What Are You Actually Supposed To Clean With A Rubber Broom?
Cleaning your home is a never-ending task that requires countless cleaning tools. Sometimes you need a whole closet just for all of the different doodads you want to keep your home spic and span. And that's not a bad thing, as you need to choose the right broom for every cleaning task.
This can be a tall order, especially when you're confronted with very specific kinds of brooms. Take the rubber broom, for example. With the texture of a dog's teeth-cleaning toy, this broom isn't as commonly seen as its brethren, the whisk and push. Despite being less known as other broom styles, the rubber broom is an underappreciated member of any cleaning arsenal.
This versatile cleaning device is a good investment because it has so many uses, from hard floors to carpets. The best way to use it is to make short movements towards yourself rather than long, sweeping movements like you would with a traditional broom. You can even use a rubber broom to gently rake artificial grass! Because they are made from rubber rather than more malleable plastic, there are some things that rubber brooms are whizzes at cleaning, while other tasks are better suited for other broom types.
What to clean with your rubber broom
Although a traditional whisk or push broom can work on carpets, rubber brooms thrive on them. Sure, you can use these rubbery tools on hard surfaces, too, but they really shine when carpets are involved. Rubber broom fingers are terrific for pulling up stuck hair, dust, and other debris in your carpets without damaging them. People are often surprised at how much the rubber brooms can pick up in a carpeted area, even after vacuuming.
Nicole Gibson of Söka Australia told Better Homes and Gardens Australia that one of the best ways to get a carpet clean is to vacuum and use a rubber broom. "A rubber broom agitates the built-up residue, pet hair, dust, dirt etc., and lifts and separates these particles to make it easier for removal," Gibson told the outlet. "The rubber broom uses electrostatic action that pulls and holds debris to prevent dust etc., from going everywhere, unlike a normal broom."
Rubber brooms are versatile and gentle enough to use to clean your furniture, walls, and even windows. Since the fingers are rubber, these brooms are also a snap to clean as well once they're through cleaning other objects. It is important, after all, to know how to clean your broom. You have to give them a good rinse or proper soap wash sometimes, and they're good as new, whereas traditional whisk brooms get embedded yuck in them and start fraying or having fingers go every which way.
Using a rubber broom for outside cleaning
Since rubber brooms are, well, rubber, they are also well-suited for situations where a mop might not be tough enough to do the job. You can use them with wet cleaning solutions to get down and dirty on outdoor patio areas or indoor spots that need more heavy-duty action. You have to treat the mess like you would with a mop with a sudsy cleaning solution. Since the rubber broom has scrubbing power, you can effectively clean indoor and outdoor spaces easily.
Many rubber brooms also have built-in squeegees, so you can pull away excess water when you're done. This feature makes them a bit like the Magic Broom, which became the viral cleaning tool that works on almost any surface. Both brooms are rubberized and built for versatility.
Kim Williams at Don Aslett also notes that rubber brooms are also handy for removing snow from cars or outdoor areas. "When there is a light snow or the threat of freezing rain, use the Rubber Broom on your sidewalks and steps," Williams wrote. "It makes quick work of clearing concrete and wood, tile, or brick decks, so you don't have to lug out a heavy snow shovel. Keep one in the car to clear snow, rain or condensation from windshields." With rubber brooms, it isn't so much a question of what can you clean with them, but rather what can't you clean with them!