Cleaning Up New York by Bob Rosenthal

Author:Bob Rosenthal [Rosenthal, Bob]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-59017-990-1
Publisher: New York Review Books
Published: 2016-04-11T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 5

Floors and Walls

Cleaning a floor or wall creates a progression of triangles. One side of the triangle is the floor. The second side is you leaning over the surface to be cleaned and the third side is the broom, mop, or wall. Triangles that stretch and contract along the surfaces with the best geometry produce the best cleaning.

Murphy’s is a good soap to wash a wall with. Use a sponge and then wipe dry with a second cloth. You can use a harsher chemical like Spic & Span on hard enamel paint. The product Varnex is good for wood paneling. You wipe it on, let dry, and polish it off. It is a wax besides being a cleaner. I have used Scott’s Liquid Gold and found it objectionable to human lungs and skin.

Sweep a floor from one end to the other or sweep it outside to inside. Take broad strokes to avoid making dust fly. Centralize the dirt into one spot by circling around it and sweep it into a dustpan.

Sponge mops are best on an already clean linoleum floor. String mops are better on any floor. The best string mop I’ve ever used is a Fuller Brush mop that cost $6. I own one myself and am still content with it. I even enjoy not using it. The mop has tough strings made half out of string and half out of sponge. The stringiness is good for getting into cracks and pulling dirt out of corners while the sponginess is good for the flat, smooth surfaces. And, the handle is a bright, gay color! Mop the floor and remember to wring out the mop completely before the second sweep. It takes a second going over to really pick up the dirt that the first swab loosened. On linoleum or tiled floors, use a liquid cleaner of ammonia in water. Ammonia is equally effective and costs half as much as a liquid cleaner such as Mr. Clean or Top Job. Use Murphy’s on wood floors with a second mopping of clear water.

I really dislike acrylic floor waxes. They aren’t in any way beneficial to the flooring itself and their use as protection is limited by the amount of wear and difficulty of application. Since they are liquid, they tend to roll with the slope of the floor and build up in some spots as they thin out in others. It is very difficult to remove these built-up spots. One can buy a paste wax for linoleum floors, which is both good for the floor and pleasant to use. The idea of a time-saving cleaning product is usually to skip the essential reasons for using the process and instead rush to a finished but cosmetic look.

Vacuum cleaners are very useful and a powerful model can replace a broom entirely. The vacuum doesn’t cause the dirt and hair to fly up in your face. It pulls the dirt out of corners and cracks. It can dust high places for you. Sweep

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