You might not be cleaning your home as thoroughly as you should. In your cleaning sprees, do you focus on your floors and soft surfaces? Your home might look clean, but there might be a few places that are lacking.

Unless you clean your home from top to bottom, you probably have dust and dirt gather in a few hard-to-reach places. For example, your wood moldings might need a good, thorough clean.

But don’t worry. If you need to give your home a deep clean, here are a few tips to get those wood moldings squeaky clean.

Supplies You’ll Need to Clean Baseboards and Wood Moldings

Before you get to cleaning, you must gather the right supplies. You won’t need any specialty tools but rather many cleaning supplies you already have around the house.

You’ll need a vacuum to do the initial cleaning of getting rid of dust and dirt. Get that clean, spotless look; you’ll also need dish soap, vinegar, and sponges.

To finish the cleaning, add wood cleaner, dryer sheets, and cotton swabs to the list. With these supplies and following these next steps, you can have spotless moldings throughout your home.

Remove Dust and Dirt

The first step is to remove as much dust and dirt from your wood moldings and baseboards. Dust and dirt removal often makes a wood trim look clean, so this is an important first step.

Use your vacuum with a brush attachment to suction the dust along the baseboards.

Be sure to get the top and front of the moldings, but pay special attention to the corners where the trim meets the floor or two pieces of trim meet each other.

If you don’t have a vacuum, you can use a duster to get rid of the debris initially. Then use a broom and dustpan to clean any dirt or dust that’s left on the floor.

Get Rid of Stains

You may not notice in the moment, but over time your baseboards and moldings can gather stains. This is especially true without regular cleanings.

Once you’ve removed the dust and dirt, it’s time to get rid of stains. Stained baseboards can often come from spilled food, water damage, or grease. In most cases, removing stains can be easy.

Mix warm water with dish soap or vinegar, then dip a sponge into the mixture. Use this to scrub at any marks you find on the baseboards and moldings. This works best if these areas are painted.

However, if you have moldings and baseboards that are stained wood, it would be best to use a specially formulated cleaning solution to avoid the stain or damage the wood.

Clean the Crevices

After getting rid of stains, it’s time to give your baseboards and moldings a thorough cleaning. Corners and seams often gather dust because they’re hard to clean.

These hard-to-reach areas are best cleaned with tools meant to detail, like small brushes and cotton swabs. Dip these tiny tools into the cleaner and gently clean the crevices.

They’re small enough to get into tight spaces to give these areas the deep clean it needs. It’s best to approach this step with a light hand, patience, and persistence. So take your time and be thorough when cleaning.  

Finish and Protect

Now that you’ve done all the cleaning, you want to protect your newly sparkling baseboards. Finish and protect your baseboards and moldings to maintain the cleanliness.

You can use a dryer sheet for this step. Rub a fresh dryer sheet across the baseboards and moldings. This will leave a fresh laundry scent that will make your home smell good.

One of the biggest benefits of using dryer sheets is that they have antistatic properties. This can help repel dust and keep your baseboards and moldings cleaner for longer.

Using a dryer sheet isn’t a necessary step to make your baseboards cleaner. But it can prevent you from having to do more work in the future. Though it might be overkill, it’s a step that can pay off.

How Often Should You Clean?

The truth is that you won’t have to clean your baseboards often, but you should clean them regularly. Compared to other areas of your home, baseboards are pretty low maintenance.

You probably only notice that they need to be cleaned when they’re noticeably dirty. So unless you have a pretty messy lifestyle, your baseboards will look relatively clean for weeks or even months.

In most cases, a quick swipe every few weeks will keep your baseboards looking spotless. Your baseboards will only need a thorough deep clean if they’re noticeably dusty or stained.

A microfiber cloth can be a great tool for a quick clean in between the deeper washes.

Cleaning Tips

Cleaning your baseboards can be part of your overall cleaning routine. So here are a few tips to make cleaning easier.

It’s a good idea to save the baseboards for last when cleaning. After you clean the walls and floors, tackle the moldings and baseboards. This will prevent getting dust and dirt after you’ve already cleaned them.

Keep the cleaning manageable by tackling one room at a time. It’s easier to clean up the room overall rather than all the baseboards at once.

This also goes along with the second tip of making sure the entire room is clean before hitting the baseboards.

Time to Tackle Your Wood Moldings

When you’re going through your daily and weekly cleaning routines, what areas of your home do you tackle? Sweep and mop your floors, wipe down counters, vacuum your soft surfaces?

You may be missing a few areas of your home to make it the cleanest. One area that is often overlooked is wood moldings. To get your cleanest home yet, you have to pay extra attention to the details like tackling wood moldings.

Want to make your home shiny and spotless? Contact our cleaning experts today to see your home transformation.