Steam cleaning
I used to work on Sundays at a posh hotel, and my job was to clean up the kitchen after we'd catered for a wedding the night before. I had eight hours to clean all of the walls and the ceiling, before someone would come along at 6pm to inspect (which meant sticking their head in the door and checking that the walls looked wet). The kitchen was part of an annex, so was separate from the main hotel kitchen, where the other kitchen cleaners worked.

A couple of months in, I had the idea of 'steam cleaning' the kitchen. I would turn up at around 10am and fill up a HUGE pan of water (industrial size - I'm talking 160 pints or more). After popping it in the (huge) oven, and turning up the temperature to about 250 degrees, I would retire to the hotel's lake area and watch the ducks for two or three hours. Finally, I would tentatively creep back into the kitchen, edge towards the oven, open the door and RUN for my life's worth. As I ran, the steam would overtake me, so I would have to know where the door was.

After another couple of hours with the ducks, I'd make my way back to the kitchen with a cloth in my hand, sleeves rolled up and ready to be commended, once again, for the "very thorough job - not an inch missed" that I'd achieved. Hooray!
( Norbert Lightowler, Thu 9 Sep 2010, 23:31, 10 replies)

how
did you discard the 80kg or so of boiling hot water?

wouldnt it boil over and make a mess of the oven or ruin the elements....?

i like the idea, just curious as to the workings..... moving house today so might try this :-P
(Monkeystrumpet monkey. Monkey, MONKEY!!!, Fri 10 Sep 2010, 9:24, closed)

also
80kg is the weight of a reasonably large bloke. You'd have to be pretty damn strong to lift that out of the sink.
(Wasmaschine!, Fri 10 Sep 2010, 10:12, closed)

It was heavy...
The weight was about as much as I could lift - my estimate was a guess, but it probably WAS as much as a small-ish person. And yes - the water did boil over and go everywhere in the oven and also on the floor. This just helped with my process of cleaning - it would take a one minute run around with a mop. The pan probably had about 50% of the water in after I'd finished, but I just left it in the oven and sorted it out later in the week (that kitchen was only used on Saturdays, for weddings).

EDIT - good luck with the moving, M's Trump. And don't try this trick if you have carpets ANYWHERE in the house :o)
( Norbert Lightowler, Fri 10 Sep 2010, 11:30, closed)

ive never been called M's trump.....
i didnt do the pan trick, although i wish mrs(to be)trumpet did. The cooker was still manky after she had cleaned* it.

move completed though :-)


*not cleaned.
(Monkeystrumpet monkey. Monkey, MONKEY!!!, Mon 13 Sep 2010, 12:22, closed)

I wish I had a job as a duck investigator

(teebie jeebie, Fri 10 Sep 2010, 15:58, closed)

it would drive you quackers though...
(mr ruffles, Fri 10 Sep 2010, 16:06, closed)

But it pays the
bills
( Norbert Lightowler, Sat 11 Sep 2010, 15:17, closed)

You'd set yourself up
with a nice little nest egg.
(posthumous mince is tiptoeing through the tulips, Mon 13 Sep 2010, 9:55, closed)

What's the difference between a duck?
One of it's legs is both the same
( Another_tragic_case wished he hadn't eaten all the cake, Tue 14 Sep 2010, 11:28, closed)

Nice idea
but I'm intrigued how long you got away with that for. Surely the plaster would start coming off the walls?
( sanityclause is waiting until, Wed 15 Sep 2010, 12:14, closed)