“What do I need to specifically do to clean my new house after construction before I move in?” Most of the time builders clear all their tools and sweep after completing the job. But you probably realize there is plenty of fine dust and dirt all around the house that needs to be cleaned up. What do you need to know and what specific products do you need to use for granite, hardwood floors, fiberglass, etc.?
The easiest way to answer this question just to hire a post-construction cleaning company that will come in and clean up the house and get it ready for the show. However, you might find it’s a lot like after Christmas, where a couple of months later you’re still finding the little bristles from the pine cones or the pine needles that have dropped. We find one here and you find one there. There will still be dust and debris that will be kicked up from like turning on the air conditioning unit. There’s stuff inside those air ducts that’s going to get blown out and you will find dust and places that you thought were clean.
So, the very first thing you need to do is be patient and just realize there will be dust until everything kind of settles. Now one of the things that I might recommend is that you get a spray bottle. An empty spray bottle, fill it up half with vinegar and half with water, and put maybe two drops of dishwashing soap (Dawn dishwashing soap or Joy) inside there and just shake it up and use it as an all-purpose cleaner. Get yourself an all-purpose mix that is like vinegar and water because that’s going to be safe on most of the surfaces that you use so for example your window seals the molding around the walls. Your hardwood floors have cleaned up mess and dirt but I don’t recommend that you use vinegar on the granite because as a little bit of acidity to it. For granite just a damp paper towel or a damp microfiber cloth that you need to clean and shine up nicely.
For fiberglass for your bathtubs, (and your sinks that are probably porcelain or ceramic,) you can use Bar Keepers Friend which is a cleanser, or Comet cleanser. It’s going to depend on where you live. I know that in the UK a lot of products are not available that are available to us here in the USA. A lot of products that are available in the US are not available in Canada. But, there will be common items, so a cleanser for example, or a dishwashing soap, that’s going to be available wherever you live. I don’t know what the brands are but there will be something available.
For the hardwood floors, I would recommend getting a steamer which is going to be great. There are now steamers that are specially designed for hardwood floors. This is great for a residence but not for commercial use. It’s great for hardwood floors and it’s also great for bathroom tiles. As your hardwood floors are laid there’s going to be some glue and stuff that they put down. A really good steaming of the hardwood floor is going to be a great way to clean all of that up. Since steamers have been designed for hardwood floors they leave very little water and they don’t warp or damage your floorboards.
Now, in the bathroom, if you have tile and grout the very first thing I would recommend is that you seal your grout. Just stop by any hardware store, like Lowe’s, Home Depot, Ace Hardware, or any of the big box home improvement stores near where you live. It has little bristles on the top like a little toothbrush and you just wipe it along all of the grout and all of the different tiles that you have in your bathroom. I would also do it around in the showers, on the floors, and around the walls, and if you have a backsplash in the kitchen I would seal all of the grout as well.
The purpose of this is if you seal the grout it helps keep out moisture and prevent any dust, dirt, and grease from destroying your grout and tiles. So, in the showers, that’s where the mold collects in the grout and it’s really hard to get the grout clean if it’s not sealed. Also, if the grout is porous and most of it’s like cement it’s pretty good. But if it’s porous, or as the house gets older if it’s not sealed, and, the grout cracks then the water can seep down behind the ceramic tiles. And you can get mold behind the tiles in your shower and your shower floor. So you want to make sure that all the grout is sealed and that way it makes cleaning super easy.
So, those are some of the things that I would recommend early on as you move into your house. There’s going to be a lot of dust and stuff that comes along with the cardboard boxes that you’re bringing with your belongings. So, as you bring stuff in from the storage unit you might be bringing in cobwebs or dust or other things. And so just plan on it’s going to be a little bit messy for the first three or four cleanings until you get everything kind of settled, and put away and organized. And then just a regular maintenance cleaning.
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