Are your skirting boards looking tired and worn out in your home? There are many ways to keep your skirting boards clean without damaging the paintwork or the material used.
If you are using water-based cleaning techniques, it is important to ensure your skirting boards are painted or treated, especially if they are made of natural oak, to protect them. Our MDF skirting boards are water resistant, which is why you should use a damp cloth for cleaning instead of a soaking wet one.
We provide a detailed guide that outlines how to clean your skirting boards effectively, including methods such as dusting and vacuuming, using warm water with soap, applying bleach and sprays, utilising a baseboard mop and even using laundry dryer sheets.
1. Dusting and vacuuming
There’s no doubt that cleaning skirting boards can sometimes be a real nightmare. If you prefer the more intricate and detailed skirting boards, then you will have noticed a large build-up of dust in the finer details of the board.
Cleaning off the dust with a vacuum and a duster is the first step to take in cleaning your skirting boards. Using a vacuum wherever possible can allow you to get rid of a large amount of dust easily and more quickly. You can then use the duster to clean the more hard-to-reach spots on your skirting. For more intricate style skirting boards that are a lot more decorative and detailed, you might also benefit from using a cotton bud to get into those small intricacies.
2. Warm water with soap
A bucket of warm soapy water and a cloth is definitely the most traditional way to keep your skirting board clean. You can get a great finish and shine on your boards with a little scrub. As mentioned earlier, it’s important to ensure your ring out the cloth before using it on your skirting boards so it is damp, not wet.
Instagram cleaning sensation Mrs Hinch recommends using fabric softener as a substitute for soap in this mixture. Not only will this help you remove dirt and grime but it will also leave your boards smelling super fresh and nice.
3. Bleach and sprays
You might be pretty reluctant to use bleach and strong sprays on your woodwork as not only do they have a strong odour, but they could have a damaging effect on your paintwork. For regular cleans, we wouldn’t recommend using such strong detergents, but they are great if you need to remove tougher stains that just won’t budge with the use of warm soapy water.
We would advise doing a small patch test on your skirting boards with your chosen detergent to ensure that there is no damage to the boards and the paint doesn’t begin to warp or wipe away.
4. Baseboard mop
If like many you are dreading the thought of having to be on the floor scrubbing skirting boards you might benefit from purchasing a baseboard mop. This specialist cleaning tool for skirting boards is a great way of reaching difficult angles and prevents the use of multiple different cleaning elements in the process, all whilst standing up.
They can easily be found online and are not too expensive. Definitely worth looking into if you have a large space to keep clean in your property.
5. Laundry dryer sheets
Although the most unusual out of our five suggestions, laundry dryer sheets can work really well at preventing a large dust build-up. The idea is that if you rub a laundry dryer sheet over clean skirting boards this will help prevent dust from sticking and building up due to the staticity. This will be the final stage in your deep clean process and will hopefully prevent the need for regular scrub downs in the future.
It is advised that you do this a couple of times a month to reduce any unnecessary and unwanted build-up of dust.
Those are just a few of the ways you can tackle your skirting boards to get them looking brand new and clean again. By maintaining clean and well looked after skirting boards you can prevent any major damage from occurring, therefore protecting the material and making the life span of the boards longer.
If, however, your skirting boards need a complete revamp then you might in fact benefit from taking a look at our skirting board covers and discovering more about how they work and if they could help transform your space.
If you need any help regarding an order or upcoming project then please feel free to contact on our friendly sales team at enquiries@skirting4u.co.uk or call them on 01922 451 689.