Sunday, April 3, 2011

Cleaning for the First Time....

If you think that this is a daunting proposition realize that the entire trailer is only 17.5 feet long. Ignore the fact that the front bunk is five feet off the interior floor and shaped like a coffin. It won't bother you, I promise!

At our house; Bleach and Murphy's Oil Soap are the chemicals of choice. Both were perfect for this task. We had a bottle of something labeled 'Advanage" (sic) that is an environmentally responsible cleaner. It kicks butt on dirt like we found in here, but it does not disinfect. I used the Advanage to remove all traces of grime and then followed it with a spray bottle, 30% bleach/70% water. I sprayed it on every single hard surface in trailer, including drawers, the ceiling and even the window screens. For the wood surfaces, my mom delivered an aerosol Pledge type oil spray. Still haven't applied it, because we needed the bleach to dry first.

There were dark water damaged areas below the bunk windows. I know now that they were most likely a form of mold in the plywood veneer. The spray bleach solution completely killed it. It's been over a week since I did this and the stain is not returning (yes, I plan to repeat the spraying in a month or two).

The old cotton curtains had some life in them yet but their brown color was a faded pink in some areas. I used RIT liquid dye and all but one panel came back beautiful.

The soft bench cushions are going to be steam-cleaned this week...to sanitize them...and then I'm DONE with the initial cleaning.

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