The Graveyard Shift's Top-Down Method Of Cleaning Offices Is Better Than Maneuvering Around Workers

8 February 2022
 Categories: , Blog


Many janitorial services typically clean on the third-shift after offices close for the night. Colloquially known as the "graveyard shift," janitorial services have more freedom to clean more thoroughly than if they work during the day where they have to maneuver around office personnel. During the day, it's band-aid cleaning. Dumping trash cans, wiping around coffee cups and personal items on desks, while trying not to make too much noise or interrupting important conversations. At night though, it is a different story. The big guns come out to clean from top to bottom, literally.

What is Top-Down Cleaning?

Your janitorial cleaning service will begin the top-down method by dusting vents, ceiling fans, and corners where cobwebs and dust tend to accumulate. Gravity dictates that even light dust will fall on top of anything below it. Dusting the top of the room first helps keep air flow cleaner and the office more allergen free. As the dust settles, then the surfaces in the middle of the office are dusted. This means that the top of bookcases and filing cabinets as well as the top of the doors are dusted.

Next come the work surfaces: desk tops, computers, two-drawer filing cabinets and the like. After dusting, cleaner is applied to areas like dried coffee rings on the desk tops. Phones are wiped down and sanitized. Keyboards are dusted just enough to remove visible food crumbs. Personal items like picture frames are dusted and fingerprints cleaned off on whatever surface shows them. Trash is emptied and bags replaced.

Baseboard areas are usually the last to be dusted before vacuuming the carpet or mopping the floor. Back in the day when vacuums used bags and belts, janitorial service personnel had to clean the outer bags because they accumulated dust from vacuuming. Most of today's vacuums are bagless, using cups and filters to keep the dust from spewing out over just cleaned surfaces.

So if your janitorial service works the graveyard shift, expect the top-down method of cleaning. If you are coming to the office in the morning and seeing dust still on the vents or the ceiling fans, then you can probably assume that the top-down method isn't been employed. Ask the janitorial service; most services appreciate the input and will adjust accordingly.

According to HomeAdvisor, the average rate is $220 a night for cleaning (2022). You will want to get what you pay for when hiring a janitorial cleaning service. So ask yourself if you're paying for a quickie job during the day or the top-down method during the night shift. A cleaner office is a healthier environment to work in. What value!


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