This one of the biggest subjects that creates the most anxiety and can result in horror stories for housekeepers!
Before working for a client I will always firstly walk around the property with them and identify what areas and surfaces are made out of. For example – the floors, the kitchen surfaces, the kitchen fronts, the bathroom, the tiles, the bath (maybe it is made out of copper which is a particularly specialist surface). So make sure that before you clean any property you check what materials you are dealing with.
When using harsh or any chemicals it very very important you check the bottle and the label to identify what surfaces it can be used on. However this can be deceptive as some surfaces may look like something but they are not actually that something!
For example, the floors nowadays can be so sophisticated they may look like wood but may not actually be wood. Therefore they may require a specialist product to clean.
From my personal experience, once I was asked to clean a camper oven and I innocently thought it’s like a small oven so I will use an oven cleaner. I poured the oven cleaner all over the surface to soak and it made the grill area look awful and it came out all black. I was mortified and ended up having to replace this camper oven….luckily there was one more stock in a warehouse in UK!
These errors can cause so much heart ache – so please, please, please make sure you pay particular attention to the product and it’s properties.
If I am unsure I will use eco cloths and warm water and maybe a dash of washing up liquid to help remove grease – however, do not use a product if you are not one hundred percent sure what surfaces it can be used on and you are sure of type of material the surface is actually made.
I want to mention one more thing that has been really helpful for me. When you are spraying a harsher product on a surface (including vinegar or maybe a general supermarket kitchen cleaner), don’t leave it to settle for long because if you leave it on a varnished surface it will leave splatter marks that will look awful.
In bathrooms, if you are using a product call vaikal (which is particularly good for lime scale) and you are spraying it on top of the shower hose/head it can leave blue marks around the surrounding tile areas and where the grouting is if you leave it too long.
So, as a general rule of thumb – spray and almost immediately clean and rinse!
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