I love to cook, am a whiz with a hot iron and rather enjoy polishing the family silver(plate).
But the larger task of cleaning an entire apartment or house leaves me cold. Always has.
MaidPro franchise owner Philip Doyle, surrounded by tools of the trade in his Adams Morgan office.
(Preston Keres -- The Washington Post)
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I might have remained forever ignorant of what it really means to clean from "top to bottom" (remember this phrase, it will reappear) had not a flyer from MaidPro, the Boston-based national cleaning franchise, recently come my way.
"All our service providers are professionally trained through our MaidPro University," the ad boasted. University? Where better to acquire a remedial education than from a firm that charges by the hour, trains two-person crews to clean as many as four houses a day, and has as its pun-ly motto, "It's About Time."
Clearly grime is money.
My professor was self-described "neat freak," Philip Doyle, who spent 25 years in hotel management (housekeeping was definitely part of his portfolio) before he bought the Adams Morgan MaidPro franchise in October. His classroom was the Spring Valley home of a client, where I watched Doyle and one of his top cleaners do everything from shaking dead leaves off a pair of potted trees and dusting oil paintings with a fat, sable paintbrush to vacuuming a sofa and knife-creasing throw pillows.
Doyle's first rule of cleaning echoes that of many household experts: "top to bottom." This technique drives all dust, cobwebs, pet hair and shower scum downward from ceilings, walls and furnishings. Once on the floor, the collective mess becomes a snap to vacuum, sweep or mop up.
His second-favorite direction is "from the farthest point to the door," which allows the cleaner to exit without tracking dirt over newly pristine surfaces.
Yikes! In less than 10 minutes, I had acquired two foundations of cleaning.
But real Maid Pro students learn much more, especially the overarching lesson of the order of chores.
First, strip the beds and put sheets and pillowcases in the washer. Then clean the whole kitchen, which is the toughest room in the house and gets a full half-hour of attention. (Doyle loves washing kitchen floors with a "Sh-mop," its large head covered by an abrasive pad and elasticized cloth cap). Continue by cleaning all bathroom surfaces before doing the bedrooms. Finish the laundry and bathrooms, clean the hallway and stairwell, and end up in the living and dining rooms.
MaidPro owners nationwide must use the same cleaning products, most of them from Procter & Gamble, including a liquid Comet cleanser that is not available to the public. The techniques are also uniform.
Take the toilet: Spray liquid scouring solution on the outside, from the top of the tank to the base of the throne. Pour Mr. Clean Toilet Bowl Cleaner into the water. Wait 15 minutes, wipe the exterior with a nylon scrubby and a microfiber cloth (color coded so it will not mistakenly be reused in the kitchen, thank heavens). Tackle the bowl with a long-handled toilet brush.
For framed art, spray Windex onto a paper towel to clean the glass. Spraying the glass directly may ruin the picture behind it. To shine a metal frame, first remove the photo, glass and backing, then apply polish (Doyle uses Nonox for Brass, Mrs. Wright's Silver Cream for sterling or silverplate and a soft toothbrush for detail work). When the polish dries, rinse it off with hot water and completely dry the frame with a soft cloth before reassembly.
