What’s the Lowdown on Cleaning Services?
When one thinks of cleaners, it is natural to think of those lovely ladies who come to our homes once or twice weekly to restore our houses to their usual standards of cleanliness. These domestic workers are working people’s “magical genies” who wash, iron, clean, dust, sweep, mop, polish and sometimes even reorganize our home lives into a more workable and tidier format. And who would say no to such services?
Cleaning goes beyond simple house cleaning
As indispensable as they are, our domestic workers are not the only cleaners we rely upon. Let us not forget that offices, hospitals, hotels, shops and so many other businesses rely upon their dedicated cleaning teams to keep their premises looking spic-and-span for their clients.
What is the difference between regular cleaning services vs. specialty cleaning services?
Some items cannot be cleaned through anything other than specialised cleaning services. Materials such as Persian rugs, porous floor and wall tiles, mattresses, duvet inners, curtains, upholstery, and grimy outdoor concrete areas, to name a few, cannot be cleaned through traditional methods of soap and water. Such services can be roughly defined as those cleaning activities which do not form part of your regular cleaning requirements but are necessary to maintain a healthy and appealing environment for all. These are the professional services which tackle the more challenging cleaning requirements that you cannot do yourself.
Let’s consider cold room cleaning – condensation, moisture, and mould (plus bacteria) are all factors to be considered when looking at this environment. Unless food or organic items are kept below freezing point, there is always the opportunity for bacteria to grow, and moisture in closed environments will eventually lead to the growth of mould.
Any building that has not been adequately waterproofed will ultimately play host to dangerous black mould which can lead to major health problems such as spores being breathed in and finding their way into the lungs, which can lead to seizures, serious persistent infections and even death. Cleaning black mould is not a job for soap and water but should be tackled by specialists in the field with the correct chemicals which are, in themselves, toxic if handled incorrectly.
Medical facilities, by their very nature, are potential breeding grounds for a variety of viral, bacterial, and fungal contaminants. Professional medical office cleaning services help reduce cross-contamination and improve infection control. These cleaning services come with a chemical arsenal to ensure that these areas are kept as sterile as possible.
Restaurants and fast-food shops, by their very nature, are areas which offer numerous breeding grounds for bacteria. Whilst it is common practice to clean the tables with antibacterial sprays as soon as each customer leaves, other elements such as grease traps, exhaust fans, ducts and filters need to be deep cleaned by specialists in their fields on a regular basis. It should be possible for any health inspector to give a clean bill of health to any eating establishment, which would verify the absence of rats and mice, ants, flies, and cockroaches. Specialised pest control cleaning services come into their own at such times.
As far as household fabrics are concerned, not all fabrics can be cleaned the same way. Specialised carpet and upholstery cleaning services will tackle carpets, Persian rugs, living room sofas and chairs, whilst dry cleaning will bring new life to larger items such as curtains and duvets, as well as clothes which cannot be washed in the normal household washing machine. Dry cleaning does not use water but relies on high-end chemicals to remove persistent grease and stains from fabrics.
Pressure washing service involves the process of using a high-pressure stream of water to blast away outdoor mould (that green, slimy stuff that becomes so treacherously slippery when wet), soot, ingrained grime and dirt and even flaking and loose paint from outdoor walls, brick and concrete paving, roofs, wooden decks, boats, and any other outdoor surface which can stand up to this form of cleaning.
Window cleaning services are yet another specialised service which is so necessary in our modern lives. Many contemporary houses are built on multi-levels, with picture windows or even glass walls to the exterior, and architects now favour buildings with as many windows as possible, including office buildings. Whilst it is relatively easy to clean all these windows on the inside, without specialised window cleaning companies and their equipment which allows them access to windows at any height or storey, the exterior windows would soon lose their sparkle and effectiveness due to weather conditions, dust, and pollution.
