OK stupid question - for outside furniture, shoes, gardening tools etc did you steam clean them or just give them a good scrub? If you did (or have to)steam clean them - can you recommend a good steam cleaner to buy please?

What about vacuum cleaners - I assume they have to be cleaned but how?(dyson)

Thanks
Felicity

Not sure bout steam cleaning but had pss round and the chap said to bring the garden things in the house to dry out before shippers pack em as they could cause mould in the container.

Also we have a dyson and been told to make sure it really clean will have to get a toothbrush into it lol.

we were told to use a lot of Jeyes fluid and a pressure washer

With the Dysons I think you're supposed to buy new filters. Also if you can afford to replace the cyclone tops as dust wil be up inside there which you can't clean out yourself.

We Brought our Dyson. We took it to a local Dyson service centre and just had a standard Dyson service. It cost £25 and passed the inspection.

All our garden tools passed too, I scrubbed everything in Jeyes, The Customs people could probably smell it as soon s they opened the container as they only opened 3 boxes out of 100.

We brought a 40 foot container, it passed through Brisbane customs and of the 82 containers the only ones opened were: Golf Clubs, Golf Trolley, Tool Kit and two suitcases of misc clothes. I used the general advice on this site and thoroughly cleaned ALL outdoor items, shoes and tools with Jeyes Fluid. Additionally I used a metallic paint (bought in B and Q) that goes straight on top of rust and painted all my garden tools, petrol mower and large hand tools. The effort is worth it and we did not get any bills, I think the cost to replace would have been very expensive so I would suggest bring the lot, I know there are plenty who argue against this idea. Just to kill a few old wives tales we brought wicker furniture, candles and a fridge freezer, no problems at all. I used the cleaning as an excuse to service and sort a number of jobs needing doing for sometime, the mower put up a fight but started in the end, the fridge/freezer had a bit of mould but chills my stubbies a treat and you can never have enough tools, so all worth the effort in the end.
Get some marigolds and make a start....
Hope this helps.
If you need incentive it was 27 degrees, clear blue skies and a cooling breeze in wonderful Bargara today.

Best regards

Kev.

Dyson doesn't have service centres, and to organise a service is done thru the Dyson helpline.

Not sure what they did for £25 - possibly wash or change your filters. Least it passed though!!

Get a Karcher pressure washer and turn the tedium of cleaning your outdoor furniture into a lot more fun! It certainly saved us a lot of time with potential sanding down of garden furniture as it literally peeled away the dirt. Also used it for the bicycles, lawn mower etc

We got ours from Homebase for about £100 which also included various accessories. There are cheaper no-name brands available for almost half the price, but the build quality doesn't look up to it (plastic connections etc).

Once everything was pressure cleaned it was either varnished (a long slow process to do the necessary 3 coats) or it was oiled (WD40 etc).