June, 2017 | BCS Cleaning Specialists

In this age of green-cleaning and natural everything, hydrogen peroxide is a great option for not just cleaning but disinfecting your windows and mirrors. Disinfect windows? I hear you ask, incredulously. Well, windows spend their entire life exposed to the elements, attracting not just dust, dirt and grime, but the mass suicide of insects and small flying creatures. The result is a delightful mash-up of visible and invisible lifeforms, smeared comprehensively across your window panes. Hydrogen peroxide to the rescue! Below is our easy, three-step guide to disinfecting your windows with hydrogen peroxide. If your windows are diabolically dirty, follow our guide to cleaning them first:

https://bcscleaningutah.com/how-do-i-clean-my-super-dirty-windows/

• Fill a clean, empty spray bottle with hydrogen peroxide.
• Spritz a clean microfiber cloth
• Wipe down your window panes. Spritzing the cloth instead of directly onto the windows helps prevents water spots from forming.

And hey presto! Sparkling clean and disinfected window panes in a jiffy. If you’re struggling with the concept of multiple levels of washing, give the experts at BCS a call at 801 561 1730 – we’ll have your windows restored to their former glory in a snap.

Oh dear, it’s that time of year again! You drift off to sleep only to be woken by Felix the kitty singing at the top of his lungs outside your window that he’s looking for a lady. And then when he doesn’t find her, he promptly comes home through the cat door and expresses his displeasure with the situation on the side of the couch. So what can you do to rescue your poor beleaguered couch and carpets from feline anointing?

If you’ve been out for a few hours, chances are that your kitty’s urine stain may have been sitting for a while. As soon as you discover it, it’s important to clean it right away. If you wait too long, on top of being straightforward nasty-looking, bacteria can start to grow in the affected area, which leads to nasty stinks.

Here’s one way to remove cat urine from carpet:

1. Soak up the urine stain using paper towels or a cotton cloth. Press firmly into the stain using an old shoe or something disposable. This will help absorb as much urine as possible from the carpet.
2. Using white vinegar and water, mix a solution in a bowl (50% vinegar, 50% water). You’ll want to mix enough of the solution so that it can reach deep down into the carpet’s fibers.
3. Pour the solution onto the urine stain. Using a scrubbing brush, work all of it deeply into the carpet, scrubbing vigorously. The vinegar should help to neutralize the ammonia in the urine.
4. Blot the urine stain using a paper towel, pressing firmly into it.
5. When that section of the carpet is dry, take one to two handfuls of baking soda (depending on the size of the urine stain) and sprinkle it onto the stain.
6. Mix one-half cup of three percent hydrogen peroxide with a teaspoon of dishwashing detergent and apply to the stain. You can use the scrubbing brush again to thoroughly clean the carpet.
7. Once dry, vacuum the area.  

If you’ve done your level best and the stain or stink is still noticeable, give the Park City and Salt Lake Valley professionals at BCS a call at 801 561 1730 and have the professionals take care of it for you in a jiffy.

Well, it’s another glorious summer in Utah, and you know what that means – outdoor grilling, camping, lazy Sunday afternoons spent lounging about on a picnic blanket listening to live music. And assorted grit and grime unceremoniously stamped into your car. How to resolve the situation? Have no fear, in true BCS save-the-day style, here is your three step guide to rescuing your car mats from the worst summer has to throw at them.

1 – Vacuum them.

Yes, I know this seems a little obvious. But it’s really rather shocking how few people think to just run a vacuum attachment over their mats until the grime has well and truly settled in for the long-haul. Use the hose attachment on your vacuum to detach even the most determined pieces of mountain detritus from your car mats.

2 – Brush them.

Using a stiff-bristled hand brush, lay your car mats on the ground and give them a jolly good brushing to loosen and remove anything particularly stubborn.

3 – Wash them.

Hold on a second! I see you recoiling in horror at the thought – car mats are much sturdier than you may think (which is why we put them on the floor and then walk all over them), and stand up to the rigors of the washing machine very well. Just run them through a cold cycle with regular washing detergent and leave on a flat surface outside to dry in Utah’s gloriously dry heat.

And voila! Your car mats will be good as new in a jiffy – no need for expensive detailing. Of course, if the detritus has been left on your mats for any length of time or if this all just sounds a bit too much like hard work in the heat of a Utahn summer, give the professionals at BCS a call at 801 561 1730 – we can easily add your car mats onto your next house carpet cleaning and have them spick and span in a jiffy.

So your windows couldn’t see winter out without having a bit of a grime-fest, eh? Have no fear, instruction is here! Here is our easy-peasy, two-step system for restoring your windows to their former sparkling glory.

• Combine four tablespoons of castile or dish soap and four tablespoons of rubbing alcohol with a half gallon of water. Use a squeegee to thoroughly clean windows.
• Using a 50-50 solution of water and rubbing alcohol, rinse and wipe windows down with a clean mircrofiber cloth, changing the cloth regularly to prevent streaks.

And voila! Sparkling windows in a jiffy! If your windows are beyond the help of mortal man, call the window superheroes at BCS at 801 561 1730. We’ll have them mirror-finish perfect pronto!

It can be done, but prepare yourself for some serious elbow grease….

Hydrogen Peroxide and Baking Soda

1   First, get rid of surface dirt and muck with your regular cleaner. It’s much easier to clean away ground-in dirt if the surface stuff is out of the way.

2 In a small bowl, mix hydrogen peroxide and baking soda together to form a thick paste. The exact quantities will depend on the consistency you prefer to work with.

3 Use an old toothbrush to spread a thick layer of the peroxide/soda gook onto the grout, working in small areas of 1 to 2 sq ft at a time. Leave to set for 5-10 minutes.

4   Using your toothbrush (not YOUR toothbrush obviously – the one you’ve just used for the initial slathering!), rub the paste energetically, as though you were trying to rub it INTO the grout.

5 Coat the next small area with the paste and repeat the above steps, until your entire grout surface has had a scrubbing-down.

6 Wipe off the remaining paste with a damp cloth and finish with your regular cleaner to restore your tiles and grout to a brilliant sparkle!

If this doesn’t seem to be quite enough to evict the grime from your grout, give BCS a call at 801 561 1730 and we will buzz over to take care of it for you in a jiffy!

‘Spring cleaning’. The term conjures up all kinds of images: clean, uncluttered surfaces and storage areas, strange little headscarfs that only come out from the drawer once a year, overwhelming top-to-toe cleaning sessions. And that’s just the kitchen! Your floors need special treatment too. Whether you have wood, tile, carpet, or vinyl, there are some easy floor treatments that will help you restore your floor to tippety-top condition. In our four-part spring cleaning series, we’ll share with you some of our top tips and secrets from getting your floors Spring-ready in a jiffy!

Vinyl Floors

• Sweep the entire floor with a broom. Be sure to get into the corners and along the edges.
• The method you use for cleaning will depend on how dirty the floor is. Use a mop or a rag with one of the following floor treatments.
  • For a vinyl floor that is pretty new or just doesn’t get a lot of use, a mixture of half hot water, and half ammonia would work fine.
  • Heavily soiled vinyl flooring will need something that will remove the dirt a little better, but that will be mild enough on the vinyl, such as dish detergent and hot water.
  • Isopropyl alcohol and water is needed to break up waxy or greasy build up.
  • A damp cloth with a drop of paint thinner should remove scuff marks.
• Rinse the entire floor with straight hot water.

If the thought of wielding a mop or steaming machine makes you break out in a cold sweat, give the professionals at BCS a call at 801 561 1730. We’ll have your floors spruced up for you in a jiffy, with not a mop-bucket in sight!