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How To Clean Hardwood Floors

September 6, 2021 by Dallas Maids

Hardwood flooring looks amazing, there’s no question about it. It can change your space from dull and bland and bring so much warmth and coziness to a room or an entire home. But when it comes to cleaning hardwood floors, you can make a mess in no time.

They can also last decades, with proper care. The downside is that they need to be handled with care, especially if you’re a cleaning enthusiast. Let’s go over some tips for cleaning your hardwood floors the right way.

Clean your hardwood floors with a pro dry mop

Let’s start with the basics of cleaning: sweeping your floor.

According to scientific research, moisture plus wood equals problems (usually). If you use a regular mop with a bucket of water, and it gets between the boards, you are risking ruining your floor. Steam mops are great, but not for hardwood floors.

Therefore, dry mops are a good idea for this type of flooring. Most dry mops are made of microfiber, which absorbs germs and liquids more efficiently than regular cotton mops. They might be a bit more expensive than regular cotton mops, but they are still affordable. You can find multiple options under 30$.

Vacuum your hardwood floors regularly

Vacuuming is a great habit that will help to maintain your floors but, just like everything else, make sure you are aware of ground rules in order to protect your rooms and get the best out of this process.

For hardwood floors, you need to remove your vacuum roller brush before you start cleaning because it can lead to scratches.

Living Area With Clean Hardwood Floors Dallas Maids

Use wood floor cleaner

Remember that hardwood comes is an organic material. Unlike other types of flooring, it requires special care to maintain the right levels of humidity, resistance and so on, and in places with high humidity, such as Dallas, this is already a problem. In this case, it’s best to acquire a product that it’s been designed for hardwood floors.

Remember to control how the amount of liquid you’re using. It’s easier to do so using a spray in each section. Pair that with a microfiber mop and you’ll get your floors to shine!

Avoid wax

This is vital. Try not to over-wax because it can be damaging to your hardwood floors. Also, make sure to check that any cleaners or polishes you use do not contain wax.

Hardwood is an organic material and as such, it needs to maintain certain properties, such as internal temperature and humidity, in order to function properly, i.e., not to rot, lose resistance, become vulnerable to wood parasites, etc.

Presence of wax is another one of these properties, and therefore you need to keep it within a safe range, so it doesn’t get too dry or too greasy. Most wood floors need rewaxing only once or twice a year. Make sure you know the exact type of hardwood floor because that may affect the frequency of waxing.

Seal your hardwood floors properly

You should seal/finish hardwood floors. Although they are extremely resistant, for obvious reasons they are not meant to be walked on per se or being exposed to liquids. In order to function as flooring, they need to be sealed against constant traffic and liquids.

Remember that despite them being sealed, hardwood floors might not be the best option for your bathroom and kitchen, because they will be constantly exposed to moisture and spills, even possible seepages.

As with the rest of products, make sure you’re getting a high-quality sealant that is made especially for hardwood. Sealants can be oil based or water based. Water-based sealants finish dry quicker and don’t yellow over time, but they don’t last as long as oil-based sealants.

You will probably need to re-seal your hardwood floors every 5 years, depending on the type and brand of sealant.

Conclusion

If you’ve recently bought a house with hardwood floors, or if you managed to install brand new ones, you may be a little unsure of how to proceed. The number one priority is to keep your floors dry and to maintain them regularly with high-quality products.

Remember to revisit this article any time to make sure you’re ready before you start cleaning your hardwood floors.

And if you’re still unsure that you’ll do a great job, you can always hire a professional service and they will take care of everything. What are your thoughts on hardwood floors? Are they too hard to maintain? Let us know in the comm

When And Where Should You Start Cleaning Your Home?

August 30, 2021 by Dallas Maids

When and Where Should You Start Cleaning Cover Dallas Maids

If you’re planning a cleaning routine for the near future, you might be faced with a series of tough questions. The first one might be: Where to clean first? The other one is: When should I start?

Whether your home is compact or big and open, you can’t be everywhere at once so you’re going to need to decide on an area to start with.

On the other hand, if your house needs some serious cleaning and you haven’t found the perfect occasion, that’s understandable. You may be so busy with work and/or school that you will hardly make any time for cleaning. Although it might be a daunting task to keep a tidy and clean home, if you fit it in your schedule, you’ll increase your chances by a mile.

Let’s go through some ideas to help you organize a time and a place for cleaning your home.

When Should You Start Cleaning Your Home?

Your day has 24 hours just like everyone else. However, your time availability can change in a snap. Work emergencies, family emergencies, traffic. There are dozens of situations that would make your cleaning time need to wait for another day.

Everyone has a different timetable for their day, so if you work from home the way you manage time will be different from someone working onsite.

This also depends on how much you want to tackle in a single cleaning session: it might last anywhere from 15 minutes to 4 hours, that’s up to your goals and your energy.

If you are working from home and your schedule is not rigid, then maybe cleaning at around noon can be helpful for disconnecting from work and release some tension and stress.

Cleaning the Street

On the other hand, if you’re working onsite, you might consider cleaning first thing in the morning, even before taking a shower: you’ll get rid of the hardest task before even leaving for work and you can rest during the evening.

This is pretty much the same principle people use for going to the gym at 5 a.m. Does this mean you need to wake up at 5 am to clean your kitchen? Of course not! Just try waking up half an hour early for starters.

Your area will probably impact your early cleaning routine. For example, full sunrise in Dallas can be anything between 6:20 and 7:30 am along the year, so if you want to finish before sunrise keep that in mind.

Finally, a strategy that could work for both scenarios would be to clean right before sleep time. This will help you release all the stress you’ve been carrying out since early in the morning.  Plus, your mind gets a chance to disconnect from your computer or smartphone before going to bed.

Again, they both depend on your working hours.

Cleaning Workstation Laptop and Office Supplies

Where Should You Start Cleaning Your Home?

Another tough question. Something that can be helpful is dividing your areas by the amount of work you think they will demand. A good approach is to start by the biggest area or the one you’re the least excited about. This will encourage you to keep going since the hardest room is already done.

For example, your kitchen and your bathroom(s) are usually tough areas because they are constantly exposed to grease, fat, food scraps, and other sticky elements such as soap and dirt.

Plus, being humid spaces with sometimes low-to-no ventilation and illumination, they become the perfect spot for mold and bacteria to grow. This will make them probably the most time-consuming spaces to clean.

If your home has multiple stories, start from the top and work your way to the bottom. This same advice can be applied to surfaces: wipe and clean the highest surfaces (cabinets, counters, bookshelves) because dust will fall and then you’ll be able to pick it up when you sweep your floors.

House Section

Conclusion

If you keep waiting for the perfect scenario, you’ll take forever. Start small both in the area you’re cleaning and the time you’re investing in it. Before realizing it, you’ll incorporate cleaning as a daily habit.

And if cleaning daily doesn’t work for you, that doesn’t mean that it’s the only possible solution! Many people prefer cleaning once a week or even once or twice per month. And if you don’t find the time, that’s okay too! Just hire a cleaning service and let them deal with it.

History Of Dallas Maids’ Home Online

August 26, 2021 by Dallas Maids

www.dallasmaids.com website from way back when

Over the years as Dallas Maids grew from a startup until today, we’ve had quite a few iterations of our home online (e,g. www.dallasmaids.com). Now, as a humble startup with a tight budget, we had to do a lot of bootstrapping – and our website was not spared.

One of the first things I did in 2004, our founding year, was to design the website myself. I already had some rudimentary experience creating websites. For example, here is the webpage I created while President of Baylor University’s chapter of the Golden Key International Honour Society. This was when it was called Golden Key National Honor Society before it went international and decided to use the British spelling of honour.

Baylor Chapter of Golden Key Honor Society Page from 1996
Not bad work for a kid using only html

Our First Step: The Early 2000’s

Back in 1996, there wasn’t user-friendly software to throw a website together. Had to do this one through HTML coding only. There were other pages created but frankly, way too embarrassing to screenshot and post here.

Fast forward a few years to the birth of Dallas Maids. The internet had recently become established therefore our online presence had to be known.

Dallas Maids’ new home online

The great thing about getting this website up before I was prepared to start business was within a week or two I started to get calls! That was magnificent motivation to move my butt and get going, hiring my first cleaners. Anyway, this was the website we had for 8 years.

The 2010s: Growing with Time

Made a slight improvement in 2011 when I added some shadowing and centered the content.

Eh, not much of an improvement

Our first redesign occurred in 2012. The competition was getting sophisticated and their websites started looking professional. Hired a few Pakistanis who created this little gem.

The Last Step of Our History (So Far)

This would be Dallas Maids’ online home for 5 years until we switched our scheduling system which allowed online booking (nifty!). Launch27, our new scheduling company, offered WordPress themes which we could slap on and use on our new, shiny WordPress website. And we’ve been quite happy with Dallas Maids’ website since then. And if you are a house cleaning company, I’d definitely recommend Launch27.

So there you have it, a history of our home online. Thank you for giving me this chance to reminisce on our presence online over the years. And a special thanks to our amazing, long-time customers that looked at that first website and still decided to call Dallas Maids regardless of aesthetics.

Cast Iron Skillet: 5 Tips for Easy Cleaning and Preservation

August 23, 2021 by Dallas Maids

Cast Iron Skillet 5 Tips for Easy Cleaning and Preservation

Cast iron has always been a noble, durable material and now we see skillets in every chef’s social media. If you’ve followed the recent boom of popularity for cast-iron cookware and you’re thinking about buying one, or already did, find out ingredients and supplies you should (and shouldn’t!) use to make it last for decades. However, cleaning your cast-iron skillet involves a special process you’ve probably haven’t heard of until you own one of these.

Let’s see a few steps to make the most out of it and make sure you’re using it the right way.

Season Your Cast Iron With Oil

For everyday cleaning, you’re not supposed to clean your cast iron skillet with water and soap as you do with everything else in your kitchen. That’s because iron doesn’t get along with humidity and chemicals and is therefore very sensitive to rust. With a cast iron cookware, you need to take a much more “traditional” approach and use oil for seasoning.

That’s right, you normally “season” your cast iron pan. It’s just that you don’t use spices and seasonings but just plain oil. The goal here is to create a layer of polymerized oil. That is oil that has turned into more of a plastic than a fat and, when adhering to the skillet, it will create a non-stick surface.

This way, the food doesn’t get in direct contact with iron, and therefore it won’t be necessary to scrub it and apply chemicals for removing food scraps.

Avoid animal fat at all costs for seasoning. it will get rancid and create an acidic environment that can ruin the seasoning. It’s best to use unsaturated oil such as corn, flaxseed, or canola oil.

Remove Rust from Cast Iron Using Salt

Particularly, kosher salt. The salt is abrasive, which means that is capable of removing material when being rubbed. If your cast iron is rusty (which will happen from time to time if you don’t keep it dry as much as possible), just sprinkle a generous amount of kosher salt over it, and scrub using paper towels.

This technique will have you removing food scraps fast and without using steel wool, which can damage your seasoning.

Cast Iron Skillet On a Stovetop

Apply Baking Soda to Remove Flavors and Odors

Baking soda is, as you already know, a great all-purpose cleaner. And it’s also helpful for cleaning your cast-iron skillet! It works in a similar way as salt. It also has antibacterial properties and will remove persistent flavors and odors.

After using your skillet, rinse in warm water, sprinkle with baking soda and scrub gently.

Use Heat to Season Your Cast Iron Skillet

Heat will be necessary for preserving your pan after it’s been used. It will eliminate all possible bacteria. You will need to use either a stove or your oven. Your stove will do fine for your everyday cleanse, and your oven is ideal for seasoning a new pan.

A “hard” seasoning can be done by applying vegetable oil (just a thin coat) and then place it inverted in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for an hour, allowing it to cool down inside the oven before storing it back.

Spanish Tortilla Cooked In Cast Iron Skillet

Clean Your Cast Iron Skillet With (A bit of) Soap

Contrary to popular belief, you can use a bit of mild soap. This won’t be necessary every time you use your cast iron pan, but it’s not forbidden. Avoid putting it in the dishwasher or soaking it though because that’s when the rust starts to appear.

Just rinse with warm water and some mild soap, scrubbing with a nylon sponge. Then, follow the custom seasoning with oil.

Bonus Tips for Cleaning Cast Iron

Because the raw material is in close contact with your food, you do get a bit of iron added into your meals. If you have iron deficiency, this will work out great for you! On the contrary, if you have excessive iron buildup, it’s best that you avoid cooking on cast iron.

Avoid using ingredients with high levels of acidity such as tomato and wine, because it will spoil all the seasoning you’ve built over time. The same goes for boiling water: when it reaches a boiling point, it will get inside your cast-iron surface.

Even though boiling water is usually a good cleaning ally, it will do the opposite here: with time it will create rust, so make sure you don’t cook meals that require boiling water first, such as pasta. 

Don’t use harsh scrubbers, a soft sponge or scraper will do just fine.

Always dry immediately after cleaning, and don’t forget to put it in the stove or oven.

Clean Iron Cast Skillet

Conclusion

Cast iron is a great material that can last for years if you take good care of it. It can look great in your kitchen even as a décor. Make sure to remember the essentials: don’t soak it, don’t use too much soap, don’t use animal fat for seasoning.

Your cast-iron cookware might be tough to take care of, just like the rest of your kitchen. If that’s the case, just remember to hire a cleaning service and get rid of tedious hours and hours of cleaning.

Even though you may think it’s just too cumbersome to preserve them, they’re also resistant and will make you prepare a ton of delicious meals.

5 Easy Tips for Cleaning Your Oven

August 16, 2021 by Dallas Maids

5 Easy Tips for Cleaning Your Oven

The oven is one of the most dreaded appliances when it comes to cleaning. You don’t want it to get stained, rusty, or worse, to break because of a bad cleaning method. A good quality oven, when used and cleaned properly, can last for years or even decades. Let’s go through some tips for cleaning your oven!

Let a bowl of water do the work for you

You may be surprised that plain simple tap water is one of the most effective cleaning agents in your home. More specifically, steam.

To start things off with your cleaning process, fill an oven-proof bowl with water. Next, put it in the oven at 450° F for 45 minutes.

This will produce steam that will be kept inside the oven. When your oven turns off, let it cool down and when it’s safe to the touch, wipe the walls with a hot, wet cloth to wipe away dirt and debris.

Make your life easier with baking soda

Baking soda is the holy grail of domestic cleaning, and it comes as no surprise that it also works to clean your oven. And it only takes 4 steps!

First, you’ll need to mix one cup baking soda, one cup salt, and half a cup of water.

Next, you’re going to turn on your oven to 200° F for five minutes. This is just to warm it up a little bit, so the cleaning process gets easier. Then, turn it off and then apply this mixture. You can use a brush to rub gently in a circular motion.

Finally, after coating the entire surface, let sit overnight for a deep clean. If you clean your oven often, 30 minutes will work. Remove using a damp cloth.

The previous two principles can be applied to your racks and trays: use hot water and baking soda as your ally.

Add enough hot water to cover your racks for at least 2 hours (although leaving them overnight is ideal) with either half a cup of liquid dishwasher or one cup of baking soda (or just enough quantity to leave them fully covered). If you are using baking soda, pouring vinegar is a plus. We all know that vinegar is a very versatile cleaner and this is not the exception.

Either way, let them sit overnight and just scrub them the next day. Voilà!

Black Range Oven Cooker

Don’t abuse your oven’s self-clean feature

Some ovens now come with a feature called “self-clean”. What this does is heating the oven up to 900° degrees, in order to basically burn out every possible debris, grease, and grime that remains inside your oven so you can clean it out easily afterward.

You should avoid this feature as much as you can because you’re forcing the oven to go up to extremely high temperatures that can cause malfunctioning.

Also, please do not use this feature if you have parrots or other types of birds at home. Ovens contain Teflon, and at this temperature, the Teflon gas will be released into the air and kill all your birds nearby.

Don’t cook meals in your oven right after a deep cleaning

If you’ve used chemicals to clean your oven, you want to get them out of your oven, so you won’t get any strange odors in your meal.

Place a little bit of cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking soda on a baking tray, and turn it up to 200° F for about an hour.

An even easier alternative is to pour a liter of water along with one cup of vinegar into an oven-safe bowl. Put it in the oven at the same temperature for an hour as well.

Keep your cleaning simple (and do it as often as possible)

No one likes cleaning a messy oven. Unless you decide on hiring a cleaning service, you will need to face this on your own. The best advice when it comes to cleaning is to not let the dirt build up over time, especially in small, hard-to-maneuver spaces like your appliances.

Cleaning your oven often will help you avoid strong, possible harmful chemicals in favor of more natural, harmless solutions. It will also cut down your cleaning times because it’s easier to let sit a cleaning mix for 30 minutes rather than 12 hours.

Stainless Steel Range

Bonus tip for cleaning your oven

If your appliance is stainless steel, you need to make sure you keep it dry after you’ve cleaned it or spilled liquid. This way, you avoid stains or water spots. Find out if the city you live in is known to have hard water, i.e., with a higher content of minerals.

For example, Texas has one of the highest levels of hard water. If that is the case, use distilled or filtered water instead.

Conclusion

There you have it! These 5 tips will help you keep your oven clean and safe to use. Remember that it’s best to clean your oven fast but frequently, because otherwise it’s going to become a cumbersome, long process.

Have you ever applied one of these techniques? If you haven’t, consider them the next time you need to take care of your oven!

No More Endless Cleaning Sprees: Try This Daily Cleaning Checklist

August 9, 2021 by Dallas Maids

Cleaning Checklist by Dallas Maids

If you can’t find the time to clean and organize your home during the week, what you need is a daily cleaning checklist. Its purpose is to make you plan everything out in advance, so you won’t have to think it through. If you already know you must do it, you will have no time for second-guessing or forgetting.

Plus, if you make cleaning a daily habit, you won’t need to spend your weekend or your day off cleaning for hours and hours because there won’t be that much to clean in the first place!

These tasks are thought of as part of day-to-day home maintenance: some light, fast organizing and cleansing for your surfaces, living spaces, and everyday equipment. Let’s go!

Is daily cleaning too much cleaning?

The short answer is no.

The long answer is: you might think it’s too much because you’re thinking of “cleaning” as a hard, time and energy demanding task that can last for hours.

If you do it every day, you won’t need to put that much hard work into it! It’ll be over before you notice it because you won’t need more than 20 or 30 minutes a day. And if you’re up to the challenge, you will probably be able to find 20 minutes a day once you start to see the benefits.

Let’s make a checklist for keeping your home clean every day and get to the weekend with a tidy house before realizing it! Here’s a rule of thumb: you can split your cleaning routines for even and odd days. Most things around home won’t need to be cleaned every day, but every other day seems more of a reasonable time.

You also want to vary your tasks: here are six rooms in total, feel free to adapt them. They are set this way so as to mix easy light tasks with harder, more demanding ones. You can tackle them solo, or you can invite your family as well! Make sure you assign them tasks that are age-appropriate. Here are your guidelines for each room:

Kitchen

  • Grab your clean dishes and place them back into your cabinets and drawers.
  • Do the dishes, whether it’s by hand or loading the dishwasher.
  • Clean your surfaces quickly! Check these all-purpose homemade cleaning solutions.
Cleaning Silverware Kitchen Sink Dallas Maids

Bathroom

  • Scrub your sink and rinse with water.
  • Add some cleaning solution in your toilet, let sit a few minutes and scrub.
  • If your trash can is full, take the trash out.
Cleaning Sink Faucet Dallas Maids

Living area

  • Set your cushions and blankets in the right place.
  • Sweep your living room floors.
  • Grab misplaced items you find along the way and put them back in place.

Bedroom

  • Grab your misplaced clothing and place them back in your closet or in the laundry room.
  • Sweep your bedroom floors.
  • Make your bed.

Office / Study

  • Grab your misplaced office supplies and books and put them back inside the drawers and bookshelves.
  • Wipe your working surface as well as your keyboard and monitor (if you own a desktop computer or laptop).
  • Wash and rinse your windows quickly so the room is always nice and bright.

Patio / Balcony

  • Do a quick sweep of your outdoor floors (if your patio is too large, you might want to leave this for the weekend).
  • Mown the lawn. Same as above, make sure you have enough time or just leave it for the weekend.
  • Water your plants if necessary.
Cleaning With Sponge

Make sure you print this daily cleaning checklist and put it in your fridge! No more excuses for anyone not to do their required task for the day.

You can place your name’s initials next to the task to sort them out by family member. You can even take turns, so it won’t get too repetitive.

Daily Cleaning Checklist by Dallas Maids

Conclusion

It’s not easy to keep up with cleaning. Life can get crazy sometimes and it’s okay if you don’t have the time for it. Give it a try and if your home is still messy at the end of the week, you can hire some help to take care of it for you.

Take a mental note of every space in your home and just keep rotating them during your week. You can use the daily cleaning checklist as a mere guideline if you want to! Adapt it to your home and your timetable as much as you want to.

Make sure you don’t go all-in with your cleaning routine. Use a timer so you won’t take any more time than absolutely necessary. This is key for avoiding burnout and make cleaning something you find relaxing and joyful.

Dallas Maids, a Socially Responsible Business

August 3, 2021 by Dallas Maids

Dallas Maids teaming with Cleaning For a Reason

Being a socially responsible business is a lesson learned at Baylor University, one I hold close to my heart.

Through the years Dallas Maids has actively sought ways to positively impact our community. Here is a list of the more recent ways we have given back:

1) Free Cleans for First Responders during the Pandemic (2020 to present)

Dallas Maids is offering free home cleanings for Dallas area first responders during the Covid-19 pandemic. Coming home to a clean home is a stress reliever. We wanted to serve our public servants by lessening their stress while they were serving our community during extraordinarily difficult times.

The inspiration for donating free cleans came from the generosity of our own customers. When Dallas Maids lost half their business after the shelter in place order, many of our customers came through for us; they kept paying for service after canceling! This deeply touched all of our hearts at Dallas Maids.

A few local media outlets, including Fox 4 News, picked up the story on Dallas Maids’ free cleans for first responders.

2) Easing Recovery for Women with Cancer (2014 to present)

Since 2014, Dallas Maids has been helping women with cancer ease their recovery by providing free house cleanings. We donate free cleans a couple of times per month through our charity partner, Cleaning for a Reason.

Dallas Maids Donating House Cleaning to Women Battling Cancer

3) Raise Money for a Colleague’s Daughter’s Cancer Treatments (2020)

Juno is the daughter of Laura, a friend, and fellow business owner. Juno was diagnosed with leukemia on 11/12/2019. Laura was struggling to raise six figures in medical expenses. I (along with other owners) was deeply saddened by their struggle. We couldn’t help but help in some way.

We organize Juno Summit, a cleaning conference where the aim was to raise money for Juno’s medical expenses while sharing our knowledge with other owners.

Per junosummit.com:
“In 2018 Laura pulled together a group of the largest and most successful cleaning business owners in the country to create a Mastermind Group to help each other to grow their business to the next level.

It was kicked off with an invite-only conference in Fort Collins, CO called the Native Genius Summit. She did this 100% at her own cost and just because she wanted to be in a room with some of the smartest business owners she knew.

When this happened to Laura we wanted to help her as much as she has helped us. We decided to offer this event as a way to raise funds to help Laura and Juno with their battle.”

At $3000 per ticket, the money raised put a major dent in the expenses. It has been a relentless struggle though recently Juno has had promising signs of improvement. May she beat this.

4) Helping Fallen First Responder’s Families (2019)

The Listeners Foundation, founded in 2002, started providing financial aid to families of Dallas police and firefighters killed in the line of duty. In 2019, Dallas Maids partnered with The Russ Martin Show Listeners Foundation by donating a portion of our company’s proceeds.

Donating to the Russ Martin Listeners Foundation

5) Giving to God’s Chosen People (2021)

In May 2021, Dallas Maids pledged to donate $5000.00 to the Jewish Federations of Greater Dallas Community Foundation. Per their websites, the “programs funded by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas create life-sustaining and life-changing impact.”

They also strive to inspire and engage “our Jewish young adults through networking, education, and philanthropy.”

6) Building Up Other Maid Services by Sharing Knowledge (On-going)

I was blessed to have local owners share their advice and knowledge with me when starting out. They helped Dallas Maids to succeed. Now, when other owners approach me for advice, I share the Dallas Maids’ knowledge because it is a privilege to pay it forward.

Having taken many calls over the years from owners, my assistance is always Free. Well, except for traveling expenses if they flew in to meet personally or attended the Juno Summit (and that was a for a good cause).

In addition to calls, we have shared many of the secrets which make Dallas Maids successful on the business advice section of Dallas Maids blog, among other places online such as 6 Principles for a Perfect Cleaning Business, Podcast on How to Clean Up Your Business, and the “P.S. Note to the aspiring maid service entrepreneur” near the bottom of What Sets Us Apart page.

Dallas Maids has a proven business system. I’m happy to share it with others because It’s my little way to positively impact my industry.

Take Care Of Your Vinyl Plank Flooring (Cleaning Do’s and Don’ts!)

August 2, 2021 by Dallas Maids

Vinyl Plank Flooring Dallas Maids

Vinyl plank flooring, and particularly Luxury Vinyl Planks, also known as LVP, are very popular now. Vinyl is a synthetic material used, among other things, as flooring. It’s been around for decades, and companies constantly improve their aesthetic and efficiency.

Vinyl planks are known for responding efficiently when placed in high-traffic areas. They are also resistant to moisture (within reason). This is why, unsurprisingly, they are a great match for bathrooms, kitchens, and basements.

Thanks to its popularity, you are now able to choose from hundreds of colors and patterns. Particularly vinyl planks, due to their shape, work great as faux wood.

LVP creates a finishing that is visually identical to a variety of wooden floors while adding the positive features of a synthetic floor in comparison to its more sensitive organic counterparts.

Let’s read some tips on what -not- to do when it comes to cleaning vinyl plank flooring.

Don’t overdo white vinegar on your vinyl plank flooring

White vinegar is a multi-purpose cleaning agent that works well with most materials and surfaces. However, at the end of the day, vinegar is an acid. If it’s used often, it can dull the finish.

Instead, do apply vinegar in a lower concentration. Create a mix of ¼ cup of vinegar and one tablespoon dish soap and dilute it on half a gallon of water. This will make a perfect mild floor cleaner without being too aggressive. If you’re consistent with cleaning this will do the job just fine.

Don’t use too much water or steam for your vinyl flooring

Even though vinyl planks are waterproof, because they are individual planks instead of a single roll, there are very small gaps between each plank.

Eventually, water will get into them and beneath your planks and you don’t want that for two reasons: it will loosen up the planks by melting the adhesive beneath them, and it will also create the perfect scenario for mold and bacteria to grow.

Instead, do use a minimum amount of water each time you clean. A microfiber mop only requires a bit of water and a cleaning agent to work with. You will mostly need regular sweeping and vacuuming to take care of your vinyl flooring.

And when you mop occasionally, make sure you don’t leave dripping water on it and that there’s enough airflow for the entire surface to dry properly.

Using a soft-bristled broom and a microfiber pad will help you absorb dirt and dust quickly without harming your surface.

Vinyl Plank Water Wet Floor Dallas Maids

Don’t use ammonia or bleach

Although effective, ammonia is a very abrasive agent that needs to be handled with care. Most surfaces and materials in your home right now probably do not get along with ammonia, and that includes your vinyl floors.

Ammonia is an alkaline compound and as such, it can damage the adhesive bonds between planks.

The same goes for bleach. Although less abrasive, there’s still a ton of materials that will stain when in contact with bleach. Just like ammonia, bleach is alkaline.

Instead, do use mild detergent or soap. Regular, multi-purpose, neutral detergent it’s all that your vinyl flooring needs to be taken care of.

Bleach On Vinyl Plank Flooring

Don’t let direct sunlight impact for too long on your vinyl plank flooring

Sunlight can cause yellowing because of the impact of UV rays. Plus, sunlight changes your vinyl flooring’s temperature and humidity. If this happens constantly every day and night, it’s going to be harmful to your surface.

Of course, this will depend on your location. For example, some areas in Texas can get drastic humidity changes over the year, depending on the area.

Instead, do open your windows when you’re not using a room so as not to let sunlight in your room all the time.

Conclusion

Vinyl Plank Flooring gives a lot of good reasons to be considered as the right flooring for your home. This synthetic material is able to offer superb resistance to traffic, moisture, and other day-to-day situations.

As always, do some research before deciding on a material, including its maintenance, pros and cons, pricing, and so on.

Make sure you know the effects of each cleaning product you’re applying on your vinyl floors (or any other area in your home) and remember, you can always hire professionals to clean your home and provide the right treatment for each kind of material and surface.

Smart Cleaning School with Dallas Maids Podcast

July 29, 2021 by Dallas Maids

Smart Cleaning School Podcast – Sail Around the World with Greg Shepard

Podcast: Smart Cleaning School with Greg of Dallas Maids

Greg is a serial entrepreneur. He is the owner of Dallas Maids along with 2 other cleaning companies which he founded or co-founded. In this interview, we dive into the subconscious mind and the limitless power we all possess to win at business and life. Greg sounds like a modern day Napoleon Hill, who wrote “Think & Grow Rich”. You will love how I probe Greg for his Why and vision behind each step in his journey. And I know you’ll love his resolve to earn his next life’s dream to sail around the world by building a 4th cleaning company in Toronto, Ontario. This interview was fascinating to me!

Resources: Greg recommended the books, “Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell and “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind” by Harv Eker. Greg’s cleaning company specific SEO company is Clean SEO.

The Smart Cleaning School Podcast helps cleaning business owners from start-up to the struggling solo to the striving seven-figure get SMARTER in their businesses, reshape their mindset, increase productivity, clear the overwhelm, and get clarity through SMART goal-setting & personal accountability. Ken Carfagno is a lifetime learner and teacher. His mission is to help visionaries make the impact they were meant to make.

https://www.smartcleaningschool.com/

https://www.facebook.com/smartcleaningschool

Staff Vaccination Update

July 28, 2021 by Dallas Maids

Covid-19 Update

The Majority of Dallas Maids’ Team Have Been Fully Vaccinated!

(Update originally emailed on 5/28/2021)

Hello!

Memorial Day is here and I know we are all excited about celebrating. While the holiday may still look somewhat different than previous years, we each will have more opportunity to celebrate, relax, and enjoy time together.

With Summer just around the corner, I wanted to take a moment to update you on our team. With Texas getting back to normal we want you know that we take your safety seriously. While cases of the coronavirus mercifully continue to drop, we also know that each family and customer has different circumstances.

We have heard from many of our customers that they went to get vaccinated. Others have not due to medical conditions, faith-based convictions, or personal choice. With the pandemic still around us, I want you to know what we are doing to continue to provide you with quality cleaning service that is safe and provides peace of mind.

One of my great joys as the owner and operator of Dallas Maid’s is our team. We employ some of the most dedicated, kind-hearted, hard-working employees I have ever had the pleasure of leading. Throughout the Spring, many of our team members have decided to receive one of the three COVID-19 vaccines available in our state.

Our Staff Vaccination Status

The majority of our team has been fully vaccinated. As a result, they can continue to serve you by cleaning your home but with reduced COVID precautions in place. For instance, CDC research shows that vaccinated individuals do not need to wear masks indoors in most instances. What a relief! Taking our guidance from the experts, you may notice that some of our vaccinated cleaning crews will no longer be wearing masks.

They will do their best to social distance when possible. They won’t be too strict about it though, unless you request otherwise. Some of our cleaners, in continued show of caution, will continue to wear face masks but are in fact, vaccinated and exercising their personal discretion to keep their families, themselves, our customers safe.

Understanding the Non-Vaccinated

We do have a few team members that have opted not to receive the vaccine. Their reasons are similar too many of our fellow neighbors, friends, and family: religious conviction, personal choice, or preexisting conditions. Because we are still in the midst of the pandemic, these associates will continue to follow COVID-precautions as recommended by the CDC.

We also know that some of our customers may have underlying conditions. They might also be part of a vulnerable population, or be uncomfortable with our new setup. We completely understand the concern and there is no judgment.

As we all learned in 2020, there is no playbook for how to navigate a pandemic all the time! If you require your cleaning team to be fully vaccinated to enter your home, we will do our absolute best to accommodate your request. We want you to not only have a clean home, but one you know is safe for you and your family.

Thank you for continuing to be the best customers that we have the privilege to serve. Happy Memorial Day!

Warmly,

Greg and the Dallas Maids Happiness Team