Cleaning your home’s hidden grime and germs

You keep a pretty clean home. Sure, sometimes your rigid cleaning schedule has to bend here and there to accommodate life, but your house/apartment/condo stays pretty darn tidy.

You’re not bragging or anything, but you certainly have nothing to be ashamed of. You clean all the usual suspects: kitchen sinks, counters and floors. Bathroom countertop, toilets, showers. You vacuum the carpets, dust the furniture, and maybe even hit the blinds and curtains now and then.

Good to go? Maybe, maybe not. There’s a whole host of everyday objects and high-use home appliances that may often go overlooked during cleaning jags. And failure to be a completist when it comes to cleaning may not have that many obvious repercussions, but it can cost you in terms of appliance and electronic performance, allergy attacks and general hygiene.

So go ahead. Grab a bucket, a can of compressed air and a little extra bleach. Roll up your sleeves and get ready to expand that household chore list.

Toilet brushes

Difficulty: Minimal. Some grossness factor, though.

You religiously clean your toilet, because, y’know, ewww. But do you make sure to clean the mechanism that cleans the toilet?

“Your toilet brush should be cleaned every time you use it,” cautions Shana Cowart with Bed Bath & Beyond. “Rinse it after every use and replace the head when needed.”

Not doing so could mean growing a little Petri dish of germs in the corner of your bathroom.

Cowart doesn’t recommend doing anything extreme. “Just rinse it … (but) if you feel like it’s still not clean, pour some bleach on it.”

If the brush has replacement heads, all the better. Replace periodically when it’s showing a bit of wear and tear, she said. And if it doesn’t have replacement heads, consider a new brush when it looks a little tattered.

Ceiling fans

Difficulty: Varies, from simple to a little bit complex.

Fans pose a little bit more of a challenge than toilet brushes because they’re quite a bit less accessible.

That being said, “if you stay on top of keeping ceiling and attic fans clean, it’s a pretty easy process,” says Bryan Dunning with Lowe’s in Gladstone, Mo.

Ceiling fans are rather simple, though you may need a long duster or stepladder to really get the job done.

The key is dedication. Hit the ceiling fan blades with disposable dusting pads every couple of weeks, and you should be fine. Naturally, if you wait significant stretches between cleanings, expect a lot of dust falloff when you finally do get around to it.

Cleaning ceiling fans gives this benefit: Less debris in the air and a longer appliance life span. Dunning also notes that dirty and dusty motors run hotter, meaning less efficient cooling.

Refrigerator ice maker

Difficulty: Involved. Varies with model.

Dust isn’t likely to be a significant issue with your refrigerator ice maker, but other concerns may arise.

“If you look at your ice, and it’s getting discolored, that’s a sign that it’s a good idea to clean your ice maker,” Dunning said.

Cleaning will involve turning off the ice maker and shutting off the water to the water line. You’ll probably have to let the water run through, then use a mild detergent to clean the line. A mild detergent solution can also be used on the various parts of the ice maker.

“A lot of units now have a filter with the ice maker. These filters can last for different times, and some will give you an indication when they need to be changed,” he said.