Your DIY Checklist for the Best Pre Occupation Cleaning – Part I

Moving to a new house is stressful, but luckily the hardest part is behind you: finding your new home. Now that you know the ‘where’, it’s time to plan the ‘how’, and part of prepping your new space is doing a thorough pre occupation clean. If you’re someone who believes in doing everything yourself, this is for you, consider this two-part blog-series a checklist of all the cleaning you need to cover to ensure your new home is ready for this next stage in your life.

Begin with the most bacteria-laden rooms in any house – yes, you guessed it, the bathroom and kitchen. Even if the previous owners did a proper clean before they left, there’s no guarantee that their clean and your clean are the same thing, so it’s best to go in armed with the right tools and cleaning agents. In the bathroom, apart from disinfecting the obvious surfaces like the inside of medicine cabinets or vanities, toilets and basins, remember to tackle those hard to reach places like behind the toilet or the hinges on the toilet seat – it’s frightening how many germs reside in those tiny often-missed spots. You might actually consider replacing the toilet seat all together, it’s one way of ensuring a clean start. Grout lines can be conquered using a grout brush dipped in bleach – you’ll want to do this regularly because as grout is porous it’s a breeding ground for bacteria. When you’re done with your hygiene cleaning, spray the tiles and walls with an all-purpose cleaner, turn on the hot water in the shower for a few minutes until you have plenty of steam (remember to collect the shower water in buckets to use later in your garden), close the bathroom door and leave the cleaner and steam to mix for about half an hour. After that, wipe down all the surfaces with a clean cloth, buff the mirrors and shower door, and finish off with the floor tiles.

In the kitchen, after disinfecting the inside of all the cupboards and countertops, you’ll want to pay particular attention to the oven and extractor fan; the experts say these should be cleaned every three months or so, but not all of us are that vigilant so you can imagine the fat and grime build-up after a while. Most often ignored, the extractor fan usually carries the worst of the fat build-up, so it’s best to dismantle as much of the hood as possible so that you can clean and degrease each item separately – in some cases, and depending on which model you have, replacing the filters might be your best option.

And lastly, in both bathroom and kitchen, you’ll want to flush out the drains – choose an environmentally friendly option like a cup of baking soda followed by plain white vinegar, it cuts through any fatty residue and cleans as it froths its way down the pipes.

And that concludes Part I of your DIY checklist for the best pre occupation clean – Part II will focus on the rest of the house and those often-ignored areas that accumulate dust and grime. While you might be doing this all yourself, if at any time you decide you need help, remember professional cleaning specialists like QClean are only a call away.