Making your life easier is the aim of the game for the weekly or monthly deep clean. So naturally, you want to make every task as quick and as pain-free as possible. From deep cleaning the fridge to getting rid of those stains on the sofa and even cleaning the baseboards.
There is an endless list of tasks for you to undertake to make the house spotless, with some chores being more annoying than others. Unfortunately, cleaning the baseboards is a more timely and uncomfortable task.
You either have to kneel on the floor or bend so far over you could be paid in a circus to be an acrobatic cleaner.
Fortunately, there are a few ways to clean the baseboards without throwing your back out. Keep reading to find the best method for you with items you already have in your home.
You need to use long-handled cleaning implements to clean baseboards without bending over.
For example, you can use a long duster, broom, or yardstick. Alternatively, you can purchase an extensible scrubber with multiple head attachments. As long as you can find something that works to both dust and wipe/ scrub the baseboards, you should be fine.
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How to Clean Baseboards- the Standard Way
If you don’t mind bending over or having someone help, this is how you can adequately clean the baseboards. It’s essential to learn the steps and processes involved in cleaning baseboards before adapting the methods to your needs. Once you learn the standard practice, it’ll be much easier to get creative and find tools in your home that you can adapt and use to clean the baseboards without bending over.
What you’ll need:
- A broom of the vacuum cleaner.
- Cleaning cloths.
- A bucket.
- Water.
- Liquid dish soap.
- A magic eraser (optional).
- Something to protect your knees on, e.g, a towel or yoga mat.
Steps to clean the baseboards.
Step 1: Prepare.
Before jumping right into cleaning, you first need to move any objects touching the baseboards. Doing this all at once is easier than moving things as you go. Remember, make this process quick and easy for yourself.
This means shifting drawers and sofas away from the wall, as well as lifting curtains that are touching the floor. Ideally, get someone to help so that you don’t injure yourself or scratch the floors.
Open the windows for ventilation because you will be kicking up a lot of dust in the following few stages, and it’s best not to breathe it in.
Step 2: Dust or Vacuum.
Grab a broom or a vacuum with the dusting attachment, and remove as much dry dust as possible. Try to sweep up or vacuum any dust that falls to the floor because otherwise, it will get kicked up into the air and re-settle on the baseboards and other furniture.
Step 3: Clean.
Fill a bucket with warm water, and add a little dish soap. Mix to combine, then dampen a clean microfiber cloth in the solution. Wring out the cloth well, and get to work scrubbing baseboards.
Repeatedly rinse and wring the cloth, and continue around the room. You don’t need a soaking wet cloth for this; it’ll just make the task more difficult.
Inspect the baseboards for scuffs or black marks, and use a magic eraser to remove them. Finally, dry the baseboards with a clean, dry cloth.
Step 4: Final Touches.
This last step is optional and only necessary if your baseboards are not in good shape. If you have tried to remove all the remaining scuffs and marks, but imperfections remain, you will need to re-finish them and do some touch-ups.
Follow these steps if you have unpainted wooden baseboards and have noticed some cracking or flaking in the varnish. First, grab some furniture polish and buff away the affected parts of the finished wood.
Instead, try rubbing the area with some linseed oil if you have unfinished wood. Leave the oil to soak in for 1-3 days before pushing the furniture back against the baseboards.
If you have painted baseboards with some cracked or peeling paint, you can do some painting to touch them up. First, with low-medium grit sandpaper, working away at flaking paint. Then, wipe away the debris with a damp cloth, and leave it to dry.
Step 5: Reset the Room.
Once the baseboards are dry and finished, put the furniture back in its place. If you’re in a hurry and your baseboards are still damp, turn on some fans in the room and fully open the windows to increase air circulation.
How to Clean Baseboards Without Bending Over
Now that you understand how to clean baseboards to a high standard, it’s easier to imagine what you’ll need to clean them without bending over. Essentially, you want to complete the above processes without kneeling or bending over.
For this, you’ll need a long-handled broom or something similar. Of course, the trickiest part of the process is getting enough leverage to scrub at the baseboards, but it’s still doable.
Step 1: How to Vacuum or Dust Baseboards without Bending Over.
Okay, so the first task is to remove as much surface dust as possible. If your vacuum cleaner has a long hose attachment with the appropriate head, use it to suck up the surface dust. Alternatively, if your vacuum cleaner doesn’t have this, you could use a long-handled duster.
You can get multiple head attachments for extendible dusters, such as the one below:
[amazon box=”B08N9M74M1″ template=”vertical”]
Step 2: How to Wash the Baseboards without Bending Over.
This step is a little trickier, but it’s possible. You can use a few implements to do this, depending on what you have in the house or if you’re willing to purchase another cleaning implement.
- A mop with a correctly shaped head.
- A wet Swiffer pad.
- A damp cloth attached to the end of a broom or yardstick.
- An angled extension scrubber. Something similar to the one in the link below:
Angled Extension Scrubber Link on Amazon- for $15.
Using your chosen implement, scrub and wipe down all of the baseboards.
Step 3: Dry.
You can use the same implement as above with a dry head or cloth on top and wipe down the baseboards to remove any lingering dirt, moisture, and streaks. Ensure the baseboards are fully dry before re-setting the furniture in the house and pushing anything against the baseboards.
How Often Do I Need to Clean the Baseboards?
It’s easy to neglect cleaning many objects in our home until one day you spot how filthy they are. You can even get a pang of embarrassment that you left it this long and didn’t even notice. If this sounds familiar, scheduling baseboard cleaning into your deep cleaning routine might be a good idea.
How often you need to clean them depends on your lifestyle. For example, if your house is filled with pets, children, or you’re particularly outdoorsy and drag mud in, we recommend cleaning them once per month. Conversely, if there aren’t many people in your household, and the house remains relatively clean, every 2-3 months is probably OK too.
Essentially, it depends on your household.
To Summarize
Few of us regard baseboard cleaning as fun, especially for those with sensitive backs who don’t want to or can’t bend over to clean them. However, there are a few hacks and tips to avoid kneeling and bending during the cleaning process.
You can use any kind of long-handled implement, such as a broom, duster, or long hose on the vacuum. You can also purchase specific long-handle scrubbers used for multiple cleaning functions in the house, such as baseboard cleaning.
It’s not a job you need to do regularly, but you want to make it as easy and pain-free as possible. And as such, it might be worthwhile investing in the extensible scrubber to expedite the process, speed everything up, and save your back.