Cleaning Weekly Cleaning Challenge

Weekly Cleaning Challenge | Clean Your Air Vents

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It is week 2 of the Weekly Cleaning Challenge. This week I challenge you to clean your air vents.

Interested in playing along? You can see all of the challenges on the Weekly Cleaning Challenge page as well as the Week 1 | Clean Your Silverware Drawer post. Let’s get to the challenge…

WEEK 2 | CLEAN YOUR AIR VENTS

Why is this important?  Air vents, like other fixtures in your home, are prone to collecting dust, dirt, and allergens.  Removing this yuck makes your space look more pleasing.  Additionally, it reduces allergens in the air and helps your AC and heating units run more efficiently.

Air vents, unlike other fixtures such as door knobs and light switches, do not need to be wiped down weekly.  You should be able to manage buildup with a quick vacuuming a couple times a year.  Do it once a quarter if you have issues with allergies.

HOW I CLEANED MY AIR VENTS

Use the following steps to clean your air vents:

  1. Turn off your AC or heater.  You are not likely to hurt yourself if you don’t.  But if it comes on, it will blow dust filled air in your face.
  2. If you have a vent that is particularly dusty, I recommend putting on a baseball cap to protect your hair and put an old sheet over your furniture.  As the dust falls down, it could leave marks on cloth covered furniture.
  3. Pull out your vacuum cleaner and fasten the dusting brush attachment.
  4. Run the dusting brush over each vent, moving from left to right (or right to left if you are a non-conformist) until all the dust has been removed.
  5. If the vacuum cleaner doesn’t cut it, you are going to have to bring soap and water into the mix. (Or make a run to Home Depot for new vent covers, if deep cleaning on the weekend isn’t your thing.)  Unscrew the vent using a screw driver.
  6. Place the vent in a sink of warm soapy water.  Allow it to soak for about 10 minutes.
  7. Use a soft cloth to clean the vent.  Be careful not to use a scouring pad as this may remove any painted finish from the vent.
  8. Dry the vent completely before reinstalling.

I feel a little like I cheated because I had our home deep cleaned about a month ago, right after we had the new HVAC installed. Our vents still look good. Therefore, I did not have any yucky before photos to share. I promise, this will not be the same for all of the weekly challenges.