Vinyl floor is commonplace in many businesses now. The value offered by it in terms of durability and the relatively straightforward maintanance and cleaning makes it tough to beat as a good allrounder.
Do you know how to clean a large office vinyl floor and keep it looking great day after day? You will do after reading this short article on the subject.
No matter how often you decide to spend longer cleaning your floor on occasions, your efforts will be so much harder and less effective if you don't ensure good regular cleaning of your floor.
In addition to ensuring you have good entrance mats to encourage staff and visitors to wipe their feet and catch most debris at the door, ideally you should sweep or vacuum (with a suitable soft attachment or setting!) your vinyl floor every day. This will help not only keep the floor looking great at all times, but will limit what gets trodden deeper into the floor.
Even with a large vinyl floor, good daily maintenance will save you time in the long run. A spot vacuum or sweep to remove all obvious debris won't take long.
Never use scouring pads or wire wool cleaners on your vinyl floor - you will end up damaging it over a long period. It may seem much easier the first couple of times, but will soon cause irreversible damage.
The last thing to do to clean large office vinyl floor areas is to mop it.
The temptation may be to buy a strong floor cleaner, thinking it will be quicker and easier. Again, this could cause damage longer term and could result in sticky floors if not used correctly.
All you need to complete this cleaning process is to use warm (not hot!) water. If you have more stubborn marks, a small amount of washing up liquid is all you will need.
A squirt of WD-40 on a soft cloth is all you need to remove even the toughest of scuffs of your floor.
We hope you have found this guide on how to clean large office vinyl floor areas useful, and that it will save you time and money in the long run.
The easiest way to keep your large office vinyl floor and the rest of your office looking great is to engage the services of a good commercial cleaning company to clean large office vinyl floor areas.
Green Fox Cleaning specialise in cleaning offices all of sizes, as well as businesses in all other sectors.
Click here to learn more about us, and find out how we can help improve the appearance of your business with ours.
Steam cleaners are useful for hundreds of cleaning applications in both the home and workplace environments. If you need to clean delicate upholstery items, fabric furniture or even sanitise your mattress, your steam cleaner can be the most useful cleaning tool you'll ever use to complete these tasks in an effective and efficient way.
Steam cleaning not only removes embedded stains and dirt, it also sanitises surfaces as well as removing allergens. On top of this, the treatment can also kills bacteria, mould, bedbugs, viruses, dust mites and most other pathogens!
"Important - before you begin any treatment on upholstery, vacuum it fully using a soft brush attachment that won't damage the furniture, and be sure to vacuum every nook and cranny. Check the suitability of any vacuum attachment before using"
Green Fox Cleaning accredited trainer
After vacuuming the upholstery carefully, you want to tackle any obvious stains with a pre-treatment. Use an upholstery spot cleaner, and check the instructions for contact time (the amount of time it needs to be left on for to be effective).
After you have allowed sufficient contact time, blot the area carefully with a clean soft cloth, which should help lift the stain with the product.
A main benefit of steam cleaning for the user is the ability to get out ground in dust and dirt. A good pre-treatment product will help loosen therse makrs before you being the steam treatment.
Again, spray this on the fabric and allow contact time as advised on the bottle. With a very soft brush, gently rub this over all the upholstery, making sure you are rubbing the shampoo into the actual fabric to be effective.
It is now the time to clean upholstery with a steam cleaner. Quantities of water and product added to machines vary depending on the machine you have, so follow the directions based on the make and model that you have.
Always follow manufacturer's instructions for the correct usage of the steam cleaner, as all will vary slightly.
To use the steam cleaner, you add water and cleaner to the machine.. Normally, you will remove a container from the steam cleaner and fill it with warm water and upholstery cleaner. Make sure you don't fill it too full, as otherwise it could overflow and pour out on the upholstery.
Once you have steam cleaned all of the fabric upholstery, you will need to leave the furniture to dry. You can leave this to occur naturally, with windows open to speed the process. Other options could include using a hair dryer on a lowe setting or a fan to speed up the process.
After you clean upholstery with a steam cleaner, it is possible you may have the odd stain lingering.
Either white distilled vinegar or even vodka will make short work of stubborn stains. Blot the stain with either on a cloth which you have soaked with the liquid. Once they dry, the smell of either will go.
We hope you have found this article on how to clean upholstery with a steam cleaner useful. Following the tips above, the process should be simple and stress free for you, whether in the home or work environment.
Green Fox Cleaning are a commercial cleaning company that operate in all sectors, serving businesses of all size. Click here to learn more about how we can help improve the appearance of your business with ours.
How to get rid of mould on window sealant is something that can quickly improve the appearance of your home. The appearance of mould can make a home feel cold, damp and dirty.
Black mould as seen around windows is also known to produce an unpleasant damp smell and can spread across paint, wallpaper and plaster, with the potential to cause serious problems with respiratory health.
It’s important that you don’t ignore even the slightest sign of black mould around your windows, or anywhere else in the home for that matter.
The two main causes of black mould around windows are leaks and condensation. If there is a leak from the outside, then this will need repairing or replacing.
If however the cause is condensation, the good news is that there is a way to treat this.
There are a few things you can do to help reduce the amount of mould that appears due to condensation. Here are six things that will help.
The most common cause is a lack of ventilation. Rooms without sufficient ventilation after a shower result in mould being a common sight. Simple steps as detailed above can help make this issue a thing of the past.
The key steps to attempt to remove mould from sealant are as follows:
This is hard to do if left too long, and sometimes you may have to remove the sealant and reseal. That is why it is important to follow the above guidance on how to reduce condensation. Hopefully the above guide on how to get rid of mould on window sealant will help solve your problem.
We hope you have found this guide on how to get rid of mould on window sealant useful. If tackled early enough, this will make the ongoing maintenance much easier. Following the simple steps to help reduce condensation will make a big difference.
Green Fox Cleaning are a commercial cleaning company that operate in all sectors. Click here to learn more about us, and how we can help improve the appearance of your business with ours.
Knowing how to clean large office premises can appear daunting to say the least. Cleaning a small office with one or two members of staff is straightforward, but how to clean a larger premises is a completely different beast.
With more and more businesses designing their offices to offer open plan working, office spaces are becoming larger, and a structured process is required to clean them.
Not literally, but when understanding the process to clean large office premises, a good way to make the process less daunting is to break the building down into floors, or even break larger floors in half.
You can then assign dedicated cleaning operatives to cover set areas, avoiding confusion over the areas that require cleaning. This simple step will make cleaning of the premises much more straightforward.
A clear cleaning specification is key to clean large office premises in both an efficient and effective way. It makes it clear what is expected, and what should be completed every visit, and which tasks can be done less frequently, on a rotational basis.
Without a cleaning schedule, it is hard to challenge staff about areas that have been missed. It is also important that staff are trained to clean correctly and safely.
Regular audit inspections will help ensure the cleaning schedule is being followed and the clean is being completed to the best possible standard.
A good commercial cleaning company should always provide a detailed cleaning schedule if providing your cleaning services.
Start on the top floor, and work down. In a large office, clean the highest points and work round the office in a clockwise direction, working from the outside of the room and working in. This will ensure that no areas are missed, and the clean is as efficient as possible.
It may be tempting to vacuum first thinking it is a large task and wanting to get it out of the way, but if you do this first, any debris removed when dusting will fall to the floor, meaning you need to repeat the process at the end of the clean. Clicking here will help you select the best vacuum cleaner for your premises.
Centralised bins are large bin bases placed in strategic places in larger office premises. If you think that large office premises can have well over 100 employees, 100 desk bins will be time consuming to change and damaging to the environment. Four centralised bin setups could serve the same number of employees, and result in cost savings. Click here to learn more about centralised bin systems.
Cleaning a large office premises doesn't have to be any more of a challenge than a smaller office. It simply requires more planning to ensure a slick, efficient process can be implemented to complete the task.
The best way to keep your office looking great is to employ a contract cleaning company. You can click here to learn more about office cleaning services undertake by Green Fox Cleaning.
We provide cleaning services to both nationally recognised brands, as well as smaller independent businesses. We clean large office blocks with teams of cleaners and supervisors every single day, as well as a visit or two per week with a single cleaner at smaller premises.
Ball pit cleaning can be considered a rather niche area, but can be a nightmare when it comes to even thinking about where to start!
Whether your ball pit is a smaller one at a nursery or a gigantic one at a childrens play centre, both will have hundreds, if not thousands of balls.
Ball pits, a popular form of play for children, are sometimes used by physiotherapists working with children, especially those with autism. But commercial ball pits in shopping centres and restaurants have previously been found to be contaminated with dirt, urine and faeces.
The NHS published findings from a study around germs on plastic balls in ball pits.
If you are running a large ball pit that experiences heavy usage on a daily basis, it is recommended that you thoroughly undertake ball pit cleaning every 3-6 months and clean the ball pit balls daily. If you have a smaller scale ball pit at your home you can clean the ball pit balls after 2 or 3 uses and then thoroughly clean the entire ball pit every 3 to 6 months.
There are six steps to follow if you plan to clean your ball pit balls manually. They are as follows:
Avoid the temptation to tip all balls into a large bucket of pool of solution, as any with small splits or cracks will fill and not dry properly and you may have to start the process again.
Another way to clean ball pit balls is through the use of specialist machinery, which can speed the process up massively, but of course has separate costs associated with it. The balance between manual cleaning and the use of a machine is one that you must weigh up, and would generally only be a consideration in larger setups.
It is not a surprise that ball pits get dirty very quickly from young children playing in them. It would be good practice to have the member of staff responsible for watching the ball pit whilst in use to have possession of a suitable disinfectant spray and cloth, so they can respond quickly to any obviously dirty ball pit balls, or if a user has an "accident" of any sort.
This process will provide reassurance to users that you are taking daily sanitisation of your premises seriously and keeping users as safe as possible.
The easiest way to keep your ball pit and the rest of your premises safe, hygienic and looking great is to employ the services of a good commercial cleaning company to take care of your ball pit cleaning.
To contact your local Green Fox Cleaning office and request a free, no obligation cleaning quote, simply click here.
Chemical free ways to clean our home offices are a more common consideration than ever before, with many of us now part working from home. We all want to do our bit towards helping the environment.
There are many producers of cleaning products making a move on the chemical free cleaning supply, with Koh and method being well known suppliers.
There are however also many chemical free cleaning products that you can make at home from readily available every day products, making it easy and quick to introduce chemical free ways to clean your home office.
Why is it worth making your own cleaner? You can make it in less than a minute, it can save you money and works well. Chemical free ways to clean really do start at home!
All-purpose cleaner ingredients
Instructions for making all-purpose cleaner
You can use this all-purpose cleaner for many purposes including as a bathroom cleaner, floor pre-treater, kitchen cleaner and on toys.
We recommend a glass bottle rather than plastic for use as the spray not only to reduce plastic usage, but also if you use the citrus essential oils for fragrance, it is important to store in glass as they can break down a plastic bottle over time.
All purpose cleaner frequently asked questions:
Glass Cleaner Ingredients:
Whilst we haven't completed detailed studies on this, we have found products made as detailed above to still be highly effective three months after being made. Further proof that chemical free ways to clean are sustainable.
We hope that you have learnt that chemical way free ways to clean are easy and needn't cost the earth to implement.
The easiest way to clean your premises is to hire a professional cleaning company that operate in an environmentally friendly way and share your values. At Green Fox Cleaning we pride ourselves on massively reducing our plastic usage, supplying local cleaning operatives to reduce our carbon footprint and many other things. Click here to learn more about our commitment to green cleaning.
Click here to find your local Green Fox Cleaning office and request a free, no obligation quote to discuss your cleaning requirements, whatever sector you operate in.
Do you know how to spot the signs of a bad cleaning company? Are you currently using a commerical cleaning company but just feel as though you are getting a good service?
The purpose of this article is to highlight the seven key indicators that may suggest it is time to review your workplace cleaning arrangements - have a ready and see how many are already on your radar.
The best office cleaning companies always provide you with transparent pricing. Not only does transparent pricing help you compare office cleaning bids in a telling way, it can help both you and your cleaning company know exactly what work is and is not included.
If your current provider has vague pricing or are constantly adding extras onto your invoice that you aren't expecting, it is probably time to start looking at other cleaning company options. There are few worse signs of a bad cleaning company than one that does not offer clear pricing for their clients.
We have heard of companies charging extra to clean a desk, telephone and even per desk bin emptied - how can you possibly make a decision based on such vague and variable figures?
Like all companies, you want to budget your cleaning and know exactly what you are paying, and what you are receiving in return.
Clear, transparent pricing gives you the necessary information to make the best decisions for your facility.
Security is crucial and is the most important aspect of cleaning any premises. What is the point of having a spotless office with all the doors left unlocked, or a gleaming school with the hall fire doors left unlocked every visit? Security is not optional - and this relates to both your premises, but also the staff being trusted to clean your premises.
You also want to know who is cleaning your premises and that they can be trusted. What level of vetting do your current company undertake on vetting their staff? Are their cleaners all directly employed or do they sub-contract cleaning. Subcontracting brings real risks that you have no idea who is cleaning your premises, and neither do the company that you actually think are doing your cleaning! This can be a common problem when engaging the services of a cleaning company that are not local to you.
You want to know that every cleaner that enters your premises has been fully vetted and background checked by the company that you are trusting to complete your cleaning services. One of the key signs of a bad cleaning company is one that doesn't have full control over their cleaning team.
An effective and good cleaning service is wholly dependant on good communication from both the client and the cleaning contractor. One of the key signs of a bad cleaning company is that you are always chasing them for contact, and they are slow to respond or even unresponsive to any issues reported by you.
Professional office cleaning companies want regular feedback, both positive and negative, so that they may continually improve their service and build value for you, their customer to ensure continual development and improvement. There is a balance between calling clients who are busy themselves, but even an email to check in takes no time at all to send.
Have you seen your cleaner on their mobile phone when they should be cleaning your premises? Have you seen your cleaner smoking right outside your front door, in full view of staff and visitors alike? Apart from the potential health implications, it simply isn't an acceptable look to give your business.
What about cleaners swearing whilst cleaning your premises, or throwing bins around and not treating your premises with the care and respect it deserves?
If you call your cleaning company to voice concerns, they should be apologetic and quick to react to any such reports which are potentially damaging to their reputation.
A good commercial cleaning company should have stringent measures in place and clear expectations of what is expected from their staff, along with what is and what is not acceptable. Few signs of a bad cleaning company are more apparent than one with cleaners behaving in an unprofessional way.
Another one of the big signs of a bad cleaning company is one that are unable to retain their staff, meaning you end up with a new cleaner or cleaning team every other week. One obvious issue with this is that the operatives don't learn your premises fully and can't work efficiently and effectively, meaning the appearance of your premises will suffer.
It is also a security consideration if numerous cleaners are having keys to your premises and coming and going, especially if you don't know the reason they are all going.
The main reasons for a high turnover of staff are generally poor pay or work conditions, lack of training resulting in a lack of pride, or a lack of support from the company for their welfare. Learn more about how at Green Fox Cleaning we look after our staff resulting in great staff retention by clicking here.
While you don’t need your cleaning company have have every single new cleaning gizmo and gadget, if your premises cleaners aren’t equipped with newer, well-maintained equipment, state of the art cleaning chemicals and green cleaning solutions, and operate with newer methods and industry best practices, you will not get the level of service your facility should.
Have a look in the cleaning cupboard - are there dirty old mops and buckets there? Is there a real mish mash of equipment, with products all over the place? A messy cleaning cupboard is so often of the first signs of a bad cleaning company, and cleaning standards start at the cleaning cupboard!
A key benefit of outsourcing your cleaning arrangements is that you should be able to forget about the cleaning and management of the cleaning staff, and focus on your own business and what you do best.
A team is only as strong as its weakest player. If your cleaning company’s staffing issues are quickly becoming your problem, it’s probably time to move on. Staff are the foundation of any business, and if your current company do not look after their staff, you will not get a good service.
You want a cleaning service that thinks ahead proactively, protects both your reputation and their own, and operates above board in every possible way.
If you have identified one or more of the above signs of a bad cleaning company being present with your current cleaning provider, it is time to review your cleaning arrangements. Click here to learn more about Green Fox Cleaning and learn more about how we can help improve the appearance of your business with ours.
When trying to understand a deep clean cost, it is important to understand first of all what a deep clean is.
As the name would suggest, it is a cleaning process that is completed to a deeper and more detailed level than that of a regular clean.
The deep cleaning process includes a number of processes which can include the following:
The process for a deep clean will vary considerably venue by venue, but this is a common approach to completing a deep clean. The deep clean cost will vary depending on how many areas are tackled.
There are many factors that will affect a deep clean cost at your premises. They will include the following:
Deep cleaning requires skill, a great eye to detail and a willingness to get "stuck in." It is hard work when done properly, and would normally be completed a team of cleaning operatives unless the premises is very small.
On top of a deep clean, many companies are adding an extra disinfection treatment through the use of electrostatic cleaning technology. You can learn more about this advanced process by clicking here.
The best way to ensure a deep clean is completed to the highest possible standard is to employ the services of a good commercial cleaning company who will have the knowledge, skills and equipment to complete the task.
To contact your local Green Fox Cleaning office and request a free, no obligation quote - click here to learn more.
Remember when comparing deep clean cost - you will get what you pay for - cheapest is rarely best!
You can find the dictionary definition of a deep clean by clicking here.
Do you know how to clean an office phone correctly? Although more businesses are moving towards softphones run through their computers, the office phone is still found in most businesses, on every desk.
Whether you're taking calls from clients, or calling out to try and secure more customers, it remains a crucial piece of equipment.
The office phone is powerful enough to connect even the most geographically distant workers, and yet, it strikes fear into the hearts of many millennial workers. Even with the advent of video calling applications such as zoom and microsoft teams, the office phone remains a firm fixture in most workplaces.
Viruses such as Covid-19 are largely transmitted in an airborne way through shouting, coughing and sneezing. It is therefore inevitable that office phones carry a massively high risk of transmitting infections.
As a result, it is essential as a responsible employer that you take additional measures to keep the workplace clean and free from germs, bacteria, and viruses. By making sure that your employees know how to properly clean all areas of their workspace including their office phones, you can help reduce the risk of infection. This in turn will reduce the number of sick days lost per year and give you a financial saving, partly from simply teaching your staff the correct way to clean an office phone.
It is important to remember to wipe down the handset with a disinfectant spray and a disposable cloth or a disposable disinfectant alcohol wipe, and this should be done on a daily basis at the end of each day, or even more regularly if the same phone has multiple users.
Make sure you use a disinfectant cleaning agent that has been tested against both bacteria and viruses to be sure that it will kill off any potential COVID-19 virus particles or other viruses.
Once you have cleaned the handset, wipe it over with a dry cloth or paper towel to remove any disinfectant solution residue to avoid leaving any sticky residue, or even the risk of causing any reactions with your skin the next time you use your phone.
To remove any grime that may build up around the speaker and receiver earpiece, take a cotton swab or toothbrush reserved for cleaning and dip it in rubbing alcohol or a disinfectant cleaning solution. To thoroughly clean your office desk phone, you want to gently wipe or rub at the phone’s receiver and earpiece to remove any dirt that has collected in the grooves there. After doing this, ensure you fully dry the phone again with a paper towel.
To clean the base of your office phone, simply dampen a microfibre cloth or disposable paper towel with a suitable disinfectant solution and wipe it over the entire surface of an office phone. Pay particular attention to the cradle where the phone handset rests and the bottom of the unit that sits on your desk as this is an area that could be easily missed.
Wherever the keypad is, it’s very important to take time to properly clean it to ensure all germs, bacteria and viruses are removed. The small gaps between the keys are the perfect place for nasty bacteria and viruses to grow and spread, and the keypad is touched all over on every outbound call. You can use a sterilised and role dedicated toothbrush or cotton buds for this role also.
We hope this article has given you a better understanding of how to clean an office phone.
The easiest way to ensure your office phones and the rest of your workplace is cleaned thoroughly is to employ the services of a good commercial cleaning company. Click here to learn more about our office cleaning service, where we clean offices of all sizes.
To request a free, no obligation quote for your cleaning needs, click here to contact your local Green Fox Cleaning office.
Honeycomb blinds (also known as cellular shades) are the preferred choice for many businesses due to the advantages they provide, ranging from better insulation to privacy and light control.
However, they do have their own disadvantages that you need to know about before actually purchasing them for your workplace. One relatively commonly reported disadvantage of honeycomb blinds is the challenges associated with cleaning them.
Over time like any other blinds, honeycomb blinds will get dusty and dirty, making it necessary to clean them to keep them looking as good as possible.
Cleaning honeycomb blinds can become a challenge because of their honeycomb structure. It can be tricky to properly clean each and every cell in the cellular blind, so you will have to take special care for cleaning these blinds.
The daily cleaning and more regular maintenance method to clean your honeycomb blinds is a simple four step process, which as completed as follows:
Get a bowl with warm water and washing ip liquid. Using a clean cloth, dampen it and clean the track and fittings from top to bottom. Dry afterwards using a clean cloth.
The shape of honeycomb blinds make the cells an attractive space for insects and dust. Insects may crawl inside, and die inside the cells. The easiest way to clean inside those cells is to blast the items inside out, using a type of compressed air, also known as an air duster.
When doing so, you may want to law a cloth or towel on the floor at the other end to catch most of the debris that comes out.
If you don't have a can of compressed air, you could use a hairdryer, but only if if has a cool setting and low power option.
Using ideally a microfibre cloth or feather duster, carefully wipe clean the shades of the blind from side to side, starting at the top of the blind and working down. This will ensure that any dislodged dust will fall downwards, and be removed as you work down the blind.
The benefit of a microfibre cloth is that it will attract dust and debris to it.
In the same method as used in step three, carefully vacuum the shades of the blind from side to side using a soft brush attachment, starting at the top of the blind and working down. This will ensure that any dislodged dust will fall downwards, and be removed as you work down the blind.
Occasionally, regular cleaning won't quite cut it, especially if you end up with mould showing on your blinds. They can look awful at this point, but the good news is that there is a simple way to clean mould off honeycomb blinds
Use a solution of 1/2 cup of white distilled vinegar and 1/2 cup water and wipe with a damp cloth. After doing this, expose the blinds to bright sunlight until dry, repeat as needed to get it all out. It really is that straightforward to clean mould off honeycomb blinds.
We hope you have found this guide on how to clean mould off honeycomb blinds useful.
Green Fox Cleaning are a commercial cleaning company that provide cleaning services to businesses of all sizes and in all sectors. Click here to learn how we can help improve the appearance of your business with ours.
