We clean offices top down, floors last

We clean every office top down

We clean an office in one direction, from high to low. We start with the tops of shelves, filing cabinets and window sills, then move to desks and phones, and we finish with the floor. Dust falls when you wipe. If you clean anything above a surface you already did, grit lands right back on it. When the work goes in order, each area gets cleaned once and is still clean when we walk out.

On a desk we work around what people leave behind. Papers and personal things stay where they are, and we wipe the open surface, the keyboard edge, the phone handset and the chair arms. People touch those spots all day. They rarely look dirty, but they get grimy faster than anything else on the desk. A desk done right looks untouched to the person who sits there, only cleaner.

The floor always comes last, and the trash comes out before it. We empty and reline the bins first so nothing drips on a floor we just mopped. We vacuum carpet along the edges and under the desks, where dust collects out of sight. Hard floors get swept and then mopped. If you skip the sweep, the mop just pushes grit around and leaves a gray haze that shows once it dries.

• Desks and work surfaces dusted and wiped
• Break room counters, sink and tables cleaned
• Bathrooms scrubbed and fixtures wiped down
• Trash emptied and bins relined
• Floors vacuumed or mopped, salt residue removed

Bronx winters leave salt on office floors

From the first snow until spring, everyone who walks into your office brings the sidewalk in with them. The Bronx salts its streets and stoops hard, and that salt dries into a white film on tile, vinyl and wood. It also gets ground into the carpet near the door. If nobody deals with it, the film dulls the finish and the grit wears a path from the entrance to the desks.

A dry mop won't pick up salt. It has to be dissolved first, so we damp mop the entry and the main walkways, then go over them again with clean water to lift what is left. If you mop once with dirty water, the salt just spreads thinner across the whole floor and the haze comes back as it dries. The rinse is the step that actually gets the salt off the floor.

Mats at the door catch most of the salt in January, but only if someone cleans them too. A mat full of salt and slush stops catching anything and starts spreading it onto the floor. We vacuum the mats, and when they are wet we lift them so the floor underneath can dry. Water trapped under a rubber backed mat for weeks will stain wood and loosen tile.

Prewar buildings in the Bronx collect more dust

A lot of offices around Kingsbridge, Riverdale and Fordham are in prewar brick buildings, either above storefronts or on the ground floor of apartment houses. These buildings have plaster walls, tall windows, deep sills and old wood trim, and every ledge collects dust. Many are heated by steam radiators. The rising heat carries dust up the wall and leaves a gray streak above each one.

Radiators need attention the rest of the room does not. Dust packs between the fins, and when the heat comes on it bakes and smells. We clean the top and the sides we can reach, then wipe the wall and the sill around it. Window air conditioners need the same care in summer. Their grilles pull in dust and pollen and blow it across every desk in the room.

Moisture is the other problem in older buildings. Summers here are humid, and brick walls and basement level offices hold damp air. Bathrooms without a good fan stay wet, and the grout and caulk start to darken. Wiping those surfaces dry on every visit keeps the dark spots from coming back. Once mildew settles into grout, a regular cleaning will not lift it anymore.

Bathrooms and break rooms get separate cloths

The fastest way to make an office dirtier is to use one cloth everywhere, because whatever is on a toilet seat ends up on the coffee counter. We keep bathroom cloths and kitchen cloths apart. We also clean the break room before the bathroom so nothing gets carried from one room into the other. It is a small habit, and it matters more than anything else for keeping colds from going around the office.

In the break room we wipe the counters, the tabletops and the fronts of the fridge and microwave, because hands land there all day. We scrub the sink instead of just rinsing it, because coffee and food leave a film that turns sour in a warm room. People often forget to clean the fridge handle and the microwave buttons. When those get skipped, the room looks clean but still is not.

We clean a bathroom from the cleanest surfaces to the dirtiest. The mirror and sink come first, then the partitions and door handles, then the toilets and urinals. Last is the floor, and we work back toward the door. We use eco friendly cleaning products when you ask for them, which matters in a small office with no windows to open. A bathroom done right smells like nothing at all.