The top tips to remember for some of the most common spring-cleaning jobs

When you’re heading out to perform some spring-cleaning jobs (whether in a personal or professional capacity), efficiency is often going to be a key concern, as well as having the right ladder for the job. If you’re a homeowner, you don’t necessarily want to be spending all your evenings and weekends on the same task, whereas if you’re working on them in a professional capacity… well, time is money! To help save you some of both, we’ve summed up some of our most helpful spring cleaning tips right here.

A tip for painting a room

Paint fumes are always going to be a key concern when you’re painting rooms, so it’s wise to make sure you’re equipped with the proper PPE; a proper face mask can protect against breathing in too many fumes while painting. Given that you’ll be ‘up close and personal’ with these fumes throughout the day, it pays to wear protection against excessive inhalation.

Also, nobody wants to have their home or office smelling of paint for days on end. To avoid this, it’s not a bad idea to start the airing process during the painting rather than leaving it as an afterthought. With less of that “just painted” smell, they’ll be happier with the end result.

A tip for pruning garden hedges

Cutting garden hedges is a fine art but you can pick it up quickly. Pruning is done through two types of cuts; thinning or heading.

Heading cuts

Heading cuts act to encourage new growth of the buds positioned nearest to where the cut is made. Whichever direction the topmost bud is pointing after the cut is the direction that it will grow. It’s possible to make use of heading cuts to reduce a hedge in height while still keeping its overall shape.

If you’re not paying attention to heading cuts and where they’re made, a hedge can end up growing in unexpected ways. This is fine when removing large sections of a hedge, but it should be done more selectively when reaching an optimal size or shape.

Thinning cuts

Thinning cuts are more specific. For instance, when cutting a branch within the hedge, a thinning cut aims for where it begins or attaches; not partway along. By using this approach, a hedge can be gradually reduced in overall bulk even while keeping the same shape that the customer prefers.

A tip for washing windows

When washing windows indoors as well as outdoors, be sure to remove debris, dirt or dust from the window area before you begin. Even a small bit of grit or other hard spec can scratch the glass when cleaning it.

By cleaning the indoor windows with a vacuum first, it sucks away problem particles. They will not mix with the cleaning solution to create a dirty film over the window either.

For cleaning outdoors, use a jet attachment to the garden hose to spray water generously and blast away any problematic grit. It’s also a good idea to apply cleaning fluid liberally as it also helps to wash away unwanted remnants.

A tip for cleaning up the loft

Use a loft ladder to get up and down from the loft safely. A fall from the loft down to the floor below is a significant one, whether or not it seems far from atop the ladder. Make sure that you have the right ladder for the job which won’t let you down. It’s always best practice to wear an FFP3 grade dust mask that’s CE certified to prevent breathing in dust that may have collected up there.

And if you’re looking for the right ladder to help you carry out the job, you’re in exactly the right place. Here at Browns Ladders we’ve got a huge range of them in stock right here on our site, so feel free to browse our inventory of extension ladders, roof ladders, telescopic ladders and more to find the one that’s right for you.