My baseboard cleaner machine started acting up last week - making weird noises and leaving streaks. Figured it's time for some TLC. Here’s exactly what I did step by step.

The Teardown

Unplugged the sucker first - safety always, folks. Took the brush head off real careful, then popped open the main body with a Phillips head screwdriver. Found so much gunk inside I almost puked. Hair, dust bunnies, even some dried up cookie crumbs (kids, I swear!).

Deep Cleaning Mode

Got my trusty toothbrush and went to town:
Brush rollers - scraped off all that black gunk wrapped around the ends
Filter compartment - rinsed it under hot water till it stopped looking gray
Hose attachments - blew compressed air through every single nozzle hole
Wheels - picked out like 20 strands of hair jammed in the axles

Used rubbing alcohol on a rag for the plastic parts, especially where the dirty water container snaps in. That rubber seal was nasty!

Lube Job

Remembered that grinding noise? Dropped 2 tiny dots of silicone lubricant on each roller bearing. Worked it in by hand spinning the brushes. Didn’t go crazy - too much attracts more dirt.

Reassembly & Test Run

Put everything back together reverse order. Crossed my fingers and hit the power button. Smooth humming! Tested on gross kitchen baseboards - sucked up crumbs like a champ and zero streaks. Did a happy dance right there on the linoleum.

My golden rules now:

• Empty the dirt cup after EVERY use (takes 10 seconds!)
• Wipe seals monthly with damp cloth
• Deep clean every 3 months religiously
• Never run it over wet spills

Four hours well spent. This beast’s gonna outlive my mortgage!