It’s Spring - Time to Get Cleaning
Although we’re still about a week away from the first official day of spring, it’s close enough to start the process of spring cleaning. With warmer weather and longer days just around the corner, we’re ready to give our homes and screened porches a good deep cleaning. If you’re looking for cleaning tips, tricks, and recommendations for this upcoming season, make sure to keep reading.
The Screens
Guess what - those stunning screens actually get dirty, too, and require semi-regular cleaning to remove dirt and grime. If your screened porch was supplied by SCREENEZE, our manufacturer that supplies us with our screen fabric recommends cleaning your screens with a mild soapy solution. You should avoid hard scrubbing and rinse well. We do NOT recommend power washing. If your screened porch was supplied by any other manufacturer, we recommend checking with them for their best cleaning practices.
The Floors
Regardless of the material used, those screened porch floors of yours will become dirty. Whether caused by shoes bringing in mud, dogs shedding their winter coats, or kids playing around, your floors will be ready for a deep cleaning this spring. We first recommend sweeping your entire floor, making sure that large debris and dust are swept into a dustpan and thrown away. Once swept, if your flooring permits, use something like a Swiffer Wetjet or a plain mop with mild soapy water to get up the remaining dirt and debris. Allow all surfaces to dry before placing furniture and over removed decor back into the screened porch.
The Tables
Tabletops get fairly dirty, between dust settling and pets nudging the table edge. Cleaning hard wood and glass surfaces is a good way to make your screened space feel comfortable and fresh. For glass table-tops, window-panels, or doors, we recommend using a glass cleaner, such as Windex, or any other effective glass cleaner. For finished wood tables, furniture, or door frames, we recommend using a wood cleaner/polisher, such as Pledge, or any other effective wood cleaner/polisher. Cleaning these commonly smudged surfaces will make your screened porch sparkle during those lengthening hours of daylight.
The Fabrics
While fluffy fabric items, such as pillows and blankets, are great ways to make a screened porch space more inviting, they are also high absorbers of pollen, dust, and other debris. While you should fluff out your softer surfaces to expel any pollen, dust, or debris from them, it’s also a great idea to wash the soft-surface items that are able to be washed. Things like cushions, pillow covers, and chair covers are often machine-washable (even sometimes the cushions themselves), so for a deep cleaning in the spring, throwing those items that can be machine-washed safely into the washer is great. Once these soft-surface items are deep-cleaned, leave them inside until the rest of your screened porch is cleaned.
All of these recommendations are just suggestions - please keep in mind that your screened porch may require altered care and cleaning based on the surfaces and materials you have.
Share your spring-cleaned screen porches with us for a chance to be featured on our social channels! Or, let us know your best strategies for cleaning your screened porch.
