Posts Tagged ‘home cleaning tips’
Written by Tony on 15 June 2010
As experts in cleaning homes we are often faced with challenges like stainless steel and…yes ceramic/glass oven tops. I have read many posts on other blogs and cleaning sites, each with a common theme – a hatred of cleaning ceramic hobs!
Cleaning Ceramic Hobs – Made Easy
I have personally restored many unloved and abused oven tops to a gleaming shine and I’ll share my methods with you. I have tried many products, including steam cleaners (rubbish for this) that are both expensive and ineffective. However, a product called “Hob Brite” (@ £2 UK) a bottle is both fantastic value and very effective.
Keep Your Fingers & Your Shine
I shudder when I read of “metal scrapers and razor blades” being recommended or used as they can easily damage the finish and you! A razer blade in a protective “sheath” such as those sold in DIY stores for scraping paint off windows etc., is the safest way to use a blade. but be CAREFUL!
Effective Ceramic Hob Cleaning
The method I prefer is to use Hob Brite with a pan scrub, you know, the yellow and green type? Sponge on one side, scrub on the other? Dont use Brillo pads or wire wool types, they’ll damage the finish.
Draw a small ring of hob brite cream around each of the “pan ” areas and work in circular motions with the green side of the scrub pad.
You may need to scrub the burnt on areas quite hard or even repeat the process a couple of times – but it will come off!
Flip your pad over to use the sponge side and lightly wipe the top down – dont try to take all the cream off yet, we’re just checking if any more work is required. If it is, you will still see those stubborn crusty burnt on areas; add a little more Hob Brite and repeat the scrubbing!
Once you have cleared the burnt on bits, rub off as much as you can with the sponge, then wipe down with an old tea towel. You might even need a splash of soapy water as the Hob Brite cream is “greasy”.
Low Cost Ceramic Hob Cleaning
The magic finishing touch is to polish off with a micro fibre cloth, possibly with a glass cleaning product for that ultimate shine – voila – a perfectly shiny ceramic hob for less than £3 and a little “elbow grease”.
Tags: cleaning ceramic hobs, domestic cleaning, domestic cleaning in blackburn, domestic cleaning in burnley, domestic cleaning in clitheroe, domestic cleaning rawtenstall, eco house cleaning, hob brite, home cleaning tips, home services, HomeMaid, house cleaning, house cleaning products, House Cleaning Tips, micro fibre, microfibre
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Written by HomeMaid on 08 November 2009
You’ll see many articles and cleaning tips on the web extolling the virtues of natural cleaning products, indeed we’ve tried a lot of them!
The thing is I was confused about the difference between baking soda and washing soda, so I imagine are quite a few of you judging by how often this question is asked. So I thought I’d write a quick article about it.
For some purposes, the only difference between washing soda (sodium carbonate) and baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is that washing soda will consume two equivalents of acid, while baking soda will only consume one equivalent.
Washing soda and baking soda are indeed chemically different things, and there is no way you want to get them confused, especially if you’re planning to cook – it really could end in tears.
The Chemistry
Washing soda is sodium carbonate (Na2CO3), baking soda is sodium bicarbonate – the same ingredients, but with a hydrogen atom replacing one of the sodiums. Both compounds are alkaline, meaning that they can neutralize acids. One common source of washing soda is the ashes of plants and its for this reason, it is sometimes called soda ash.
Baking soda, otherwise known as bicarbonate of soda (NaHCO3), sodium bicarbonate, and, less commonly, saleratus, is a chemical salt with diverse practical uses. The most common practical use for baking soda is as a leavening agent in baking. In combination with a liquid and an acid, baking soda undergoes a chemical reaction that releases bubbles of carbon dioxide. Trapped in batter or dough, these bubbles enable the baked good to rise. Baked goods leavened with baking soda, therefore, generally have a light crumb and are aerated with many holes left by the escaping bubbles of carbon dioxide.
So whilst you can substitute one with the other for some things, for goodness sake, don’t cook with washing soda!
Tags: cleaning with baking soda, domestic cleaning, eco house cleaning, home cleaning tips, house cleaning products, washing soda
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Written by HomeMaid on 30 January 2009
Beautiful, black . shiny ceramic hobs are becoming increasingly popular in many of our clients homes, including our own. They are brilliant to cook on, look fantastic but can be a pain to clean. It was an area we were having trouble bringing some ceramic hobs upto the “HomeMaid Clean” standard.
Ceramic Hob Cleaners Tested
Having researched the products available we are going to trial four of the best. These products should be similar in the ‘end result’ but their prices range from £1.90 to a staggering £7.20, it doesn’t always follow that the more expensive is naturally the best but, always keen to get the best product, we’ll give it a go, we want to be able to provide the very best cleaning solution for our clients.
Ceramic Hob Trials
This was an interesting trial, all the products had some good points and some bad ones too, one didn’t work at all no matter how many times I read the instructions and used the cleaner exactly as instructed, this one went in the bin immediately!! Its worth noting having just fitted a lovely shiny ceramic hob at home, the initial trials were done in our own kitchen.
Ceramic Hobs Cleaned
The other three were pretty much on par. After using all three on separate occassions it became clear that one was harder to remove the residue and left a white powdery smear on the ceramic, a lot of polishing with one of our Microfibre cloths did the trick but it was time consuming and hard work!
The Winner
So that left two and the clear winner was Hob Brite, it does exactly what it says on the tin, it can be used on ceramic, electric, halogen and induction hobs. Hob Brite is also recommended by some of the top brands such as Baumatic, Zannussi, Creda, Belling and Neff amongst others. I guess this should’ve have been our one and only choice, but hey, if you don’t try you don’t know for sure!
No wonder it is already billed as the UK’s No 1 hob cleaner, the powerful formula cuts through the toughest burnt on food leaving the hob sparkling clean. If used regularly it even builds up an invisible film that protects against staining.
There it is then if it’s good enough to be the UK’s No 1 then its good enough for HomeMaid’s clients!
Tags: domestic cleaning, domestic services, home cleaning tips, home services, HomeMaid, house cleaning, house cleaning products
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Written by HomeMaid on 14 October 2008
We have always been open to adopting new products or methods to improve our cleaning service. So when a supplier rang offering a speedy solution to our dusting problem, I was all ears.
I was quickly sold on the possibility of speeding up dusting and improving the quality, by virtue of the fact that a featrher duster is much more versatile than the “lambswool flick sticks” we were currently using. After all, if I could show you how to halve your dusting time at home, wouldnt you be interested?
Faster Dusting
A couple of dusters were trialled initially and I have to say all who used them were very impressed. They did indeed speed up the dusting of ornaments and other delicate items. They worked on blinds too – a real boon for us. The items trialled were “commercial” versions and came with two metre extending poles to reach those areas above the staircase and high into the corners of every room.
Urban Myths About Feather Dusters
In parallel I’d do some research on the web and found some negative info on forums, claims of oils in the feathers marking and quills scratching things. so a few phone calls later I’d eliminated the “oil” theory as “urban myth” – and a simple test is to take your duster and rub it along a clean mirror, if the feathers had any kind of oil on them, it would smear and cause the filaments to cling as you moved across the glass surface. So thats one myth squashed.
The next wasn’t quite such a formality, however I could see that broken quills can have a sharp edge, but in our trials you had to be pretty brutal to snap quills, and even then unless you were rubbing on tissue paper, no real possibility of scrathing anything. I also found that a number of museums and gallerys use feather dusters to keep their displays dust free and sparkling – I couldn’t get an official comment from anyone about their use, but we know they use them!
HomeMaid Upgrades To Ostrich Feather Dusters
Whilst the majority of us dont own valuable art, isnt it reassuring to know that your home will be dusted as delicately and thoroughly as…well, perhaps the mona lisa herself?
In September 08 HomeMaid replaced all of its inferior lambswool dusters with genuine Ostrich Feather ones and despite them being much more expensive, we’ve included this as part of the service. Make sure your cleaning company uses them, or perhaps its time to switch to one that does!
Tags: domestic cleaning, domestic cleaning in accrington, domestic cleaning in blackburn, domestic cleaning in burnley, domestic cleaning in clitheroe, dusting, eco house cleaning, home cleaning tips, house cleaning products, ostrich feather dusters
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