will be no nasty streaks of dust or dirt left behind.

If you are using a duster, DO NOT use a fast back and forth motion like you may have seen on TV or other places. This I not the proper way to dust surfaces; all you are doing is spreading the dust around, you are not picking the dust up. So even with a duster, use a wiping motion.

Be sure to dust around any electronics with fans. Computer or machine fans do not take kindly to being disturbed with dust. Once a fan or system is clogged with dust, the machine will simply not run at optimal speed, perhaps even entirely giving up.

Carefully dust down any fan opening or cables that are exposed to dust using a completely dry cloth. This point is particularly pertinent for office workers who depend upon the proper functioning of their electrical equipment in order to achieve a job well-done.

Don't Forget the Floors

If it’s the floor you’re looking to dust then there’s no need to get down on your hands and knees and scrub – dusting covers for mops have made that a thing of the past! Stock up on these nifty covers that stretch over the top of your mop for your cleaning pleasure.

For that annoying encrusted dust that you might happen upon around your sinks and in many other areas of the bathroom, a chamois sponge is recommended. These sponges won't scrape away the ceramic of your bathroom, they are porous and soft with a deft ability to lift away hardened dust with ease.

Dust accumulates massively within carpets and upholstery. You might have witnessed this before if you’ve hit a cushioned seat hard and a plume of dust rose up around you. Vacuuming both carpets and any upholstered furniture weekly with a high-suction vacuum is enough to extract any caught dust.

The moral of the story is that you mustn’t neglect dusting! Even just a quick dusting session every day could eliminate many complications and keep your surroundings looking prim and proper.

An office may not be a place you specifically associate with germs. It’s professional, runs like clockwork, and is a source of productivity. It’s clear to see why an office environment may not correlate to filthiness in the eyes of many.

We must remember, however, that numerous people will spend up to 9 hours there – even more for the unfortunates burdened with overtime! Humans naturally have an outstanding amount of germs both on their exterior and interior. We carry all of our germs with us throughout the day – depositing them onto whatever we come into contact with (or happen to sneeze and cough upon.)

Discover just some of the dirtiest office areas that need thorough cleaning daily.

Coffee Maker

A person in need of coffee isn’t likely to have sanitation at the top of their priorities, neither is it considered an office apparatus that needs regular cleaning.

The closest a coffee maker may get to a wash is a quick wipe-down or water change. This simply doesn’t suffice when you take into consideration just how many people use it every day and how germy it has been proven to be.

The possibility of stale water, which germs thrive off, doesn’t do the much-loved coffee-maker many favors either.

A hired professional commercial cleaner would take this into account, the coffee maker would be spic-and-span every morning – ready to boost some drowsy workers!

Water Cooler

The humble water cooler fares no better than the coffee maker when it comes to cleanliness. Extracting the water from the cooler requires that you maintain your hand on the leaver for some time – allowing more time for bacteria transfer.

People need to drink so the water cooler isn’t going to get a break all day. This use leads to an accumulation of a variety of germs – office workers who would’ve never come into contact are all united by the water cooler.

It’s recommended that you use alcohol-based sanitize wipes to combat germs at moments like these. They are easily portable and don’t waste time.

Taps and Sinks

Surely that which we clean our hands with should be the most polished! We all know this not to be the case. Even automatic taps can be swarmed with germs.

Despite or constant cleansing of our hands, mugs, plates in sinks – the sink itself is rarely cleansed. A regular wipe down with hot and soapy water with a sanitizing agent should be undertaken repeatedly at regular intervals throughout the day.

This can be time-consuming and laborious for office workers who may have deadlines to meet. Once again, a professional office cleaner can save the day simply by being hired.

Elevator Buttons

This is an obvious germ-haven but they are inevitable for those working in the upper floors of a building or disabled workers. Just think about how often a day the floor buttons must be pushed every day – never mind the lobby button!

Elevator buttons have even been scientifically outed as being filthy! Pushing your desired button with the tip of your elbow is a recommended method to this quandary – this can appear quite bizarre and may leave you feeling silly.

As an alternative, you can stick to the classic of washing your hands with hot and soapy water for up to 20 seconds at every opportunity possible.

Door Handles

Asking office cleaning staff to be thorough on door handles is a must in large-scale offices. They’re necessary to the workplace and absolutely every used them, often placing their whole hand on the handle – leading to further germ spread.

We are adapted to have a natural disgust response to that which is outwardly putrid. If every door handle a worker comes into contact with is grimy and sticky – they certainly won’t have an enjoyable workday.

Regular inspection should be undertaken on the many handles of an office and due sanitation done if necessary.

Office Equipment

It may be the bane of any workers life but it’s necessary. As we have seen from previously looking into elevator buttons – anything to do with buttons tends to be germy and unsanitary.

Whether it be the buttons on a printer, copier or fax machine – we simply don’t take into account just how filthy they can be. Cleaning office equipment in the same manner as elevator buttons is highly recommended.

Keyboard

There’s sometimes just no time to put that pretzel or biscuit down if you’re about to send an urgent email or make a deal. Your keyboard and the crumbs falling onto, (and into,) it becomes a vague afterthought.

It’s not often that anyone subsequently picks up their keyboard after blasting it with crumbs and shakes the food bits out, never mind clean it. This coupled with the constant use of keyboards and the sneezes and coughs often directed at it has won it a place as one of the germiest aspects of an office.

To stave off the eerie sense of germs lingering beneath your fingers it is recommended that you use cans of compressed air that can be used to blow the debris out between the keys.

A daily wipe down using a suitable sanitizer is also suggested.

Desktop

The desktop is home to 400 times more germs than a toilet seat – ten million to be exact. That is a whopping 21,000 bacteria viruses and fungi per square inch!

It’s almost unbelievable how any works at a desk upon processing these facts! The chance of falling ill is immense. Luckily, the filth is not set in stone nor are the shocking figures.

Even just a daily thorough clean can remedy this hazard – something that we often neglect doing due to having other priorities.

Telephone

Last but not least – the telephone. You may protest that this won’t affect you as you only use mobile – mobile’s hold just the same amount if not more germs and bacteria than a phone.

The cleaning of phones is passed to the side and disregarded as being unnecessary which is remarkable considering that it is host to 25,000 germs per square inch. Beating the germ refuge that is the average desktop by up to 4,000 germs!

How do you cull the germ hazard?

There are many precautions against spreading germs that we can implement into our daily lives such as sneezing into our elbows, carrying sanitization wipes, washing our hands regularly but we often don’t have time to carry out the tedious task of cleaning that which we come into every day.

It is clear to see how an organized and dedicated team of professional commercial cleaners working both overnight and during the day can alleviate the stresses of a dirty work environment and help with the flow of an office workplace.

It is not sufficient that an office worker only cleans the area which they function in – all aspects of the office must be cleaned in order to prevent unnecessary contamination and contagion.

That's where the benefit of a professional nightly office cleaning service can take care of all the dirty places in your office and keep your office looking great and your employees feeling great.

Dusting. Why and How