Amazing Methods Used By Professional Deep Cleaners

There’s nothing more satisfying than watching a professional cleaning off years of dirt and grime, and some of their techniques are truly mind-blowing. Here’s how true professionals deep clean things.

Ultrasonic Jewellery Cleaning

Let this be a lesson to all jewelry wearers: just because something looks clean, doesn’t mean it is. Research shows that after just one week of wearing jewelry like rings or watches, up to 23,000 growths of potentially harmful bacteria have already started forming.

But how can a quick dip in water make such a big difference? They don't use an ordinary bowl of water, it’s an ultrasonic cleaner. Along with having a super cool name, this high-tech device blasts high-frequency sound waves through a liquid mixed with a cleaning solution. These waves create microscopic bubbles that implode on contact with whatever’s inside, blowing away any dirt or contaminants.

Laser Cleaning

Soapy water and sound waves are good and all, but that’s not gonna do much against rust or corrosion. For that, it’s time for something that might be even more impressive. While you'd typically associate lasers with death rays designed to blow up planets, it turns out people have been using them as a cleaning method since as far back as the 1970s.

First conceived as a way of restoring old paintings, laser cleaning works by shooting a highly focused beam of light on an object's contaminated surface. The top layer absorbs this energy, rapidly heating it until it vaporizes all that filth without damaging the artifact. It’s a delicate process, made possible because the layer of grime usually has a different evaporation point to the object below.

By carefully adjusting the laser’s settings, this layer can be heated to the point of evaporation without affecting what’s beneath it. This means lasers can be used to remove just about anything, including rust or paint. Indeed, they’ve quickly become one of the most versatile cleaning methods around, with all manner of commercial uses including cleaning rust from a ship’s hull.

Ship Cleaning

It’s impressive work, but with just one laser the worker is certainly going to be there for a while. Still, there’s worse things he could be cleaning off, such as clumps of sea snot, also called tunicates. And they’re just one of the many organisms that love nothing more than attaching themselves to the bottom of passing ships.

Within just a few days at sea, a ship’s hull can quickly become the stomping ground for over 2,000 different species, which use the exposed underbelly as a home and source of nutrients. While they might seem harmless, lugging around all these aquatic stowaways can increase drag and cause long-term damage to the hull. As we’ve seen, things like tunicates can be scraped off without much trouble. But removing all the hard-shell barnacles takes considerably more effort.

The mighty barnacle has been a curse to seafarers for centuries, with a natural adhesive that’s about 5 times stronger than any glue humans have ever developed. But the geniuses over at Asia Waterjet Equipment reckon they’ve come up with the perfect solution, the AWE M6. This magnetic crawler robot latches to metal ship hulls and blasts away sea gunk with a super powerful water jet.

That’s satisfying, and an insane timesaver. It can do hours of work in just a few minutes. Scrubbing something while safely on shore is one thing, but not all cleaning can be done above the surface. Here's someone cleaning the floor of an actual shark tank in Durban, South Africa.

From within the somewhat debatable safety of a cage on wheels, the diver uses a PVC tube to vacuum up excess waste and food. But when they’re not surrounded by cold-blooded killing machines, they can also complete general cleaning duties, like scrubbing rocks, windows and other fixtures. It’s kind of cool watching them hanging out with all that sea life.

Cleaning With Fire

Let’s take a look at this next unconventional way of cleaning stadium chairs. It looks like someone took those chairs and put them through the smooth function in Photoshop. But how is this even possible?

That chalky discoloration is caused by the plastic being exposed to the elements which degrades the top layer over time. By applying heat, it breaks down this top layer, melting it in a similar way to the lasers from earlier and revealing the fresh, non-discolored plastic beneath!

However, as great as this technique looks at face value, it's better to find another solution. By applying excess heat to the chair, you're actually permanently damaging the plastic. Unlike the coin and laser, you’re not burning off grime or rust, you’re melting the chair itself!

Apply the heat too liberally, and next time you go to sit down, the chair just might snap right under you, shooting a dozen pieces of hot plastic right into your back. So, put the blow torch away and try using soapy water and a brush instead. It's boring but it might save you from an embarrassing trip to the emergency room. Which is where this next pyro pioneer could’ve gone if he wasn’t careful. Here, he’s using some strange liquid to remove stains on his coffee table.

What kind of black magic is this? Well, that clear, flammable liquid he’s pouring is cologne, which is why it lights so easily. And those white splotches are caused by moisture trapped inside the wood’s surface, usually from people putting hot cups or plates down without using a mat or coaster.

By setting the cologne on fire our mystery man heats up and evaporates the trapped moisture, removing the stains. And because the fire isn’t hot or long-lasting enough to damage the wood itself, the table goes unscathed. Pretty clever, if needlessly dangerous.

If you want to remove moisture stains in a much safer way, then a similar result can be achieved by laying a towel on the stained area and ironing over it for a few seconds, as long as make sure not to fill the iron with water. You'll achieve the same result without potentially burning your house down.

Let’s switch from starting fires to preventing them. Take a look at the biggest fire hazard you probably didn’t know about.

That’s a dryer vent, and the stuff falling from it is decades of lint buildup. As you use a dryer, hair and fibers from your clothes gradually build up inside your exhaust pipes. If you ever find your clothes not drying like they used to, it’s probably because of this lint blocking your airflow. Left unchecked, this can pose a serious fire risk because the dryer will overheat and ignite it. Thankfully, people like our good Samaritan here have the tools to unclog these dangerous blockages.

That long, flexible rod he’s holding is plugged into a standard power drill and has a brush attached to the other end. When he starts the drill, the brush spins at high speed, dislodging all the trapped lint and letting the air flow freely again.

Vacuum Cleaning

But the battle against dust doesn’t stop at your vents. Take a look at how much of the stuff was covering this cushion.

The average home collects a staggering 40 pounds of dust every year. So, watching it all spiral up into that vacuum is a thing of beauty! But sometimes, even the mightiest vacuum isn’t enough. In which case, it might be more useful to go for a steam clean instead.

In minutes, this teddy looks good as new. While vacuums can effectively remove loose dirt and dust, a steam cleaner uses hot pressurized vapor to loosen stains while killing an impressive 99.9% of bacteria and mold. If you don’t believe in the value of a good steam clean, then have a look at this Pikachu, who seems to be loving his full-body steaming.

Counter Rotating Brush Machine

Some dirt, however, refuses to give up without a fight. Take this shag rug. It’s gonna take more than a steam and vacuum to clean that. Luckily, the team at Advanced Cleaning Systems in Atlanta are up to the challenge.

Look at that mud tsunami! The key to getting out all that filth is using a strange doohicky first. It’s called a Counter Rotating Brush Machine and features two brushes that spin in opposite directions. After applying cleaning products to the rug, you roll the machine over it, agitating the carpet fibers and detaching any stains and muck from them. Afterwards, all that soiled material will glide off with only the slightest pressure. Beautiful.

Seriously, look at what it can do on this horrific rug that’s been stained with an unholy amount of dog pee. How can anyone let it get to that level?

Wind Turbine Cleaning

Let’s take a look at a pro cleaner working with some fresher air over in Tamil Nadu, India.

Right now, wind power provides roughly 10% of the total electricity in the US. However, dirt collected on spinning blades can cut turbines’ efficiency almost in half. That means someone has to go up there and give them a good scrub every once in a while.

But as more and more wind turbines are built, there are worries that finding enough daredevils willing to take the risk is going to become too difficult. Because of this, some companies have started using drones fitted with water jets as an effective alternative! Here’s one de-icing the blades:

Greenpeace UK

@GreenpeaceUK

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Drone de-icing wind turbine blades 😍 via @SebHenbest + @Keegskru

2:12 PM · Feb 28, 2018

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Drone Cleaning

As drones have become more common, we’ve seen them incorporated into all kinds of new cleaning projects. Whether it’s cleaning windows in Switzerland or art installations in Dubai, these drones could soon be buzzing around wind turbines.

Not that they’re only used by big businesses! If you’ve got the money you can get them to polish up your own roof for you!

The thing is, blasting solar panels with too much pressure can damage their protective layer. Whoever’s controlling this drone though, knows what they’re doing. The water pressure’s just right for it to disperse across each panel and clean without risk, that’s some A+ technique.

SunBrush TrackFlex Industrial Cleaners

If we’re talking entire solar farms, drones don’t quite cut it. Instead, you want these bad boys, SunBrush TrackFlex industrial cleaners.

An operator will drive through the whole solar farm doing this, but the joystick-controlled, maneuverable 25ft brush is so efficient they only need to make one round! And when it comes to solar panels, the cleaner the better, so the grime doesn’t obstruct the sunlight.

Diesel-Powered Pressure Cleaner

Back at home, common plants like moss or lichen love nothing more than clinging to roof shingles, and they can be a real pain in the posterior to get rid of. Which is why German roof cleaning company Aqua Jet Roof Cleaning came up with this nifty contraption:

This diesel-powered pressure cleaner plugs straight into the water supply and uses pressurized hot water combined with a number of tough brushes to blast away moss and other grime. This doesn’t look like the safest device though. Haphazardly dragging something heavy up a slanted wet roof? No thanks. That said, it does cut through all that muck in a very satisfying fashion.

Pressure Washing

On the topic of satisfying, here’s someone cleaning their gutters in record time.

He’s using a pressure washer, and these absolute bad boys can throw out up to 4000 pounds per square inch of pressure. That’s enough to break a human bone. In the hands of a professional, however, they’re more likely to clean up golf courses.

Automatic Robotic Wash Monitor

This beast makes your common pressure washer look like a busted super soaker. It’s designed to clean mining equipment and military vehicles, but with one key feature, it works totally independently! This robotic washer can recognize a whole slew of different equipment models and target specifically designated areas while avoiding vulnerable parts that wouldn’t be able to withstand a direct blast.

What’s more, several of these systems can be used at the same without any humans needing to be present, boosting both safety and efficiency. If the company behind them can be believed, that is. Essentially, they’ve turned a garden hose into a Terminator.

Cleaning Clogged Phones

Deep Cleaning Clogged iPhones | Deep Cleaned | Insider by Insider

Admittedly the device in the video above is in comically bad condition, but allowing a buildup of lint or grime to clog any of the ports can risk permanently breaking your cell. If any connector feels loose or blocked, use a blunt, narrow object like a toothpick and dig out whatever’s blocking the port. Don't use metal objects like pins or needles as they can cause short-circuits or scratches.

What’s more, studies have shown that cell phones have 10 times more bacteria than most toilet seats! Considering most of us scroll while taking a squat, it's not that surprising. Because of this, some recommend cleaning your phone daily with alcohol-based wipes to avoid coming in contact with harmful bacteria like E. coli.

Cleaning Tech Gadgets

But it’s not as if your phone is the only everyday place dust and grime can accumulate. If you’ve got a nervous disposition, don't watch this clip:

That’s genuinely horrific. But anyone who’s had to grow up sharing a gaming controller with their Cheeto-eating cousin will tell you, console users aren’t much cleaner. But it’s nothing a toothpick and some cotton swabs can’t fix.

Cleaning Football Fields

Cleaning something as small as a controller is good and all. But how do you clean something as massive as an entire football field?

While some football fields have permanent paint markings, for those like SoFi Stadium in California, the paint has to be washed off and redone every week to accommodate different events. But what is that thing doing exactly?

It’s called a P-REX, not to be confused with the prehistoric monsters. Before a game, water-soluble paint is used on the fields so it can be easily wiped off. Then, when it’s time, someone drives the P-REX around spraying a paint-removing solution to the turf.

As this is sprayed, the brushes spin around and agitate it, breaking the paint from the turf. Finally, water is sprayed on too and it’s all vacuumed up. After it’s been fully cleaned and they’ve cleared the field of any objects, they can start painting on the new layer.

Seeing them paint those iconic streaks is mesmerizing. But while we’re on sports, ever wondered what happens to all the golf balls at driving ranges?

This machine is called a Heavy Duty Golf Ball Picker and it flips balls into some baskets. Built to collect over 5,000 balls, it uses Multiflex discs, which are perfectly sized to grab the balls and throw them into the baskets.

These efficient machines can make quick work of even the busiest driving range, all while the driver sits back, safe from the constant onslaught of flying projectiles. But life wasn’t always so easy for the humble golf ball picker. Around a century ago, they had to wear wire cages as their only protection against inconsiderate golfers, looking like a lame Doctor Who villain.

Fascinating

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Collecting golf balls, 1920s

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Cleaning Shooting Ranges

Let’s switch from the driving range to the shooting range. The most dangerous thing there is all the flying bullets, right? Wrong. It’s actually lead.

When you fire a gun, it’s not just the bullet that shoots out, microscopic lead particles explode from the chamber too, and these build up over time. This stuff is seriously toxic. Breathing lead fragments has been shown to damage just about every organ you have. That’s why cleaners get covered from head to toe in protective gear while containing and prepping it to be taken to a waste disposal site.

Cleaning Smoker Walls

While we’re discussing toxic fumes, it's easy to tell that the people that owned the house in the footage below smoked in it. The cleaners are wiping the concentrated residue from years of smoke build-up.

Aside from being a horrible eye sore, these yellow marks are actually a chemical compound of nicotine, tar, heavy metals and other toxic chemicals. In short, it’s not the kind of stuff you want clinging to your walls. Leaving these stains worsens the room's air quality and can even harm the lungs of small children.

Fortunately, it’s also super easy to clean, using a simple combo of water and dish soap, years of oily smoke can be washed away in seconds. Along with removing any lingering odors, wiping the walls and ceiling removes all those harmful chemicals and prevents any long-term discoloration.

Smart Cleaning

You know the old saying, work smarter, not harder? Well, this train station cleaner in Turkey seems to have taken those words to heart.

A less experienced cleaner might’ve spent hours painstakingly washing every step. This genius, however, decides to let gravity do all the work for him, in incredibly satisfying fashion. Meanwhile all the way at the bottom are a couple of cleaners ready to catch all that dirty fluid and squeegee it into a drain.

But if you're not impressed with that slinky shower, then check out what happens after this antique toy fire truck’s given a bath of the more acidic kind.

Using a powerful combo of strong acids and solvents, this chemical brew is a surefire way of stripping away every spot of rust and paint in a deeply gratifying fashion. But what are all those balls doing?

They’re made from plastic and called shade balls. By floating on top of the chemicals, they help to slow evaporation and retain heat, which is kind of like a lid you never need to remove. Pretty clever, even if it makes this chemical bath look like a ball pit from hell.

Grave Cleaning

What better way is there to show your respect for those who’ve passed on than by giving their gravestone a much-needed makeover?

Talk about a gravestone glow-up. Done by TikTok user Grave Cleaning Cat Lady, she shows what a massive difference a person can make in a matter of minutes.

But it’s not as simple as walking to your nearest cemetery and scraping at some old headstones. For one, you might get arrested. Secondly, metal scrapers and brushes should be avidly avoided. Old headstones often become softer over the years, so metal tools can risk damaging the stone. Water, a plastic scraper and a soft brush is really all you need!

Live Line Washing

We’ve learned about just about every kind of cleaning method a person can do. But how about one tinged with a little bit of danger?

You don't need to be a scientist to know that water and electricity don’t usually mix well. Yet, live line washing is a common technique for maintaining high-voltage power lines while they’re still turned on!

Powerlines need to be regularly cleaned to remove accumulating dirt, and it’s too impractical to turn them off every time to do so. It’s super important because if the dirt is allowed to build up, it can spark what’s called a flashover. This is where contaminants are ignited, releasing flammable gasses and triggering unintended, and highly dangerous, electric discharges.

The trick to cleaning these lines without getting a face full of electricity is using deionized water, which has been treated to remove all impurities. That’s because water itself is a very poor conductor of electricity, it’s the ions and contaminants in it that make it so conductive! So, without them, electricity has a hard time travelling up the stream and hitting the cleaner.

The cleaners also wear protective equipment, but even with this extra precaution, line workers still have a fatality rate a sobering 400% higher than the norm. In response to this, companies have started using drones for cleaning and removing obstructions instead, as mentioned earlier in the article. But they’ve even started giving them some serious firepower. Literally!

Jon Levine

@LevineJonathan

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Someone decided to use a drone with a flamethrower to clear debris from power lines and now my life is complete

7:08 PM · Jun 19, 2018

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Here’s hoping this drone and that intelligent hose from earlier don’t team up, otherwise we might be in serious trouble.

If you were amazed at the amazing methods used by professional deep cleaners, you might want to read about the dirtiest houses in the world. Thanks for reading!