Some tenants are slobs
5/19/10 11:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wobblerlorriWe've been desperately trying to make our rental house look acceptable to potential buyers -- painting, cleaning, repairing, keeping the lawn mowed, all that sort of thing. But no matter how many times we mopped the kitchen floor, it still looked like shit. Ground in filth, in trails where you could see exactly where they walked and stood.
I googled cleaning a vinyl floor, since I've never had to deal with this level of sheer dirt. I'm not the best housekeeper in the world, but I do try to vacuum at least once a week or so, and I mop once a week. Sometimes it's a couple of weeks between vacuuming/moppings, but I'm fairly regular. I keep the cobwebs swept out of the corners, and once or twice a year I'll go around and wipe off the tops of window frames and door frames, and clean the dust off the leading edges of the ceiling fan blades (that's twice a year, when we switch it from turning clockwise to counterclockwise and back for the seasons).
But I'd lay good money these people never vacuumed, and they sure as hell never picked up a mop or cleaned off a window/door frame.
Anyway, all the professionals I found on Google said that straight ammonia, poured on the dirt, worked in slightly with a broom, and let to sit for 15 min will shift any dirt. So armed with a half gallon of lemon scented ammonia (which still smelled like plain ol' ammonia), a rubber broom, a scrub brush for back-up, and a towel, we went back over to the house.
Mike mowed the lawn while I attacked the floor. I tried it on the grunge in front of the sink first, just to see if it would work. I tried scrubbing with the rubber broom, but there was too much dirt ground into the grain of the vinyl for that, so it was down on my knees. I was astounded -- a good scrubbing and the dirt just lifted right out. The towel was wrung out in clean water and used to mop up the filthy ammonia. And there was a clean floor, beautiful and pristine.
It took two solid hours and all the ammonia, but I have half the kitchen/dining room floor CLEAN. Tomorrow I'll do the other half (which isn't as filthy, so it shouldn't take as long), then I'll mop the whole floor with Pine-Sol and water to bring back the shine and to kill any lingering ammonia smell. I've put the nasty towel and my clothes in the washer, and taken a shower so the cats won't spend all day sniffing me, wondering why I smell like old pee.
And you know, just mopping once a week would have kept that floor clean. Just damp mopping, wouldn't even have needed any cleaner. Goddamn, but people are pigs.
I googled cleaning a vinyl floor, since I've never had to deal with this level of sheer dirt. I'm not the best housekeeper in the world, but I do try to vacuum at least once a week or so, and I mop once a week. Sometimes it's a couple of weeks between vacuuming/moppings, but I'm fairly regular. I keep the cobwebs swept out of the corners, and once or twice a year I'll go around and wipe off the tops of window frames and door frames, and clean the dust off the leading edges of the ceiling fan blades (that's twice a year, when we switch it from turning clockwise to counterclockwise and back for the seasons).
But I'd lay good money these people never vacuumed, and they sure as hell never picked up a mop or cleaned off a window/door frame.
Anyway, all the professionals I found on Google said that straight ammonia, poured on the dirt, worked in slightly with a broom, and let to sit for 15 min will shift any dirt. So armed with a half gallon of lemon scented ammonia (which still smelled like plain ol' ammonia), a rubber broom, a scrub brush for back-up, and a towel, we went back over to the house.
Mike mowed the lawn while I attacked the floor. I tried it on the grunge in front of the sink first, just to see if it would work. I tried scrubbing with the rubber broom, but there was too much dirt ground into the grain of the vinyl for that, so it was down on my knees. I was astounded -- a good scrubbing and the dirt just lifted right out. The towel was wrung out in clean water and used to mop up the filthy ammonia. And there was a clean floor, beautiful and pristine.
It took two solid hours and all the ammonia, but I have half the kitchen/dining room floor CLEAN. Tomorrow I'll do the other half (which isn't as filthy, so it shouldn't take as long), then I'll mop the whole floor with Pine-Sol and water to bring back the shine and to kill any lingering ammonia smell. I've put the nasty towel and my clothes in the washer, and taken a shower so the cats won't spend all day sniffing me, wondering why I smell like old pee.
And you know, just mopping once a week would have kept that floor clean. Just damp mopping, wouldn't even have needed any cleaner. Goddamn, but people are pigs.
