Upright vs. Cylinder Vacuum Cleaners

Sometimes our clients contact us for an advice on what vacuum cleaner to choose for their homes- upright or cylinder, in terms of their design as well as their brand.

In order to answer these questions, we decided to take a quick survey among our professional cleaners as their practical experience is invaluable. Every day they use different kinds and brands of vacuums ranging from cylinders and uprights to the trendy and lightweight cordless vacuum cleaners. Our survey is based on the professional cleaning specific requirements and our clients` needs as vacuuming is among the most important cleaning tasks. Our cleaners usually have to vacuum large areas for a short time and be able to deliver a good finish. We’ve looked at the most popular choices among our clients as detailed below:

Q&A – End of tenancy cleaning

End of Tenancy Cleaning: The Price

Q: When it comes to book a professional end of tenancy cleaning the main question is about the price. How much the cleaning will cost?

A: The price for an end of tenancy cleaning mainly depends on the size of the property (a standard studio, a one -bedroom flat, a two- or three-bedroom house/flat or four or a five-bedroom house) and then on its condition. As bigger is the property as expensive is to clean it. The other important factor to consider is the condition of the property. If the property hasn’t been cleaned regularly for months or years and it is in a bad state with dirt built-up over the time, the client should expect that the price will go up. We have had occasions when we had spent more time to clean a 1-bed flat than a 3-bedroom house over 2 floors.

                 As an example, most of London based cleaning companies charge between £100 – £160 to clean a 1 bed flat, £120-£240 for a 2 bed-flat, etc.

Prices vary because of:

a) the size of the premises, the number of the floors, the bathrooms and any additional rooms to be cleaned – storage, utility, conservatory, additional corridors, etc.

b) whether the premises are unfurnished or fully furnished,

c) additional services the client may requests, as blinds cleaning, balcony cleaning or other specific tasks to be completed  

d) adding carpet/upholstery or mattress cleaning to the required standard at the end of tenancy.

e) any parking or congestion charges

Q: Does the cleaning the companies offer covers the requirements of the estate agencies or landlords?

A: The reputable cleaning companies know that their service must meet the expectations of the estate agencies and landlords. The companies that want to be competitive on the market must train their staff well and make a thorough check-lists to be completed on each job they take.  Most of them offer a free re-clean if there are issues with the quality of the service. It is worth to check with them if a free re-clean is included in the quoted price or not. This will save you additional money in case your landlord or estate agency is not happy with the cleaning. Most of the cleaning companies have a minimum charge per visit. With addition of delivering cleaning materials, collecting/returning the keys from/to the estate agency and parking fee the minimum amount you will pay can go to £60-£70 even if few spots only have been missed.

Q: Can the cleaner who cleans the premises every week or comes occasionally to clean do the end of tenancy cleaning? Is it worth to find a cheaper offer? Why to spend over £100 for end of tenancy cleaning when the cleaner who comes every week for a few hours charges £20-£30?

A: The client should not compare the work and the time the regular cleaner spends to clean the property with the work and time the professional cleaning team will spend. Most of the domestic cleaners are not trained in EoTC and don’t know what and how they should clean. It is because they don’t know the cleaning specification. The other minus is that they don’t have professional chemicals or equipment and probably will use the chemicals supplied by you. As they are not trained in this kind of cleaning there is a risk for something to be missed or not done properly, which can lead the cleaning to fail the check-out inspection. As a result, you may be asked to arrange a re-clean, or the landlord/the estate agency will do that, one and then you have to pay the bill.

Tips for choosing who to do your end of tenancy cleaning:

  1. Check what the companies include in their service. Is the oven cleaning included, do they supply cleaning materials, do they offer a free re-clean? Are there additional charges on top of the initially quoted price? For instance, although most of the companies include the oven cleaning in their standard pack, there are ones that charge additionally for oven cleaning, etc.

Often the cheap price means a cheap service and the client can end with a long list of cleaning issues in the check-our report, which will cause troubles of getting the tenancy deposit back.

  2. Check what kind of carpet cleaning equipment the company uses. If you need your carpets cleaned, you will need an experienced carpet cleaner to come with a correct professional cleaning equipment. Don’t pay someone who will use a wet vacuum cleaner instead or will bring a “Rug Doctor” from the nearest bigger supermarket.  

  3. The price for end of tenancy is not hourly-based. The cleaners work to complete the cleaning to the required standard. Give the cleaners enough time to do their job. End of tenancy is not a quick or evening job so make sure there is enough time for the cleaning between the furniture removal and your check-out inspection.  

I hope my article will help the tenants, whose end of tenancy cleaning is due, to make the right decision of hiring a cleaning company.

Please contact us at diana@wimbledon-cleaning-services.co.uk for any comments or question you may have.

How to get wax out of carpet?

Candles can play a huge role in building up the perfect atmosphere for a romantic dinner or a holiday celebration with the family, but while we all enjoy the warmth of their burning flame, no one wants to clean the mess that wax drips can leave on the carpet.

Seeing this huge wax stain on your favorite rug can seem scary at first, but fortunately, there is a really simple and effective way to deal with this. We’ll show you how to get wax out of carpet or upholstery, simple and easy, which you can try right now!

Let’s begin!

First let’s cover what you’ll need: a plastic bag / some ice cubes / a blunt knife / an iron / some brown paper / a white clean cloth / a bowl of warm water

1. Take the plastic bag and put some ice cubes in it, after that place it on top of the stein and leave it for 5 min to make sure all of the wax underneath is frozen. Hard wax is easier to remove manually and the less it remains after this, the easier your task will become.
2. Take the blunt knife and start scraping the already frozen wax. Be gentle and take your time, otherwise, you risk in damaging the fabric. Remove as much as you can this way.
3. Vacuum the area. You don’t want to leave any of the scrapped harden wax on the carpet, as it can liquefy and crate other steins.
4. After this, you will see that there is still wax remaining on your carpet that is attached to its fibers. To remove it you need to liquefy it first. Take the brown paper (you can use brown paper bags or paper shipping cushions) and place it on top of the stain.
5. Heat up the iron (set it on medium, wax doesn’t require too much heat to liquefy, furthermore by heating it too much you risk in burning the fabric) and place it on the top of the brown paper that is covering the wax stain.
6. Keep holding the iron in the same spot, while pulling the paper from underneath it. You will see how the brown paper starts absorbing now liquefied wax in form of large dark wet spots and lifting it from the carpet.
7. Keep repeating this, with the clean parts of the brown paper, until all of the wax has been absorbed and the paper comes clean from underneath of the iron. The key to this is to always keep the paper moving while holding the iron on the same spot above the wax stain. If you need to rest or change the paper make sure to lift the iron and then place it back on top once you are ready or it can burn the area.
8. Use a home cleaning solution to remove any remaining wax residue in the area.
9. Dampen the clean cloth into the warm water and gently dap the area to rinse it from any remaining residue.
10. Let it dry.

In this video by David Nance you can see steps 4 – 7 in action.

If you get colored wax drips on your carpet proceed until step: 7 the same way as the above. If you can still see a remaining color stein, even after the wax is gone, here is what you can do:

You will need: a white clean piece of cloth / some rubbing alcohol

1. After step: 7 pour a small amount of rubbing alcohol on the piece of cloth (it needs to be white, so it doesn’t let out a colour and so you can clearly see the results from the cleaning on it)
2. Gently start dabbing on the stains with the moist part of the cloth. DO NOT RUB, it can spread the stain and damage the fabric.
3. Once you see color starts lifting from the carpet to the cloth moist another part of the cloth and repeat until all of it is cleaned.
4. Proceed to step: 8 as usual.

For really small steins

If the stein is really small instead of the iron you can use a spoon and a lighter to liquefy the wax. Here is how:

1. After step: 4 instead of using an iron take the e spoon and heat it with the lighter for 5-10 sec.
2. Place it on top of the brown paper, where the wax stein is.
3. Similarly, to the above you will see how the heat from spoon liquefies the wax and allows it to be absorbed by the paper.
4. Keep reheating the spoon and using clean paper until all of the wax is lifted from your carpet.
5. If there is a residue proceed to step: 8.

If the stain remains on your carpet or upholstery even after you treat it this way, there is no need for panic! We at Wimbledon cleaning service are always at your disposal! Our professional cleaners will take care of your carpet and make it brand new! Contact us now and enjoy your free time with your family while we deal with the nasty chores for you.

Important: Before you proceed in cleaning, regardless of the chosen method or solution, you should always check if it is suitable for your carpet or upholstery. For example, some natural made fabrics, such as ones from grass and wool, can be damaged if treated with liquid solutions. If you are not sure what your carpet is made from we advise you to contact a professional cleaner.

How to do that? Take some of the cleaning solution and apply a small amount of it in out of the way part of your carpet (under the sofa for example). If you see any color change or another sign of damage, immediately rinse the area with a sponge soaked in cold water and contact a professional cleaner.