How to Clean Interior Iron Railings

How to Clean Interior Iron Railings

The pandemic has made store and homeowners everywhere a lot more conscious of how they clean – especially regarding things like railings, which are touched by a lot of people. The question is, how do you clean interior iron railings? Will washing them make them rust faster? Is there a wrong way to clean them? Pro Weld – Toronto’s local iron experts – are here to help you figure things out. Let’s talk about how to properly clean interior iron railings to keep you safe and healthy without damaging the railings.

Home Vs. Store Railings

When it comes to the difference between home and store railings, the main one is level of use. Store railings are going to be touched by a lot more people in a day. That makes it even more important to clean store railings than the ones at home. As long as no strangers who might have COVID-19 are touching your indoor railings at home, you can probably ignore them safely.

However, you need to clean interior iron railings in a store space. Too many people who could be carrying COVID-19 are touching your store railings to safely ignore them. So, how do you clean them?

Killing Germs

While people jump to use antibacterial soap, it has no effect against COVID. COVID-19 is a virus, not a bacteria. Both of those things are types of germs, but they’re not the same. The good news is, any old soap – antibacterial or not – will kill COVID-19. The part that makes soap, well, soap, can break down the proteins surrounding the virus and kill it. So, while alcohol in a spray bottle is good for cleaning other kinds of surface, we recommend some good ol’ soap for your railings. Simply fill a bucket with some nice, soapy water and give any regularly touched railings a nice wash down every day.

Preventing Damage

While it’s good to clean interior iron railings in a store setting, washing iron railings repeatedly, and frequently, can damage them. Why is that? Well, water on iron can lead to rust. How do you prevent rust when cleaning your railings regularly? There are two options.

  1. Cover the railings with some kind of plastic. This is less attractive but is a lot less work in the long run. Plus, it’s better for your railings and makes it less likely they’ll get damaged. At the end of each day, you can just sanitize the plastic covering instead of the railings themselves.
  2. You can repeatedly wash your railings and regularly touch up the coating on them. This is a lot of work. Wrought iron railings are painted with a black coating to prevent rust and damage. If you wash them a lot, that coating is going to wear away really quickly. You  may end up need to do touch-ups every week or so, as iron railings aren’t meant to be scrubbed at as often as COVID requires.

Railing Repair Services

If you’ve been washing your railings and noticing the coating has started to wear off or they’ve started to rust, it’s not too late. Give us a call and our team at Pro Weld can bring our railing repair services right to you.

CONTACT US

Call Us (905) 669-8633