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Dusting the Right Way

By
Real Estate Agent with Right at Home Realty Inc., Brokerage

Here are some great tips for cleaning and dusting your home.

Every thorough cleaning job should begin with dusting. In order to be efficient, always dust from the top down. First, check for cobwebs on the ceiling. Then, moving down, dust shelves, tabletops, and any other horizontal surfaces you may have. Don't forget to dust accessories such as the telephone, lampshades, blinds, and plants. Next, dust behind furniture, baseboards, and floors. 

For most dusting jobs, the only equipment required is a vacuum cleaner with a brush attachment and a dust wand.  In order to avoid sucking up small objects while you are dusting, put a piece of panty hose over the nozzle; keep it in place with an elastic band.  You may wish to use a machine-washable dust mop for floors, ceilings and walls. Floating dust can be a problem and although many people choose to use furniture polish or spray to eliminate this, often a simple spray bottle filled with water can do the trick.  Simply mist your dust cloth or mop. 

When cleaning your house, you should aim to remove dust, not just move it around. In order to attain this, you need to wipe dusty areas with something that will grab the dust. To make good dust cloths, spray discarded undershirts, cloth diapers, or old towels with silicone. Cheesecloth moistened with diluted lemon oil also works fine. Feather dusters, although quite popular, are not very effective as they tend to scatter the dust. They are still handy for emergency cleanups. If you do use one, get a lamb's wool duster. Another option is treating an old sock with silicone and wearing it as a glove to dust tables and chairs. When sweeping up dust from floors, wax your dustpan so that dust won't cling. Shake mops and dust cloths inside a sack or outdoors to prevent dust from spreading.

Large amounts of dust are usually attracted to the static prone surfaces in your home such as your TV, the top of your refrigerator, your computer or glass tables. To alleviate this problem, try wiping these surfaces with a moistened rag with following cleaning solution: four parts water and one part liquid fabric softener.

Use your hair dryer to remove dust on delicate items. It can also be used in hard-to-reach places, such as pleated lampshades, knick-knacks, artificial flowers, carved furniture, or under appliances. To combat dust in narrow spaces, cover a long handled utensil with a sock or a pair of panty hose.

Posted by

Gail Fabiani, Sales Representative

Ā 

Gails Picture

Right at Home Realty, Inc., Brokerage, 920 Brant Street, Unit #5 Burlington, ON

905-637-1700

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www.burlingtonhomes4sale.com

Comments(8)

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SentriLock Blogger
SentriLock, LLC - Cincinnati, OH

Great dusting tips Gail! I always feel like my dusting was a waste of time when everything is covered again after a day or two. I'm going to try some of your tips to see if that works better. Do you find that home-made dust cloths (old socks/shirts) with your methods works better than swiffers? I've been using those for a while but the dust seems to return so quickly I'm thinking they aren't the best choice.

-Laura Kreuter

Dec 29, 2010 06:55 AM
Michelle Finnamore
Toronto GTA, Alliston, Newmarket - Vaughan, ON
Preparing your property for sale

I used to say to my Dad that if he stopped writing his name in the dust no one would notice how much there was! LOL!!!!  Just kidding, with  my allergies dust is always a problem. Great tips.

Dec 30, 2010 01:41 AM
Brian Madigan
RE/MAX West Realty Inc., Brokerage (Toronto) - Toronto, ON
LL.B., Broker

Gail,

Good advice. I didn't appreciate that there was a right way and a wrong way do do this.

Brian

Dec 30, 2010 04:03 AM
Ginger Foust
Certified Staging Professional - Oakhurst, CA
Home Stager Oakhurst CA, Dream Interior Redesign & Staging

Great information Gail.  Would have never thought of writing a blog post on dusting, but you have some valuable tips included.  Thanks!

Dec 30, 2010 04:14 AM
Kimo Stowell
HI Pro Realty LLC RB-21531 - Honolulu, HI
REALTORĀ®, GREEN - Honolulu Hawai'i

Aloha Gail,

Dust, like death and taxes, seems to be an inevitable contstant. Thanks for the post. I like to cover feather dusters with spray wax and using dusters in both hands attack the vicious dust "monsters" in their lairs. 

Peace,

Dec 30, 2010 07:44 AM
Team Honeycutt
Allen Tate - Concord, NC

My mom taught me most of that and I conveniently forget it when it actually comes time to dust.  Good tip with the pantyhose.

Dec 31, 2010 02:51 AM
Tori Toth
Tori Toth, International - Howard Beach, NY
888.667.6643 NYC & Beyond, HSR, SAR, RESA, LIBOR

great tips, love the pantyhose trick, maybe this can help out in my house.

Jan 01, 2011 04:45 PM
Virginia Tatseos
Stage-Show-Sell - Bloomfield Township, MI

I HATE dusting with a passion.

My trick is so open two windows.  PUt a fan in one to suck out the dust.  Put a fan in the other to send the dust to the first one :-)

Jan 02, 2011 07:34 AM