Anyone can tell you that if you open a closet you’ve cleaned a week ago, you’ll find dust on the shelves. If you’ve left it for a month, you’ll see sticky cobwebs. The same thing happens in open areas, if they are not cleaned regularly. Every horizontal surface will gather sneaky layers of microbe-containing dust.

The key is not simply vacuuming well-trod areas but to get to the areas that are often overlooked, such as picture frames, baseboards, and floor trim. Picture the difficult-to-reach surfaces around office desks—behind computer monitors, telephone receivers, by waste baskets. Often overlooked is the area underneath computer desks, where the power cords and USB cables congregate. You need to be extra careful in this territory. We use a handheld wand extension to our backpack vacuums to reach those areas, without disturbing the delicate connections. You really can’t use a standard vacuum floor tool.

Cubicle partitions are dust magnets, and few cleaners remember to clear off the top, flat section. We pride ourselves on carefully cleaning all horizontal surfaces and areas. The top edge of the floor trim collects dust, and we see a lot of build-up in corners and edges where the wall meets the floor or ceiling.

We clean behind kitchen counters and all the stealthy areas in the shadows. Think of the cobwebs and dust that can accumulate behind doors that are propped open, and around the doorframes themselves. Supply closets are prone to dust and cobwebs. Cobwebs can almost always be found on window sills and behind blinds (if they are left closed all the time).

In the bathrooms, the stall partitions, especially on top, are susceptible to dust collection. Ceiling vents are usually overlooked as well. Office heating systems, especially baseboard heating systems, tend to collect dust. Forced air vents need to be dusted, too.

One interesting fact: Few cleaners dust the Exit signs, which are taken for granted by workers on a daily basis, but are always sought out by visitors, seeking to leave the office. As a result, dust and cobwebs accumulate.

We use high-grade microfiber towels, which do a much better job at collecting and removing dust than paper towels. The key is to keep using clean towels, to prevent the microfibers themselves from dropping onto and contaminating the dusted surfaces.

At A&D Cleaning, we remove dust and cobwebs, top to bottom, on a regular schedule that varies according to the customer’s cleaning contract. If we clean just once a month, we dust and vacuum the entire office, every time. If we’re on a daily or weekly contract, we’ll pick certain days to address the blinds and windows, others to dust the cubicle walls and corners, and yet others to wipe clean the desks (on top and under).

Contact us today if you see cobwebs hanging off your Exit signs, or if the white glove test on cubicle walls reveals telltale signs of dirt and dust.