How to Clean Your Home After A Renovation

Lets talk about how to deal with the mess the dirt the smells the buildup during your renovation and of course how to clean your home after a renovation has taken place that way it’s a happy and healthy space that you can live in and enjoy.

Reno Maintenance: The first thing to know is you want to keep the space as clean as you can during the renovation so whether that’s you taking it on or your general contractor it’s important to make sure that the house is being cleaned up after each day that way there’s no debris left on the floor that can potentially build up or sneak away into a corner like wood splints or nails but also it helps to keep dust under control dust comes from sanding and cutting and different types of construction materials and by removing it from the home every day with some sort of wet dry vac not a regular vacuum you need like an industrial wet dry vac for this job you’re going to keep that dust from circulating throughout the rest of the home and settling the more you can stay on top of it during the renovation process the less work you’re going to have to do on the back end now with that being said if you’re just doing a particular area, you can also put up plastic barriers to prevent the dust and any other things from flowing outside of that particular space you can also tape up any vents or ducts to make sure that no air is circulating through there as well. The other thing you can do is to run an air purifier during the renovation process.

Prepare the Space: You’ll know the renovation is done when your last contractor has finished their job and in fact when I would advise clients when they should book their post renovation cleanings I always say when your last contractor leaves and just before you plan to bring your furniture back that’s when we should come in so think about the same thing for when you’re cleaning your home and what that should look like when you’re prepping the space is to remove any of those final materials plastic barriers paper off the floor boxes paint cans building materials any of that stuff should move its way out and of course should be disposed of in the appropriate and safe way you also want to think about getting rid of any clutter that is built up during the renovation or anything that you kind of parked that you thought okay i’ll bring this back after the renovation is over and i’ll find a little place for it if you know that you’re not going to use it this is the time to put it up online for sale or find another home for it.

Air Quality & Filtration: Because we have all of that renovation dust and all of that debris just kicking around on the floor and in the air so the first way we manage that is by the regular floor maintenance and vacuuming with a wet dry vac to remove the larger stuff but the smaller stuff like that fine dust that circulates and resettles on your window sills you know you just go like this and you look at it that’s super fine dust and even the stuff that you can’t see in the air like those vocs specifically formaldehyde which is actually a big concern it’s been in the news a lot lately specifically to do with flooring that’s the kind of stuff where the indoor air purifier kicks in and takes over because I turn that on and it sucks up those bigger particles you know those fine dust bits that I was telling you about but even the invisible stuff that we can’t see so in this room i’m using the dyson hot plus cool formaldehyde which automatically senses captures and traps pollutants for cleaner air it even detects and destroys formaldehyde which is why they gave it that name in fact it removes 99.97 of particles as small as 0.3 microns remember this is the kind of stuff that’s off-gassing from paints flooring new fixtures and furniture. Now the hvac system in your home is the other major player here because it is responsible for the flow of air throughout your entire space so that means that your furnace filter should be changed after a renovation because no doubt it’s been working overtime and it’s likely clogged and this would be the time to actually answer that duct cleaning phone call and book an appointment this would be the time to get your ducks cleaned.

Horizontal Surfaces: Generally a renovation isn’t grimy it’s dusty so we have to think about what we’re cleaning up and first we’re going to tackle the horizontal surfaces dust always falls from the top to the bottom and finds any and all horizontal spaces it can to relax and have a little holiday so it’s your job to find all of the tiniest horizontal surfaces that exist in your home that’s right the big and the small the top of door frames all the grooves on your doors the baseboards the molding literally anywhere there is a horizontal surface you can run your finger along it and i’m willing to put money on the fact that you will find some renovation dust on your finger so you want to start by dry dusting the area first when you think about the components of the dust that you’re going to be cleaning it’s drywall dust so it will get really streaky if you make it wet so start with a microfiber cloth and dry dust as best you can if you still feel like you want to give it a good cleaning after you notice some dirt left behind then and only then should you be using a little bit of moisture on your microfiber cloth so you can use our diy all-purpose cleaner you don’t need anything fancier than that.

Walls, Windows, Baseboards: One of the reasons post renovation cleans take so long is because we have to clean the vertical surfaces as well the dust is so fine and finicky and the finishes that you cut up can just fly everywhere during the renovation process so you’re going to see things on vertical surfaces that’s why your walls your windows your baseboards are also going to need extra attention now you’re going to use the same process you’re going to dry dust first with microfiber and then you can use a wet dusting process after.

And Finally..Floors: And then it all comes down to the floors, I would recommend once all of your other cleaning is done you want to give your floors a final vacuum with that wet dry vac once that’s done you can then maintain your floors with a regular household vacuum and you should expect that fine dust to resettle for one to two weeks after but again the more you’re on top of it during the renovation and right after the less of that dust you’re gonna see settle in the next couple of weeks following the renovation.

Thanks so much for reading and we’ll see you next time.