Did You Know? Dust Is Hiding in These 12 Areas in Your Condo | Maid4Condos
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Did You Know? Dust Is Hiding in These 12 Areas in Your Condo

Did You Know? Dust Is Hiding in These 12 Areas in Your Condo
May 25, 2020

You clean every week, or hopefully, at least you try. Even the tiniest condo owners might be missing some key areas of their home that are hidden dust magnets. Your home might seem to sparkle and always have everything in its place, but dust has a way of finding great places to hide.

 Areas where dust tends to hide in your condo

Dust is filled with allergens, so you want to make sure you are removing it effectively so you can breathe a little easier. Here we look at the 12 most common areas dust tends to hide in condos:

1. Baseboards

Even if you’ve wiped down your baseboards, the issue is not the surface, but what lies below. Often when baseboards are installed in condos, they aren’t done as well because installers have hundreds of rooms to tackle on each floor of the building. As a result, baseboards are loose.

Loose baseboards attract dust particles that remain trapped between the floor and boards, or between the wall and boards. Using your vacuum hose attachment along your boards every few months will keep this dust build-up to a minimum.

2. Carpets and area rugs

Carpeting and area rugs hold in dust, even when you vacuum regularly. In fact, vacuuming actually forces dirt down while removing only surface crumbs and debris after each swipe. Most people overlook their area rugs altogether.

A professional carpet cleaning is a good idea at least once a year, and if you have pets, twice a year is better. Area rugs can be taken outside and shaken, but you can also include them when the professional cleaners come.

3. Your mattress

Those nasty dust mites love to live in your mattress. Every night you shed dead skin cells. Even if you wash your sheets regularly, your mattress remains untouched. You can vacuum your mattress regularly to remove as much dust, dirt, dead skin, and mites as possible, but you might have the same effect of pushing down dust further into the mattress like your carpets.

A good healthy tip is to sprinkle your mattress with baking soda, open up your curtains and allow sunshine to hit the surface. After several hours, vacuum away the powder. This is great at helping lift away dust, while also acting as a natural deodorizer. In fact, if your room doesn’t get sunlight, but your living room does, it is worth lugging your mattress out and lying it in the sun to get the best results.

4. Wood floorboards

As with your baseboards, wood and laminate floors can gather dust between each floorboard. From dust to crumbs and bits of broken glass missed when you knocked over your wine, tons of debris can gather here forever.

Try to focus sweeping in line with the floorboards to get your broom down between the crevices. If you sweep against the boards, you just force more crumbs and debris into the spaces.

5. Upholstered furniture

Sofas and chairs can collect all kinds of debris. Make sure you pull out your seat cushions and vacuum up the crumbs (and collect those lost loonies and toonies) when cleaning your condo. This will help a bit, but you still have all that dust build-up in the cushions themselves.

At least once a year, have professional furniture cleaners come in and do their job to suck up dust and debris, while also removing the surface stains and oily build-up from your hair and skin.

6. Window treatments

Drapes, blinds, and especially slatted blinds are all dust collectors. You can dry clean your drapes and curtains, preferably twice a year and choose a dry cleaner who uses green cleaning practices.

Your blinds can be vacuumed with your soft brush attachment, but slatted blinds are a bit of a hassle. A nifty trick is to put a clean thick sock on your hand and tackle each slat to remove dust. Another trick to keep dust away is wiping down the slats with a dryer sheet after you remove dust, as this will reduce static that attracts dust. This should be done every few months.

7. Ceiling fans and light fixtures

You’ve always known deep down that dust is lurking overhead, but probably never do anything about it. The problem is that the dust is above your space, so it can continue to spread dust around after your weekly cleaning. Both overhead light fixtures and ceiling fan blades can be cleaned with a Swiffer on an extender, which handles this awkward job beautifully. Do a quick vacuum of the area below to capture all the fallen dust.

8. Air vents

It’s easy for dust to get caught in your air vents. Your condo probably has a return vent on a bulkhead near the ceiling somewhere as well. A quick vacuum can do the trick, but every few months you can actually remove the vent panel and vacuum inside the vent to grab any dust lurking there.

9. Lampshades

Dust and even cobwebs love lampshades. Your brush attachment on your vacuum can be used here, as can a lint roller, which is ideal if you have pets.

10. Windows

You probably aren’t doing much cleaning along your windowsills and window tracks. When you’re cleaning your shutters or window treatments, tackle these areas as well, using a vacuum brush or an all-purpose cleaner with a clean cloth.

11. Pillows and throws

The pillows and blankets you cuddle up with when binge-watching your favourite show are rarely, if ever, cleaned. Toss your blankets in the laundry if they are machine friendly or send them out to be dry cleaned once every few months at least. Pillows can also be dry cleaned.

12. Kitchen appliances

If you’ve never pulled out your fridge or stove to do a thorough cleaning, you should be doing this at least once a year. Kitchen appliances tend to collect dust and dirt along their bottoms as well as down the sides and walls.

To learn more about how to clean your kitchen cupboards, call Maid4Condos at 647-822-0601 or contact us here.

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