Key takeaways:
- Everyone knows at least one person who aspires to clean like a pro.
- Products that originated in commercial applications are now available to consumers.
- This collection of degreasers, cleaners, plungers and polishers can elevate the amateur’s cleaning game.
We’re all just looking to improve our existence–and that includes gaining control over the grime that haunts us at every turn.
There will be plenty of time later to focus on cozy throws and gingerbread houses for the fast-approaching holiday season. Today let’s dig into what could be a meaningful, memorable gift for you to give at any time: a pro cleaner gift set to elevate your intended’s cleaning game.
What follows are pro tips, collected by our team collectively over years of quizzing professionals, including a few in our own families. These are best served up to those already committed to the fight against direct. For them, these will be gold. You’ll be upgrading their arsenal.
We wouldn’t look for an enthusiastic reception if you were to bundle these up to present to someone less fervent. Reserve these for the ferocious cleaner, who are out there at all stages of the household life cycle–whether single, newlywed, new parents, empty nesters or grandparents.
In praise of purposeful cleaning
If you’ve ever met a union plumber, you know the vibe–methodical, meticulous, vigorously opposed to corrosive chemicals in their determination to maintain the integrity of the plumbing pipes. They’re purposeful in everything they do. They clean clockwise, they wipe in the direction of the grain of the steel. In short, they’re professionals.
Amateurs can’t match the skill and training of plumbers and other facility maintenance professionals. However, many of the products they rely on have found their way into the mainstream for the rest of us to achieve professional-level results.
Let’s head straight into the bathroom. While luxe bathroom touches can elevate the scene, there’s an ongoing need there to address practical challenges.
Cut the crud
Krud Kutter is a product originally created to meet janitors’ needs to remove crayon marks, smoke damage, tar and dried latex paint–a tall order. It has since earned a place in the bathroom where consumers turn to it for professional-grade help in removing the soap scum, body oil and residue left by cosmetics on tubs, sinks and showers.
Krud Kutter also works on the grout lines in the shower and the floor trap, again battling body oils and grime. The product penetrates the porous surface to lift the embedded oil and dirt. And, its degreasing agents also work on cosmetic stains without damaging vanities.
For disinfectant to kill 99.9% of bacteria and viruses on faucets, toilet handles or other high-risk bathroom touchpoints, there’s Krud Kutter Heavy Duty Clearner & Disinfectant.
Krud Kutter also works outdoors. One of our team members raves about its effectiveness in restoring the color of discolored bricks.
Because they can’t lose time on the corners, grout-scrubbing pros use the Unger 2-in-1 Grout & Corner Scrubber. It has a cool triangular-shaped handle and a round head that makes it possible to get into those corners.
Unger says it’s dishwasher-safe. Hmm, hard to imagine that using the dishwasher to clean a grout scrubber is something the most fastidious among us would do.
Clearing and sparkling sinks
While others buy one bottle of Drano after another to clear drains, those in the know use a single helping (one-half to 1 cup) of Insta-Flo dry crystals. This recommendation came from an architect son-in-law familiar with its effectiveness in addressing grease traps, sewer lines and septic systems in commercial buildings.
“He gave it to the family and we were thrilled,”says our team member. It works fast (hair and grease dissolved in less than 60 seconds), which is what the pros need. But those who have no patience or faith in more gentle or slow liquid cleaners will appreciate this, too.
This is heavy-duty stuff. It’s non-acidic but its alkaline pH of 13.8 is highly caustic. Rubber gloves and Chemical Splash, Impact-Resistant Googles are recommended.
In other sink news, the Bar Keepers Friend Cleanser, whose original use was by bartenders and industrial kitchens, also has broadened into the consumer market. It’s effective at removing rust and stubborn spots because its oxalic acid component lifts metal oxidation and stains without being overly caustic to the steel or porcelain.
Pros, by the way, also are known to buff a just-cleaned sink with a few drops of olive oil or mineral oil. That restores the shine and can prevent water spotting.
Plungers and toilet bowls
How current are you on toilet plunger developments? This is an instance where a thoughtful gift from you now could come in quite handy in a time of need. And, it will prevent an emergency trip to a convenience store likely to have the “wrong”plunger.
A major plumbing problem of the last decade has had to do with standard plungers failing to do the job on new, low flush and high efficiency toilets. Newer toilets have narrow, oblong drain outlets that the old-style plungers can’t fit and so can’t form a seal.
The Korky Beehive MAX Hideaway plunger, recommended by Kohler and other toilet manufacturers, was engineered to fit and seal all toilet bowl shapes. Due to the flexible, stepped and tiered shape of the beehive head, it can compress and expand as needed. This is a hefty plunger to do battle with, as you can see from the photo of this big boy. You’ll want to get the plunger that comes with the holder.
An advanced move would be the cordless automatic auger Milwaukee Drain Auger, which is a bridge some amateurs would consider a bridge too far. We’ll leave it here for now.
Even after you’ve cleared the toilet, hard water and rust stains can persist. Do away with them with CLR–an acronym for Calcium, Lime and Rust Remover. This brand got its start in industrial applications to dissolve deposits, rust and scale in plumbing and machinery. Now it’s the go-to for stains in toilet bowls and on shower doors.
Toward a sparking clean
The homebuilder crew was washing windows as a final step to turning over the home when my sister and new homeowner asked about the miracle product being used on the windows.
Thanks to that chance encounter, today the whole family uses Sprayway Glass Cleaner Aerosol Spray on windows, mirrors and car windshields.
Sprayway’s core and primary audience is professional window cleaners, auto detailers, facility maintenance crews, and commercial kitchen workers–people who can’t afford to mess around.
What makes it different is its heavy-duty foam, which clings–as opposed to dripping or running down–to vertical surfaces. It’s ammonia-free so no ammonia smell. Instead, it has a clean scent that can be addictive.
Those workers were using newspapers to wash the windows, a common practice back in the day. But even if the daily newspaper was available to us, we’d still prefer microfiber cloths for streak-free results.
Microfiber cloths, which got their start in janitorial services, are ubiquitous today. But there’s a quality difference worth your checking out. We like the towels from the Rag Company, a professional auto detailing leader that makes the case for microfiber.
“The power of microfiber enables you to clean with only water and little to no chemicals,”according to their website. In a study in partnership with the EPA focused on health care, the Rag Company reported that the use of microfiber materials provided a 99% reduction in bacteria using just water and their microfiber products. This compared to using cotton cloths, which reduced bacteria by just 30%.
The Rag Company professional grade specs explain the difference between their towels and microfiber towels you might pick up in a store as an impulse. They use a premium 70/30 polyester/polyamide blend, cheaper towels use 80/20. The higher polyamide content provides softness, elasticity and better absorbency.
Towel construction including density and plushness is measured by grams per square meter (GSM). The 16×16 Citrus Twist towels have 550 GSM. They are like mini-blankets. The lower the GSM, the thinner, less absorbent and short-lived the towels will be. Polish your stainless steel appliances once with these towels and there will be no turning back.
Something else the pros have taught us to do: use multi-colored cloth sets to color-code to prevent cross-contamination. Using red cloths for the highest risk area (toilets, shower floors, drains, etc.), green/yellow for food preparation areas and blue for low risk (windows, dusting, etc.) helps maintain a professional standard of hygiene. The days of using a single general-purpose cloth are over.
Hope you enjoy this list, which we realize just scratches the surface ;). Do you have other pro-grade ideas to suggest, including for kitchen and outdoor applications? We’d love to hear from you, just send us a note.