Cleaning Before Moving Into A Newly Built Home

• By Kate Johnson
• On June 15, 2017

You might have recently completed your end of lease cleaning Perth to get ready for vacate cleaning Perth before you began the move into a brand-new build home.  Things are still fresh in your mind, so this is a good time to share some helpful tips and tricks that apply to moving into your new build home so it can be done smoothly and cleanly. You may think that a brand new build home would already be clean, and while this is mostly true, there are different kinds of dirt and messes that come from living with construction.

As you know, living in Perth, or down the coast to Fremantle, or up the coast to Joondalup and anywhere else in the area from Midland, Rockingham, and Mandurah or other parts of Western Australia there is: SAND. And where there is not sand, there are other types of sundry dirt and debris that gets tracked into houses.

Picture this in your mind – for several hours every day, there are people sawing, welding, plastering, roofing, and plumbing your new home. Then think what happens when you do those sorts of things in a home. Even small repair jobs can make a mess, much less creating an entirely new structure. Also, keep in mind that the construction workers building your home are painting the interior and exterior and walking in and out from the construction area all day.

While many are very careful about cleaning up after themselves, there are some things that are easy to miss. One thing that you might find when the house is brand new are little piles of sawdust from where they installed electrical outlets, or one that is not many people’s favourite, that chemical/paint new house smell. These things fade with time, but being proactive can help your experience in your new home go smoothly.

When you move in, the construction foreman will sometimes show you around the house and checked off that all the outlets, switches, faucets, electrical boxes, and things like that all worked. For things you note like outlets that didn’t have covers or other issues, he might write them down. Faucets that get tested might reveal issues that could be terrible if you were all moved in.  A flooded bathroom can spill out into the hallway and damage the floors.  That will lead to replacing some of the boards they just finished. But as you can see, the walkthrough can truly pay off in the long run.

What You Need for Cleaning

All that to say, while being conscious of the cleanliness level is important, make sure everything works beforehand. Preferably go through with one of the company employees, or they may give you a checklist. Hopefully you won’t have any problems if you are aware and prepared.

Without further ado, following are some suggestions about cleaning new build homes.

Things You’ll Need:

• Vacuum cleaner with attachments
• Vacuum bags
• Feather duster
• Soft-bristled brush and dust pan
• Paper towels

• Bucket
• Bleach
• Dish soap
• Sponge

Preparing

Gather all cleaning supplies inside the garage of the new home. Mix a half-gallon of water into a large bucket and add 2 caps of bleach. Remove your shoes and use some foot protection like paint booties. These can go over shoes, or shoes can be removed. Bring only the supplies necessary for the room you are working in. Tour every room to be cleaned, making notes of areas in need of extra work and plan the time accordingly.

Clean Up the Heavy Dust First

Clean the entry area inside and out so no one tracks anything into the new home. Sweep and mop all floors and spread a clean drop cloth or painters’ plastic for shoes and cleaning supplies. You can also buy plastic for the floor to put down on all the heavy-traffic floor spaces until you’re ready to clean them. Wipe down counters and cupboards with a dry duster to remove sawdust. You may also need to use a damp cloth to get all the sawdust.

Start at the ceiling in every room and dust the top and sides of everything. Dust all window sills and ledges on molding, remembering the back of ceiling fan blades and tall appliances. Vacuum the entire area to be cleaned, using hose attachments to get into every corner and crevice of the floor. Especially around the floor boards, caulking and sawdust tends to collect as well as around power outlets.

Open all the drawers and vacuum or wipe out dust with a damp cloth. Use a dry dust mop for hardwood and linoleum floors. Take the vacuum outside and remove the dust-filled bag. Replace with a new bag for final sweeping.

Final Cleaning of New Construction Home

Bring in the bucket of bleach water, paper towels, and a sponge for the final cleaning process. Dunk the sponge and wring out until just damp. Place the bucket on newspapers on a solid floor surface. Start at the ceiling of each room and wipe down everything with the damp sponge. Remove any protective coverings from appliances and wipe down inside and out. Use a bit of rubbing alcohol and paper towels to shine all chrome-plated fixtures.

For mirrors, water works well, and doesn’t introduce harmful chemicals into the air. Simply dampen a paper towel, wipe the mirrors clean, and while it is still damp, take a dry paper towel and buff out the streaks. This technique can also be used for windows, or you could look into window cleaning Perth or bond cleaning Perth for overall work on your new house.

Lastly, wipe out sinks and around any newly caulked areas. Report any areas of loose caulk to the builder.

Finally, remove all cleaning materials from the newly constructed home. Use the hose attachment on your vacuum to go into corners and crevices again. Now it is time to take out the plastic that covered the floors and clean the carpets. It is time to take advantage of the empty space by thoroughly cleaning your carpet before moving all your belongings into your new home.

Since you’ve purchased new construction, contractors may have dispersed dust, building-material debris, and especially insidious sand deep into the carpet’s fibres. Taking the time to vacuum and steam clean ensures that your family and furniture come into contact with a cleaner environment.

Start by sweeping the carpet in short, firm strokes to loosen the fibres and free up the dirt. Vacuum the carpeting, focusing on high traffic areas near doorways and in hallways. Sprinkle baking soda over the carpet, and allow it to sit for one hour to remove any lingering odours. It does sound strange and no doubt you are thinking, “Baking soda?  Really?”, but it really does help clean and freshen up even new carpet. Vacuum up the baking soda, working in quadrants to ensure that everything gets sucked up.

Pre-treat any stains with a mixture of equal parts distilled white vinegar and water. Combine the ingredients in a spray bottle for easy application. Dampen the stained areas with the solution and scrub in a circular motion with the brush until the stain is removed. Fill a carpet steam cleaner’s clean water canister with hot water. Fill the detergent bin with the approved amount of cleaning agent and water, as specified in the owner’s manual. If you don’t own a carpet steam cleaner, you can often rent a machine from a hardware or home-improvement store.

Plug in the steam cleaner, and power it on to activate the heating mechanism, then pull the handle’s trigger to release the water. Start cleaning in the farthest corner of the room and work your way to the exit so you won’t have to step onto the damp carpeting and potentially redeposit dirt.

Make one pass with the water feature and then follow that same pass with the dry-vac feature by releasing the trigger. Continue wetting and drying the carpet until the room is completed. Empty and refill the hot water tank as needed when it becomes filled with dirty water. Turn on the central air, if applicable, to help speed up drying, or set a fan in the room’s entryway to provide air circulation, and open windows throughout the room to provide a cross breeze. But, leave the windows closed if it’s humid and hot outside.

Repeat the vacuuming and steam cleaning in each room. Then allow the carpet to dry completely before you vacuum all the carpet again to fluff up the fibres before finishing. You may also consider looking for carpet cleaning Perth to ease this last step or builders cleaning Perth to find someone who can do a custom clean job for your new build.

Final Tips

To reduce traffic in the home, place a note on the outside of the entry door to inform all that final cleaning is taking place. As many do, after moving in you can have a no-shoes or socks only policy to avoid feet smell. In Japan, it is customary to have a basket of slippers by the front door so that guests are expected to remove their shoes and put on clean slippers for being in the home. While many Westerners don’t employ this in their homes, it does keep things nice and tidy.

Now that your house is clean and ready to move in, make sure to meet with the company and check your warrantees on appliances, windows, or anything else you think should have a warrantee. Some front landscaping also comes with a one-year warrantee, so yours might as well.

Some things you might not notice at first until you’ve lived with it for a while. For example, after living in your new home for a few months, you might notice a consistent problem with plumbing, or you might see your laminate floors begin to peel at the corners.  This is why you need to understand what is and what is not under warrantee.

While it may seem silly at first, be sure to keep all the manuals for your appliances as well as builders’ contact information, and home owners’ association contact information. If you live in a gated community, there is often a common building with a community center, pool, and spa so there is a gate code to the front gate after dark, a gate code to the pool, and a code to the common building. It will take you a while to get everything memorized, so you might want to consider having a basic packet of information in a readily available kitchen drawer with some of the information you think you’ll need.

Since you’ve invested this much money and time into a new home, it is good to consider whether you will have a home security system, or what you will do for home security at some level. Perhaps motion detector lights in the back and front yard will be enough, or you could just cover the side yard where there is no residual light.

In that readily available packet, you should also include information provided by your home owners’ association if you have one. There may be certain rules for noise restrictions after hours, lights, landscaping even in the backyard—the list goes on.  It may seem silly at first, but if you comply to the best of your ability with the home owners’ association rules, you will find it much easier later when you are not having to pay fines for transgressions you were not aware of.

Now, you’ve packed up all your belongings, bought a brand-new home, and cleaned it all up or hired someone to. You’ve looked into home security, and you have all of your warranties on appliances and plants. You’ve considered home owners’ association policies, started to think about landscaping, and maybe even painting. There is a tidy little packet of contact information about your home, the builder, and any codes you need as well as manuals for your appliances. So, the question is: what else is there left to do? Move in and let your new life begin!