What crazy times we live in, am I right? If you’re anything like me, you’ve taken steps to keep yourself and also members of your family safe and away from groups of people and situations that could put them at risk of being exposed to germs and any potential viruses and illnesses; or being carriers of said things. You may have been taking steps to further sanitize and disinfect your home. You may have also adjusted your mindset to be more mindful of the things that your hands come in contact with and also if those same hands are touching your face.
If I have learned anything within the last month, it has been to be more mindful of being clean and paying attention to things that my hands come in contact with. One of the first things that I thought of was my phone. Like many people, I use my phone many times a day. From social media, to texting, to phone calls, and listening to podcasts. That’s not even including the work related uses. Bottom line is that nowadays, most people use their phones everyday for many purposes.
When you think about the things you touch on a daily basis in between phone uses, there are so many things that you touch that you would never have thought twice about before. The things you touch most likely have many germs on their surfaces and will all continue to collect on your phone. I have heard that phones can carry more germs than toilet seats and door knobs. I don’t know how accurate that is but it’s enough for me to disinfect my phone regularly. It can be done with Clorox wipes. Ironically, if you look closely at a bottle of the Clorox wipes, the very first thing mentioned is that the wipes will help kill the germs associated with corona viruses.
It is also wise to go around the house and disinfect;
- remotes controls
- door handles
- kitchen handles
- table and counter tops
- door knobs
- sink knobs
- chairs and couches
- railings
- car keys
…and whatever else you can think of that’s commonly touched.
I just wanted to mention a few of things that maybe weren’t so obvious in the home but I will move to vehicle care – as far as disinfecting goes.
Don’t Forget Your Vehicle!
Your vehicle can have many “hot-spots” for collecting germs. The areas that are touched often in the vehicle aren’t thought about as often as areas in the home. Areas like the steering wheel, shifter, radio and other center console components, arm rests, door handles, mirrors, and especially floor mats (think of all the places your shoes have walked then gone straight to your floor mats) etc. The list goes on and on. Vehicles can easily be forgotten about when thinking about wanting to deep clean, disinfect and sterilize.
You want to be careful with the disinfectants that you use on the surfaces of your vehicle. In large or concentrated amounts, you can damage the surfaces of your vehicle. Especially if you have leather or other sensitive materials. Even using steam requires care and training. When used with the proper chemicals and proper tools that can be used with a steamer, germs can be dealt with inside your vehicle. Although, we do put a lot of attention on stains, smells, conditioning, shining, and cleaning to sell details, another one of the great aspects of getting a good detail is taking care of germs and sanitizing the interior of your vehicle. The different methods of what can be done with a steamer and correct chemicals can remedy a lot of problems or worries that you may have with germs.
Steam Cleaning & Hot Water Extraction
When you think about what steam is, it is formed from water that has been heated to a degree that turns it into basically a hot gas that, when used correctly, can accomplish many things from cleaning, removing stains, softening messes, and killing germs and eliminating viruses. Along with steam some viruses do require extra extra disinfectants and sanitizing chemicals to be fully neutralized.
The fabrics in your vehicle can be areas that germs and other unwanted contaminants can easily absorb themselves into and set up camp. Although smells, stains, and germs can be easily absorbed by fabrics they can just as easily be removed if addressed properly and in a timely manner. Using a hot-water extraction method with the proper chemicals; stains, smells, and germs can be taken out of fabrics fairly quickly and easily.
These many years of detailing has made our company become very experienced and efficient in the process and how we do things. Before modern detailing tools we started out using small paint brushes and toothbrushes to get to ‘hard-to-reach’ areas – and sometimes we still weren’t even able to do the job we wanted to do. Now we have specialized tools and steamers to help better clean and sanitize. We used to have to hand scrub floor mats before washing them off. Now we have a brush that is attached to a drill that cuts scrubbing time in half and enables us to do twice as good of a job. We used to use tap water that would add time to the job because of needing to dry and avoid hard-water spots. Now we use soft water, making it much more efficient for us, it will cut drying time and allow for easier cleaning. Our extractors used to be small and not heated. Now we use much more powerful extractors that heat the water allowing us to penetrate areas and break up dirt and grease we wouldn’t have been able to get to very easily and clean much better using the hot water.
As you can see, the detailing world is constantly changing and advancing. We haven’t only done this for ourselves to make our jobs easier but we have also done it so that we could do a better job for our customers. We are continuing to push forward through this pandemic and will continue to do what we can to make sure we are serving you and making any necessary changes that we need to to continue serving you to the best of our ability. We know these are trying times and we wish everyone the best. We also know more people are thinking of staying clean and when it comes to your vehicle, we’d love to be able to give you the piece of mind that comes with having a clean vehicle. Especially if that vehicle is being used frequently. Let us know how we can help. Stay safe and as always, safe travels (as soon as we can all travel again)!
by Andy Stallings, CD, Operations Manager, Onsite Detail
