If you want a fuss-free way to clean your home’s baseboards properly without bending over, this is your go-to guide!
Cleaning your baseboards without bending over can involve two different approaches: give the task to someone who can bend over, or use your vacuum in combination with a microfiber mop or Swiffer. The former is great for those that can supervise. The latter will be best for those who really want to do it themselves so that they’re sure it’s clean. Below is all of the information that you need to know.
How to clean baseboards without bending over or getting your knees on the floor
Regardless of the actual reason itself, bending over and getting on our hands and needs to furiously scrub baseboards isn’t always possible or enjoyable. Understanding practical ways to clean those problem points without bending over or ending up stuck on your hands and knees is very important! Here are the details about your approaches.
Outsource to someone you can supervise
The first suggestion to stay as stress-free as possible is to outsource your cleaning to someone who can help you out in this area! It could be an actual cleaning service, but there’s no reason it can’t be a sibling, a child, or a partner!
This would be someone who can get on their hands and knees comfortably and scrub like you’d want them to. Depending on your relationship with these people, you might want to supervise them to ensure that everything is actually getting clean. After all, you don’t want to have someone do it for you, only to realize they only did a little bit. Not only would you be less likely to hire them again to help you out, but you’ll just end up on your hands and knees anyway!
Use a vacuum and mop combination
If you want to do it yourself, you can do it using a combination of a vacuum and a mop! First, you’ll want to dust your baseboards to get them free from the grime that is already caked on and has been that way for quite some time, most likely.
Rather than getting one of those extendable dusters, grab your vacuum cleaner and its detail attachments. If you have one with a brush attachment, that’ll work, too.
Vacuum thoroughly around your space, making sure to get the flat ledge at the top and the crease along the bottom particularly well. You can go over it twice with the vacuum if you want to. The more time you spend on this stage, the easier the actual cleaning stage will be.
Next, mopping. For this, you can go one of two ways. You can then use a microfiber mop with dish soap and some hot water or a Swiffer mop with a wet pad on it.
For the microfiber mop, you’ll want to ensure that you’ve got a good wringer. Drop the mop into the solution and run the mop through the wringer. Run it first along the top of the baseboard, the flat ledge that often collects dust.
Use pressure to do this but not so much that you have dirty water running down the baseboard! Do this until you have the baseboard’s top clean, refreshing your mop as you need to.
When you’re done, you’ll want to run the mop along the face of the baseboard. If your baseboard is grooved, put enough pressure to push the mop into the grooves. Do this all the way around, and repeat it if you still see dust and dirt on it.
Then do the same sequence for pressing along the bottom of your baseboard. You may notice a streak along the floor depending on the angle.
When this is done, you can give it one final wipe-over if you notice any dull spots.
If you’re using a Swiffer mop, you’ll do it all with a wet pad on your Swiffer instead of the soapy water. Keep in mind that the amount of pressure you use on the Swiffer may need to be less, as the pad might rip.
What is the easiest way to clean baseboards standing up?
Out of these options, the easiest and perhaps the best way to clean baseboards standing up is a Swiffer (or similar) brush with the wet pad. It means you don’t have to worry about bringing along a mop bucket or wringing it out. The wet pads also have a lovely scent to them that some prefer dish soap!
Best baseboard cleaning tools for heavy-duty cleaning
Let’s just say that it’s been a while since you’ve done some cleaning, or perhaps there was a bad spill at some point, and now you’ve got all sorts of grime on your baseboards.
If you need some heavy-duty cleaning, you may enjoy the abrasive qualities of a toilet brush cleaner! No, really. One trick to taking a focused cleaning approach is to use a toilet brush and cover it in a sock. You should cover it in a medium-weight sock or perhaps an extra thick sock. Using a thin one or none at all will lead to scratching your baseboard to bits!
Put it on a long stick, even if you have to tape it on, and let that do all the heavy-duty scrubbing! It’ll be one of those life hacks that will actually make a difference for you!
How do you keep dust from settling on baseboards?
If you want to try to curb the dust problem, you’ll want to add one final step to your cleaning process: dust repellent! What is that, and how do you get that? It’s not nearly as mysterious as it sounds!
Most people use an (unused) dryer sheet. Rub it along the baseboard liberally. The oils will make it so that dust and lint just roll off of it and onto your floor. The oil also gives those baseboards a bit of a sheen and makes your house smell really good!
Since you don’t want to be on your hands and knees, put the dryer sheet onto the mop head or Swiffer head (when dry) and use that handle to spread it along.
Another way to do it is to use a (clean, unused) microfiber mop head and spread aerosolized Pledge, or equivalent, onto it. This will give your baseboards a great finish, a fresh scent, and the same repelling qualities that a dryer sheet would.
While this stage is not necessary as part of cleaning your baseboards without bending over, it is a great way to help you make that cleanliness look and feel last much longer and make the next cleaning stage much easier! Caked-on dust is often what makes baseboards so hard to clean.
What is the fastest way to clean baseboards?
If speed is your most pressing factor, you’ll find a vacuum cleaner with attachments followed by the Swiffer with the wet pad, and a quick flick with a dryer sheet is going to be perfect for getting those baseboards presentable and clean in no time at all, and minimal energy and stress caused.
How often should baseboards be cleaned?
In most cases, you clean your baseboards this way about once a month. If you have pets, you may need to do it every 3 weeks, particularly during shedding season! If you have unused rooms in your home, you can probably do it once every 2 months or even less frequently!
To conclude
If you want it to clean your baseboards without bending over, you can give the chore to someone else or use your vacuum cleaner with a mop or Swiffer to do all the hard work. If there is thick grime, use a toilet brush covered with a sock! Keep your baseboard dust-free longer by running a dryer sheet or a Pledge-sprayed mop over your baseboards.
Cleaning your baseboards without bending over or getting on your hands and knees is all about putting basic, accessible technology to use and having it work in your favor. Once you see how easy it is to do it this way, you’ll never go back or need to! Know someone who will forever be grateful for this? Share this with them!
