During our cleanup jobs, we sometimes come across cool and weird things. Here are some of our favourite and weird stories from different cleaning jobs.

One of the strangest things we have ever found while cleaning a large office building was a used pregnancy test in the woman’s washroom. The test was negative.  But we always wondered who it was from and we wondered if they were hoping it would have read positive.

We have also found some funny notes that employees have passed on to each other during a meeting.  One, in particular, read “Please just kill me now”.  I think it was safe to assume it was a dull meeting.

During Halloween a specific office we clean dresses up a CPR dummy into a scary zombie named Karl.  They put “Karl” in an empty office sitting at the desk.  You can see straight into the office as the entire wall was glass.  For weeks when my staff entered the office to clean, it scared them.  They knew it was coming, but it still made them jump daily!

Sometimes we find a lot of beer cans in personal garbage under people’s desks. They must’ve had a tough day at work.

We cleaned a bathroom and found a whole outfit thrown away.  We are talking about shoes, underwear, shirt, pants.  This has happened multiple times in this building.  No idea why but maybe they weren’t happy with their outfit choice for the day.

Dog poop.  Yup, we have even found some dog poop in our offices.  We even cleaned it up for our client.

We have a couple of buildings that have a shop attached to the back and they have a cat that lives there.  Its to take care of the mice in the shop, but the cats are so SO FRIENDLY!!  We just love having pets around.

We also once walked in on a client in his office doing yoga.  He was mid yoga pose when we burst into his office to clean.  Whoops! We didn’t know he was there!

We look forward to sharing more funny and weird stories so keep an eye out on our blog for new updates.

The Bonnie Doon Leisure Centre has set to open tomorrow January 15th, 2020 after going through 3 years of renovations. Renovations included:

• Conversion of the freshwater pool to saltwater
• Select tilework within the facility (pool and pool deck)
• Upgrades to pool deck drains
• Removal of exterior exit vestibules
• Front entry modifications including the addition of a cash handling room, and revisions to the family change room
• Concrete structural remediation
• Mechanical and electrical upgrades including the ventilation system, pool skimmers and piping, and select lighting
• Select plumbing fixture upgrades in the change rooms

The renovation for the pool was originally supposed to take 1-year but it ended up taking 3 years and Edmontonians have been anxiously waiting for the pool to open. The project timeline for rehabilitation of the Bonnie Doon facility was extended due to major changes to the amount of work and project budget. Often times with older buildings, the full extent of work is not uncovered until there is an investigation deep into the building structure. This work cannot occur while the building is occupied and in full operation.

At Red Door Cleaning we as a company are proud that we were chosen to complete the post construction and final cleaning of the pool. We were given the post-construction cleaning job because we use safe, non-toxic eco-friendly anti-bacterial cleaning products.

Registered programs at Bonnie Doon Leisure Centre start in January. Bonnie Doon is known for fun, fitness, and friends in a family atmosphere!

Did you know Red Door Cleaning makes our own cleaning products?

Many cleaning supplies can irritate the eyes or throat, or cause headaches and other health problems.  They often contain toxic chemicals and that is certainly something we don’t want our clients or employees breathing in every day. With the use of our colored microfiber cloths (no cross contamination here!) and some pure organic essential oils, we disinfect your office naturally.  Although we can’t make every product we use, some jobs are tough and need more than elbow grease to get the job done, we certainly try! We also re-use the bottles and containers that our products are stored in, so we aren’t throwing away hundreds of bottles each year.  Red Door Cleaning tries to cut back on as much waste as we can, and this is just one of the many ways we do.  One of our favorite blends is pure peppermint, lemon, and rosemary mixed together along with our secret organic ingredient to create the best natural cleaner and disinfectant. We are obsessed with the smell and makes us want to never stop cleaning! 

The kitchen in the office is usually a place of socialization.  People go there to get freshly made coffee from the coffee pot, or water from the water cooler.  They might even grab an afternoon snack from the fridge.  So let’s talk about ways to keep your office kitchen cleaner so you will want to spend more time there.

#1 Countertops  – It is a good idea to keep your countertops bare, or almost bare.  Cluttered countertops make a kitchen seem messy and dirty, even if it’s not! Keep items in cupboards and drawers out of the way.  You can even get cute small baskets to hold items on the countertops such as tea, coffee, and sugars.

#2 Smelly Garbage – No one wants to take out the garbage!  After you remove the bag there is usually a smelly odor that lingers even after the garbage is gone. You can take a solution of pure vinegar, or disinfectant to spray on the inside of the can after each use.  Throw the paper towel away in the smelly garbage so there is no lingering smell.  Ask us at Red Door Cleaning to even do this for you!

#3 Smelly Sink – Does your office sink smell like old food?  We have a simple solution!  Put ¼ cup of baking soda down the drain – be sure not to run any water.  Then pour 1 cup of vinegar down there as well.  It will fizz and bubble.  Let it do its work for 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes you can wash it down the drain.  You’ll be left with a nice smelling sink drain.

#4 Rinsing Dishes – Most offices have a dishwasher. This is something our staff and even empty for you! But, sometimes dishes don’t get rinsed off well before they’re put in the dishwasher. This clogs up the dishwasher, which may cause it to break, leaves the dishwasher smelling foul, and it doesn’t clean your dishes well.  So be sure to give all of your dishes a good rinse to ensure there is no food stuck on them before you put them into the dishwasher.

#5 Fridge Cleaning – Absolutely no one likes to clean out the fridge.  So have Red Door Cleaning do it for you!  Once a month we dedicate a day to clean out the office fridge.  Someone from the office sends out an email to all the staff asking them to remove their items by a certain day.  We then go in and remove all items, wipe and disinfect the fridge and replace items that are not expired.  This is a great help to our clients!

Do you have a home that is overcrowded with clutter? Having too much clutter around the house can make it less comfortable to live in, less appealing to look at, and when there is a mess, it can even cause feelings of anxiousness in some people. Fortunately, it is easy to fix this problem when you take steps to declutter the home and do a better job of keeping things clean. The following are 5 tips to keep in mind when you are cleaning:

1. Have a Plan First

Before you get started and try to tackle the job of removing the clutter and cleaning your home from top to bottom, you are going to want to write down your plan of attack. You should make sure that you write out what needs to be done with each of the rooms, and what items you have in those rooms that will need to be removed. Having a detailed plan really can help you to keep on track when you are cleaning. Just make sure that you don’t spend all of your time coming up with the “perfect plan”. At some point, you are going to have to dive in and start removing all of that clutter.

2. You Can Start Small

When you have a house that is truly cluttered, it can often be overwhelming to try to get the entire thing clean and free of clutter in a single go. Instead, you will find that it is going to be a much better solution if you start out small. You do not have to do everything all at once. After all, Rome was not built in a day. Take your time and just do about half an hour to an hour of cleaning at a time.

3. Do One Room at a Time

Along the same lines, plan to do just a single room at a time. This will allow you to put your focus on that room, which is less daunting than thinking about the entire house and the garage, basement, attic, and other areas of the home. Focus on one room and get rid of the items that are no longer worth keeping.

4. Have a Garage Sale

When it comes to the items that you no longer need to keep, you should consider having a garage sale to get rid of some of them. A garage sale takes a bit of work, but it will help you to declutter, and you can also make some money from it.

5. Create a Cleaning Schedule

Finally, once you have everything else decluttered and organized in your home, you will want to keep it that way. If you are not careful, it becomes quite easy to fall back into your old habits. Before long, you will once again have a home that is full of clutter and has an overall unkempt appearance.

Therefore, you will want to set up a schedule that you can use to ensure that you are keeping the house clean. Whether you have certain chores that you do each day, or you take care of it all on a Saturday does not matter. What matters is that you are consistent and that you keep up with your cleaning schedule. Once you have followed the schedule for a few weeks, it will become second nature to you and it will be ingrained in you as a good habit.

Keep these tips in mind when you are getting ready to declutter your home, and you will find that even the biggest and most daunting tasks become doable. Your space will be clean, organized, and decluttered before you know it. If you are needing help to clean your Commercial space, contact Red Door Cleaning for more information!