What to Clean Before Moving In
Your dream home probably looked immaculate when you inspected it last, but things aren’t quite as spotless come moving day. It’s natural for sellers to present their homes in the best possible light to potential buyers – standards which might not be upheld after the sale has closed.
Roughly translated, you’re most likely in for more than a few grubby surprises when you move in. This is why that it can be useful to have a strategic plan of attack. You may keep your belongings in a self storage unit first before transferring all your packed boxes all at once to your new home. Give your new home a good once-over before moving in and you’ll find it so much easier to keep it clean and tidy thereafter.
Here are a few tips from the experts on what to clean before moving into your new home:
1. Examine above head height Right off the bat, you’ll want to focus on the areas of your new home its previous occupants may have overlooked. Or for that matter, deliberately ignored. A surprising proportion of people don’t generally clean above eye-level – even when their properties are on the market. Cleaning up high before cleaning down low is the way to go, focusing on chandeliers, lampshades, high corners and so on.
2. Assessing the appliances Unfortunately, appliances don’t clean themselves. Not only this, but there’s a good chance you won’t have intensively inspected the appliances about the place, when checking out the property pre-sale. You could find that the oven, the dishwasher, the washing machine and so on are in need of TLC. It doesn’t have to be an enormously intensive job, but it is best tackled before you move in while there’s plenty of room for manoeuvre.
3. Sanitize the kitchen Even if the kitchen (and the appliances therein) look relatively clean, they could still be harbouring vast quantities of bacteria. Grab yourself a powerful eco friendly kitchen spray and get to work on the countertops, the cupboard door, the refrigerator and so on. Consider defrosting the freezer and giving the whole thing plenty of time to dry, before plugging it back in again.
4. Soft furnishings; You might also want to check the cleanliness of any soft furnishings that have been left about the place, which you intend to keep. Carpets, rugs, cushion covers and so on – most of which are unlikely to have been cleaned by the former occupants before their departure, with thanks to our friends at Cardiff Carpet Cleaning.
5. Blitz the bathrooms Chances are, you won’t feel at home until you’re 100% comfortable in your new bathrooms. As a result, you’ll need to go nuclear on the toilet, the tub, the tiles, the taps and everywhere else you see fit. As they say, better safe than sorry!
6. Clean the carpets and floors After you’ve taken care of everything else, it’s time to give those carpets and floors a proper clean. Particularly if the previous owners had pets, you’ve no idea what might be lurking in that luxurious deep-pile carpet. Always assume the worst, arming yourself with a commercial quality carpet cleaner (which you can rent), or by hiring the pros to come in and take care of things on your behalf.
7. If all that seems to be a bit too much like hard work, consider hiring a handyman or woman to help out. If you live in a big city and are a landlord you could consider the help of a cleaning company dealing in end of tenancy cleans, by searching online for such phrases as end of tenancy cleaning london.
How to wash rugs – When you have a small rug, it could be machine washable, so do check the label, if it is machine washable, simply shake out the rug and then place in the washing machine, being careful to check the temperature requirements and use a mild washing liquid.
It is also possiblt to use a tumble drier to dry, or simply hang over the backs between two chairs to help keep shape.
How to beat a large rug – if the rug is ok to wet clean, it is possible to firstly beat the rug over a clothesline and then later hoover wet and dry on the floor to lift out embedded dirt etc.
If the rug is dry clean only, it would require to be rolled and taken to a specialist rug cleaner for dry cleaning, many dry cleaners do not accept rugs, so do some research first and call or email the cleaners first.
When vacuuming rugs with tassled fringes – Often called Area Rugs, due to the tassled ends, it may be reuired that you use a certain technique or to not use a certain type of vacuum cleaner due to potential for the tassled fringes to be damaged. Use gentle suction working from the center of the rug and work outwards.If using a rotary upright vacuum cleaner, you must be careful to not catch the tassled fringes in the rotating brush bar, which will tear out the fringes and damage the rug. Only use a non rotary suction vacuum cleaner on a medium suction strength.
Turkish, Oriental etc rugs — Clean imported rugs according to the manufacturer’s requirements or request a professional cleaning service. For genuine traditional rugs, you will need to hire a professional cleaner.