Nowadays, landlords are keen to ensure that their property is ready to let out immediately after a tenant leaves. This means that the house or flat needs to be in the same condition as when they first moved in, with any repairs and cleaning carried out by the occupier. To ensure that this happens, most landlords will request that tenants pay a security deposit and sign a legally binding contract.

Within this contract there is likely to be a range of terms and conditions for you to abide by, some of which may be related to the cleanliness of particular appliances and furnishings. For instance, some will request that all curtains and carpets are professionally cleaned, particularly if you have children or animals living in the property. This isn’t a way of punishing tenants, it’s just to guarantee that everything is in a liveable condition for future inhabitants.

This may also extend to other areas of the home too, including the oven. Regardless of how long you’ve been in a property, there’s a good chance the oven has been used a fair few times. Every time you cook food, grease and spillages can build and filters can become blocked. This has a knock-on effect on the functionality of the appliance, taking more time to bring it up to temperature and possibly even emitting unpleasant smells or smoke.

Whilst some are happy to allow tenants to clean it themselves, others will want a receipt from an oven cleaning service to prove that the work has been done fully. As mentioned, a lot of the mess within an over, just as with carpets and furnishings, isn’t necessarily only on the surface. Whilst you can wipe down the inside and remove most of the grime, there is still a chance that some spillages and dirt could remain or that the filters won’t get touched.

A DIY job could also result in expensive damage, which has to be considered. Removing the enamel or damaging any of the working parts of an oven could have a long-term impact and may even require a replacement. If you use a professional cleaning service, any damage will be covered by their insurance and can be dealt with swiftly. Essentially, it is your ticket to avoiding any repercussions.

Failing to comply with any of the terms stipulated within the contract may result in the loss of a portion of your deposit. This can take some tenants by surprise, particularly if they were banking on receiving it back in full. So whilst some landlords offer relaxed contracts and are happy to accept certain wear and tear, it’s always worth looking at your agreement before you plan to move out – particularly if you would like to avoid an unpleasant surprise.

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Unfortunately, taking the cheaper option sometimes proves to be something of a false economy. For instance, how many horror stories have you heard about homeowners attempting to rewire rooms, do a bit of plumbing work or carry out a little renovation themselves, only to cause more damage? In these cases, most would be better calling in the professionals before attempting any kind of DIY efforts.

However, if you’ve finally decided that it’s time to give your oven a thorough clean, should you choose an oven cleaning service or just do it yourself?

Well, a lot will depend on your circumstances. After all, cleaning an oven fully can take hours to complete, involving plenty of stretching, bending and potentially harmful chemicals. This means that those with mobility issues or very little spare time may struggle to complete the cleaning process themselves. Therefore, the oven is either left to build up more dirt and grease, or you have to find someone else to do the job for you.

At Ovenu, we help hundreds of homeowners to get their oven glistening once again. But whilst our oven cleaning services are highly affordable, they do have a small cost attached. It is for this reason that some choose to simply do it themselves.

However, for this cost you can sit back and relax as a trained professional tackles your oven cleaning on your behalf. As all our employees are fully insured, you won’t even need to fret over damage. If an accident does occur, which is extremely rare, then it will be covered on our policy – not yours.

On the flipside of this, if you were to crack the oven door glass whilst scrubbing away at the filth and grime that had built up inside, you could be facing a very costly repair. Most oven windows are strengthened and reasonably well protected so it would be highly unfortunate if you did manage to crack it yourself, but that isn’t to say that it would be impossible to do so.

We also use non-corrosive cleaning agents, ensuring that your oven won’t be left with any lasting reminders of our visit. These are also often more effective than the products that you might find in your local supermarket, meaning a better finish without any of the risk.

However, even though we offer top quality oven cleaning services, we do realise that they aren’t for everyone. Some people would rather put on a pair of marigolds and spend an hour getting their own kitchen shipshape and shining again, which we certainly have no issue with. But if you need to get your oven clean in a hurry and you’re not able to do it yourself, then we’re here to help – maybe even saving you costs on repairs and damage in the process.

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Thankfully, none of the family was harmed, but the story does highlight the dangers of using ovens, particularly if they haven’t been serviced or cleaned in a while. Whilst it’s unclear what actually caused the fire to start, it’s all too common for food particles and remnants found within an oven to start the unfortunate chain of events. What starts out as smoke can very easily lead to fire because of the sheer heat that is involved. This can be particularly scary, especially if you have young children for whom you cook for on a regular basis.

This is the message that needs to be sent to all oven users, because a dirty oven could do more than just ruin the taste of your food. An oven that is dirty and filled with grease will also likely to be inefficient, meaning that your food will either take longer to cook, or it simply won’t be cooked well enough; and as a result you could be risking your own health with poorly cooked food.

However, the risk is greater than just to your health, it’s also a risk to your safety as well. That’s because an oven that works twice or even three times as hard to have the same outcome will reach incredibly hot temperatures. Add a dirty smoky oven with food spillages, and it’s a very dangerous environment indeed; one that’s easily susceptible to fires. Of course, if the oven is old anyway, then you run the risk of lose wires and faulty heating elements, further increasing the risk.

This is why it’s essential to ensure that your oven is kept cleaned and serviced on a regular basis. There’s no time frame or frequency for when this should get done, but is recommended that your oven gets cleaned once every couple of months at least. This does depend on the oven you have and your own requirements of course.

Whether you clean the oven yourself or choose the services of a professional cleaning company, it’s entirely up to you and your own circumstances. However, a word of caution needs to be extended. Whether you choose to clean your oven yourself or use a professional oven cleaning company, it’s essential that your oven is only ever cleaned using caustic soda-free cleaning products. This is the chemical that’s contained in most commercial oven cleaning products found on the high street or in the supermarkets, and it’s incredibly corrosive. This means that it can harm and affect all parts of your oven, worryingly the trims and seals as well as the heating element. The effects of which could make your oven completely useless – and their not cheap to replace either.

So, the moral of the story is to regular clean and service your oven. Ask yourself when you last cleaned your oven, if it takes you longer than 5 seconds to answer, then it’s probably a good idea to give it a clean – it could just prevent a nasty fire.

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Easter cooking

No matter what, Easter is about eating good food (as well as lots of chocolates) but, have you stopped to think about what all that extra cooking will do to your kitchen, especially your oven? Probably not, but you should do, because Easter isn’t just a great time to stock up on good food, it’s a time to give your house a good old spring clean, and the kitchen should be your first port of call.

There’s probably no other room that is as vital to stay clean, tidy and hygienic as your kitchen. It’s imperative that food is prepared, cooked and served in an environment that is sanitary and grime-free. If not, you could seriously be jeopardising the health of yourself and those for whom you are cooking. So where do you start?

Clean the kitchen – specifically the oven

Well, first things first, make sure the floors, walls, surfaces and cupboards are free from grease, dirt and grime. You probably won’t want to use the same cleaning product on your floors as you do your surfaces, but either way, ensure you give them a thorough clean. Then of course you have your appliances that need a good scrubbing. Things like your microwave, as well as white goods will need a cloth running over them. However more importantly, and one thing that tends to get neglected is the oven.

Arguably, this is one appliance that gets the most usage within your kitchen. As a result, just think of all the grease and grime that builds up over the days and weeks throughout Easter. There are the food spillages within or on your oven too. Any regular user of an oven will tell you that when food spillages are left within ovens (even small food particles) it can have disastrous effects, causing a great deal of smoke. Ultimately this will ruin your food, as well as the smell of your kitchen and even throughout the rest of your home.

How are you going to clean your oven?

So, Easter presents a great time to make sure your oven is up-to-scratch, ready to be used to cook food effectively and healthily. The next thing to consider is how you’re going to go about doing this. You can either clean the oven yourself, or get a professional cleaning oven service to do the job for you. Either way, your decision is entirely dependable on your needs and circumstances. However, for parents and individuals who are heading back to work after a nice Easter break, you may not have adequate time to get the job done yourself.

Whether you opt to don the marigolds yourself or employ the services of an oven cleaning company, it’s important the job gets done well, with the right cleaning products too. All too often, people use cleaning products that contain caustic-soda, which can cause a lot of problems both to the functioning or the aesthetics of your oven. So, be sure to look carefully at what products you’re using.

So, now Easter is done and dusted, make sure you get your kitchen and oven back in shape.

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If you think about it, the kitchen gets the most use out of all the rooms in your home. Not only that, but it gets quite messy in there too. Now if you consider that the kitchen needs to be a place that is regularly cleaned, for health and hygiene reasons, then when it comes to spring cleaning, there’s no better time to make sure you give it a through clean. It’s not just the cupboards, floors, walls and appliances, but also the most important appliance of them all, your oven.

Whatever type of oven you have, the spring poses the best time to don your marigolds and give your oven a good clean. This also means that if you own an AGA oven, you shouldn’t neglect its cleaning needs either.

Now, one of the best times to clean an AGA is during the spring & summer because it’s a time when you can switch it off, let it cool, and give it a good clean before switching it back on over the autumn and winter period. It’s near impossible to thoroughly clean your AGA during this period; you wouldn’t get a very thorough job done – mainly because it’s so frequently used and relied upon as a source of heat for your home. Therefore, the spring and summer poses the best possible time to get this done.

So how should you go about cleaning your AGA?

Well, due to its effective but unusual design, many owners actually choose to get their AGA ovens professionally cleaned. Many oven cleaning companies notice that the summer months are particularly busy when it comes to AGA’s and so you should consider choosing this time to get yours cleaned too.

It’s important that if you do decide to clean your oven yourself, or you choose a professional oven cleaning company that they use only approved AGA cleaning products. Due to its enamel surface, the AGA oven needs a cleaning product that doesn’t corrode or cause excessive damage to its surface, which is usually what happens with strong acid based solvents.

AGA cleaning products need to receive approval of the Vitreous Enamel Association (VEA) if they are to be used on their surfaces. So be sure to use these or ensure that your oven cleaning service uses them too. If you do carry out the work yourself, be sure to follow the manufacturer’s guidelines because once the enamel has been damaged, it’s far from easy to get this put right.

On the other hand, if you do decide to use an oven cleaning service, ensure they’re accredited and check what cleaning products they use. At Ovenu, we specialise in AGA cleaning services, and all of our cleaning products are approved by the VEA.

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Ensuring your student house stays clean and tidy is important. It’s part of your tenant’s agreement, and if and when you leave, your landlord will inspect your accommodation for its cleanliness and to see if there’s been any damage to the property and its furnishings. If there has been, you won’t get all of your deposit back, as this will be used to help pay for any repairs or professional cleaning duties.

Now, understandably, this is the last thing on your mind, as you approach the crunch period of your education. However for some, this does present a perfect time in which to get your house sorted, especially if you’re going to be moving out soon after your exams have finished.

Some students actually prefer to get cleaning and tidying sorted before they crack on with University and College work. It’s a way of putting off the inevitable and there’s some truth in the old adage that you can tell when a group of students have plenty of work to do, as their home will be immaculate.

However for others, the problem is time; where are you going to get the time from to clean your house? Well you don’t have to worry because there are plenty of professional cleaning services of which you can take advantage.

When it comes to cleaning your flat though, it’s important that you consider all rooms, especially those that are the dirtiest and often the most used. For students, this is the kitchen. It’s an important place to get clean too, as it needs to be hygienic for your own health and wellbeing. This means getting the floors, surfaces and even the cupboards clean, but also all of your appliances and even behind them where grease and grime builds up the most.

Above anything else though, in your student kitchen the one thing that desperately needs to get cleaned is your oven. It’s the appliance that is used the most, because it’s quick and easy to use; remember all those pizzas and oven chips? It’s also an area that is often neglected, and one that causes students to lose their deposits as a result. So don’t neglect your oven, get it cleaned as soon as you can this spring.

If you do decide to do this yourself, be sure to use caustic-soda free cleaning products. This will prevent damaging your oven with a corrosive chemical, which could cost you a considerable amount more if your landlord needs to get the oven fixed or repaired as a result.

Alternatively, you could use the services of a professional oven cleaning company. Not only do they know what they’re doing, as well as using the right cleaning products, but it also means you don’t have to worry about getting your oven cleaned during this busy time of year, and can concentrate on your studies instead.

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Only by carrying out a thorough deep clean can you eradicate all of this accumulated filth and return your kitchen to a pristine condition. With spring just around the corner and everybody looking to freshen up their homes for the summer months, there’s no better time to get started on your kitchen.

Why is the kitchen so important?

Of course you want to make sure that your living areas are spotless if you’re carrying out a spring clean, so get to work on your bedrooms and lounge by all means, just don’t forget about the kitchen. It’s easily done. After all, there are some pretty dirty jobs to be done and it generally gets a good deal of attention throughout the year.

However, this shouldn’t be used as an excuse to ignore what is a very important job. As well as making sure that your cupboards are cleaned out, you should also look to give your oven a thorough spruce up and perhaps take the opportunity to defrost and clean out your fridge freezer. The longer you leave these jobs, the more difficult they become. So it’s worth taking the bull by the horns and getting them all done in one fell swoop.

So what do you need to do?

There are a lot of surfaces in the average kitchen, so it’s always advisable to have a clear strategy for the work that needs to be done and in which order. You may wish to start at the bottom and work your way up, or simply go from one end to the other. It’s important that you don’t create more mess as you tidy though, which is why a plan of attack is so vital.

There’s no shame in cutting corners, as long as you still achieve the same end result. In other words you can always hire experts to carry out the jobs you either don’t want to do or require a professional’s input. Oven cleaning is a great example of this.

You can spend hours sourcing the right chemicals, scrubbing the inside of your oven and then applying the cleaner. It’s not a particularly quick or clean process. Then you also face the risk of damaging your oven in the process, either stripping the enamel or breaking the door. If you don’t know what you’re doing, it can be a bit of a minefield.

So why not spend a few pounds bringing in an insured, experienced oven cleaner to do it for you? You’re assured of a great result and this will enable you to get on with other jobs while they work.

Don’t forget to pull out your appliances to clean behind, underneath and around each one. Clear your cupboards and give them a wipe down with a damp cloth and get your floor sparkling by vacuuming and possibly mopping it too. The end result should be a kitchen that looks as good as new and is ready for another year of regular usage.

So, here are a few quick tips for sprucing up your home in no time at all.

1. Work out a rough schedule

If you know what it is that you’re doing, chances are that you’ll be able to do it more efficiently. Whilst you don’t need to create a comprehensive strategy or work out exact timings, setting out a basic schedule will give you an idea of the work that needs to be done and can avoid any unpleasant surprises later.

The last thing you want to do is to clean a floor, only to find that you have to traipse back through later, getting wet footprints on carpets or dirt on the freshly cleaned floor. So knowing roughly what else you can do whilst things are drying or are going through some form of cleaning process is extremely helpful, particularly if you don’t want to waste times.

2. Buy cleaning products in advance

With a schedule worked out, you now know what needs to be done. However, for every spring clean, you will often need a whole cupboard full of shammy cloths, dusters, sprays, varnishes and bleaches. Making sure that you have everything at your disposal when the work begins will help everything run a little smoother and also ensure that you don’t need to nip out to the shops midway through.

3. Bring in professionals for tougher jobs

Whether your carpets are looking a little worn or your oven is clogged up with grease, cleaning it yourself can take hours. So why not cheat a little? By enlisting the help of some professionals, they can get on with the tough work whilst you put in a little elbow grease elsewhere. This can cut hours out of your spring clean and help you to achieve a result that may not otherwise be possible if you were to use shop-bought products.

At Ovenu we help thousands of homeowners at this time of year, many of whom are either part way through or are about to embark on a full spring clean. In just a few hours time, we can have your oven looking like new. Plus, you won’t need to worry about what’s happening in the kitchen all the time, each one of our oven cleaning experts is fully insured as well as being highly experienced.

So if you are just about to kick-start your 2012 spring clean, make sure that you plan ahead. If you need professional assistance, make sure that you get it booked as soon as possible. Also, buy what you need for the rest of the home before you get started. Nothing slows you down more than having the wrong tools for the job.

The issue with choosing a professional company to carry out the work is that it will cost you money to do so. For some people, this additional outgoing is too much to swallow, meaning that they either leave it or attempt to do the work themselves. This is fine, as long as your landlord doesn’t require receipts for the work completed or isn’t prepared to do a comprehensive check themselves. However, more often than not, this will end up costing you a lot more when the money is deducted from your deposit.

So what is the solution?

The easiest way to ensure that you don’t encounter any issues when handing back the keys to the property is to simply do what the landlord has requested and bring in carpet cleaners or hire an oven valeting company. If you do this yourself, then you have the opportunity to pick and choose the companies that you use and the amount you spend. Whilst this is a bit of a hassle, it is also part and parcel of renting properties.

As the tenant you are responsible for the upkeep of the building, often including bills and general maintenance, and it is your job to ensure that this is properly managed. Failure on your part could lead to breaking the terms of your contract, which could lead to you being evicted or, as mentioned previously, losing your deposit when you come to move out.

In the most part, landlords are fairly understanding when it comes to general wear and tear. All that they will ask is that the property is left in the same state as when you inherited it. This is why most will ask you to carry out a detailed inventory checklist when you move in. It is at this point that you can highlight any issues, including stains on the carpet or a dirty oven, which effectively admonishes you of any blame when you come to move out.

For instance, getting your oven cleaned might not appear to be the biggest priority, but it would be extremely foolhardy to assume that your landlord won’t check or care that it hasn’t been cleaned properly. They will be even less impressed if you attempt to remove the grease and grime yourself and end up damaging the appliance. Ovens are expensive to replace and one false move could result in a very costly mistake. Equally using the wrong solvents could discolour the enamel, or strip it right off – adding extra risk.

This is where hiring a professional oven cleaning company can be a very good investment indeed. At Ovenu, all of our technicians are highly trained and their work is insured, plus we only use safe chemicals. Therefore, you will have a spotless oven to present to your landlord and won’t need to worry about losing some of your deposit. This same principle can of course be applied to all rooms of the home, ensuring that you won’t have any headaches when the time comes to leave the property.

For anyone who has just made a large purchase, for example on a brand new oven, the last thing you’ll want is to have to purchase a new one in a few years time, especially if it’s because you didn’t look after it properly. As a result of the current financial climate, disposable income is being reduced year-on-year for most UK households; this means that it’s imperative to look after appliances like ovens, otherwise you’ll end up forking out a load more money buying a new one.

In light of this, here are some tips on how to preserve the life of your oven.

Clean spillages regularly - Whether you’re cooking on the hob or inside the oven, if something spills, wait for the oven to cool then clear immediately. This will prevent any grease and grime from building which causes your oven to slow down and also causes food not to be cooked properly.

Clean the oven thoroughly at least once every two or three months - One of the biggest mistakes people make is to leave their oven unclean for over a year. Not only will this affect the taste of your food, it can also harm the effectiveness of your oven, meaning that food won’t get cooked properly.

 Check the oven’s temperature gauge - The best way to check that your oven is performing to its best is to be vigilant of the temperature gauge. Try cooking a basic cake, exactly following the instructions from a cookery book. If the cake isn’t cooked properly, then be sure to have it looked at or serviced.

Be sure to have it serviced - As mentioned above, this way you’ll know your oven always performs to its best. If the temperature isn’t as it should be, or the seals and trims have corroded, then your oven just simply won’t work as well. With a service, these problems can be fixed swiftly.

Be sure to use the appropriate cleaning products – Oven Cleaning products found on the high street and in the supermarkets contain a corrosive chemical called caustic soda. This can damage both the functionality and the aesthetics of your oven. Be sure to use an oven cleaning service that only uses caustic soda-free products.

Don’t rely on self cleaning ovens - This is referring to the way in which owners of self cleaning ovens use the self cleaning mode as a way of thoroughly cleaning their oven. Overreliance of this will see you purchasing a new oven in no time because components have been known to burn out as the oven runs at an extremely high temperature.