Tips to Get Your New Home Clean Before Moving In

Posted on Tuesday, July 9th, 2019

 
If you’ve just had a new house built, bought one, or you’re renting, the first thing you should do is give it a thorough clean before you move in. While you vacate the house, you can get into all the nooks and crannies and places you can’t reach once the furniture is in. You can hire a professional cleaner to do the job, but if you want to do it yourself, here are some tips on how to go about it:

Begin in the Kitchen

The kitchen is probably the best place to start first place to start your purge because it’s where grease and cooking smells can lurk from previous tenants. Of course, you won’t have that problem if it’s newly-built, but there will no doubt be plenty of dust and whatever the tradies have brought in on their boots. The kitchen is where you prepare food and the family spends a lot of time so it needs to be cleaned thoroughly. Pour half a cup of vinegar and two tablespoons of bicarb soda in a container, mix it up and then pour into a spray bottle for all your house cleaning.

• Clean the Refrigerator

If the house comes with a fridge, then this is definitely one place to clean with either a heavy-duty paste or the natural ingredients such as the bicarb and vinegar solution, which is just as good, and a microfibre cloth. If the fridge hasn’t been switched off, then do that and leave the door open so the freezer can be cleaned later. Make sure you take out all the trays and such and soak them in warm soapy water while you wipe the inside of the fridge, then spray with bicarb and vinegar and wipe them down with the microfibre cloth, which won’t scratch. Wipe the handles and along the rubber seals as well where gunk gathers. Clean the freezer section thoroughly with your cloth. Bring the fridge out from the wall and clean beneath it, and wipe down the sides and top.

• Clean the Stove

Remove all the elements, trays and grill pans and bits that can be removed, soak them in hot soapy water and let them sit while you clean the rest of the stove. If you use a brush to get rid of caked grease, make sure it won’t scratch the enamel or stainless steel. If the oven is laden with grease that you’d never be able to scrub off, you might need an oven cleaner. Spray the inside of the oven with that and it will have done the job in about 20 minutes so you can wipe it out then. Meanwhile, place some newspaper on the stove tip to catch drips, and clean the range hood, both on top and beneath it. If you can move the stove to clean underneath, well and good, if not do the best you can. Make sure you clean the knobs and oven glass.

• Clean the Kitchen Cabinets and Benchtops

With your microfibre cloth and bicarb and vinegar solution, clean inside all cabinets and shelves both on top and down the sides, not forgetting the doors, inside and out, and the handles. If its a wood surface us a mild soap or wood cleaner. To remove grease stains make a paste with bicarb powder and water, apply it to the stain and leave it for a few minutes, while you take a breather, then wipe it off. Clean inside the drawers, and all the handles. The benchtop is easy to clean, but make sure you clean in any cracks or joins with a putty knife to remove the gunk.

• Give the Sink a Good Scrubbing

To disinfect the sink you can use a chlorine-free bleach in a spray bottle and add water. Spray the solution into all areas of the sink and allow it to soak. You can bleach the plugs by putting them into a bowl with some bleach water solution and allowing them to soak as well. After a few minutes you can rinse the plugs and the sink and dry them all with a clean, dry microfibre cloth. Smelly sinks can be cured with baking soda and water. Just pour it down the drain.

• Clean all the Walls

If the house has had a new paint job inside then you won’t have to clean it so breathe a sigh of relief. But if the house has been lived in and they had small children or were smokers, then you’re likely to have to clean the walls. Areas such as light switches need to be cleaned of grubby fingers marks and also around door handles. For stubborn grease and stains spray the vinegar-bicarb solution, and try fabric softener for sticky areas by applying a small amount to a sponge and rubbing it on the spot. Works well for anything stuck on walls even wallpaper.

• Clean all the Floors

If your new home has carpet, it’s a good idea to call in a professional cleaner for a thorough steam clean before you move in. If you can’t do that, or if the last occupants said they had the carpets professionally cleaned and it’s obvious, them all you need to do is give it a good vacuuming. Ask the previous owners/occupiers if they had pets and if so you might want to put some flea bombs in or call in a pest inspector to check for fleas and treat as needed. For timber floors or faux wooden floors, either sweep or use the vacuum with the head switched to flat surfaces. Then use a wood soap to remove dirt and stains so that it will leave it smelling great and shining.

Cleaning a new home takes an incredible amount of time and effort, especially if there are several large rooms or you’ve never had the experience in doing a thorough full-house cleaning. At MyHome, we have a team of exceptionally fast and efficient professional cleaners who know exactly how to make your house spotless and ready to move into. We offer specialist cleaning services specifically for those moving into new homes. We take out the headaches of cleaning and polishing up your new home, so you’re able to move in and enjoy your new home sooner rather than later!