Deep Cleaning ~ Need Advice and Tips

[McD]

Growing up, my parents were not the best housekeepers in the world. The house was cluttered, it was messy, and I don't recall our house ever being thoroughly deep cleaned.

So I have been just doing the best I can and putzing along cleaning things. I thought I was doing awesome by cleaning my baseboards, my heat vents, etc. Then I realized I never thought of cleaning the fans.

When I was reading a Real Simple magazine this weekend, they had a laundry room cleaning checklist. There were things on there that I would NEVER have thought to do. I was amazed at how thorough the list was, but also worried at what I am missing in other areas of the house.

Which leads me to the point of this thread: Do you have a list you follow for each room? How do you deep clean? Anything that should be cleaned regularly that a cleaning dunce like me probably hasn't thought of?

[monkeywrangler71]

I never remember the fans, I don't look up much so I tend to forget things up high. Cobwebs in the corners of ceilings are another thing I tend to overlook.

When I set up a cleaning schedule, I just go through each room and make a note of everything that should be done and how often. Basically, wipe everything - items in the room, baseboards, any ledges (windowsills) or other surfaces that dust could land on. Wipe down walls occasionally, windows, etc.

The easiest way to not miss anything is to start at one point in the room - I usually start at the door - and work your way around the room, top to bottom, wipe everything you see. Then do the middle area of the room the same way. Then work your way out of the room cleaning/vacuuming the floor.

If you work around methodically then you don't miss things like the top of the fridge or your headboard, or under the sink or inside the cupboards.

PS. I'm not a clean freak, I just have a severe dust allergy

[MomToTwoBoys]

Now that we have the house on the market, it's easier to clean. I have to say that each room has "DECLUTTER!| at the top of its list. If I am going to deep clean, I start at the top and work my way down. That means dusting off the cobwebs, then wiping down the walls and finally when I get to the floor, I clean the baseboards and sweep and mop.

I would just go into each room and look at what you have in it. Look at what needs to be done to make that particular section sparkle. If your bedroom needs a good deep cleaning, I'd wipe the walls down and clean off the windows. I'd dust the trim around both the windows and the doors. I would then focus on dusting off any furniture, stripping the bedding, taking off the curtains and cleaning those, etc. You can also clean underneath the beds and around the base of each piece of extra furniture. Finally, I'd vacuum and shampoo the carpet (if there is one in that room).

It varies from room to room, but the basics is that you can go from top to bottom and make sure that everything is dust-free and free of other irritants like pet dander, cobwebs, bugs, etc.

[akolb]

best professional advice I ever got was,
Top to Bottom, Left to Right.
Repeat in each room, bring all your supplies with you.

I'm weird, I <3 cleaning.

[Judi Dial]

best professional advice I ever got was,
Top to Bottom, Left to Right.
Repeat in each room, bring all your supplies with you.

I have done professional cleaning, and this is the way most companies do it.

Also, the last fellow I worked for had what he called a "background" list, that is, the things you don't really "see" but contribute to the overall appearance of the place, the unconscious signals that a place is clean or not.

Window washing, top of window frames, the dust on the blinds (not dusted but WASHED off) etc. There's a difference between what you have to do for maintenance and deep cleaning. Rotate thru the deep cleaning, and add some time to your routine for it.

Other things I can tell you is that people in the business of cleaning or whose business depend on cleaning do nonstandard stuff. The fellow I'm talking about always poured his mop bucket down the toilet. Usually the biggest drain in the house and the ammonia in the water (he used ammonia, water, and dishsoap to mop hard floors, this will take up the wax btw) helped clean the toilets.

When I was washing pots/dishes in a cafeteria fulltime, the oil filters above the grills and the various pieces of the conveyor belt that were meant to be removed all got washed in the big automatic dish washer. The dishwasher got washed by putting degreaser in it instead of regular soap and then it got its filters, etc. were checked and/or washed by hand, if need be.

I have glass shelves in my fridge for this reason, they go in the dishwasher!

I also have a different make washer than dryer because I wanted filters in both and in order to get them that's what I had to do.

Run a cup of white vinegar through your washing machine about once a month, the smallest load, on hot. That's what we used to tell people to do when I worked for Sears (fixing washers). It helps keep the hoses clean.

The best "deep cleaning" product I've ever found is "superclean" by Castrol. We have unfinished PINE floors downstairs in the living room and our entry. The dirt does NOT come out for any other type of soap, but I can actually clean the floor with the Superclean. In other places, I use it last, as it's expensive. If I can't get something clean any other way, I get out the Superclean.

When I had linoeleum, I used Once and Done. The fellow who was the commercial cleaner came by my bookshop as I was closing it to help me clean, and we used that, as it was what I had .He was so impressed he went out and bought some.

IHTH!

Judi