Regular deep cleaning in a lived space can be daunting enough—dust and cobwebs that build up in corners covered by furniture or in hard to reach nooks and crannies, food and gunk buildup build up on high-touch areas on appliances in kitchens, mold creeping through the valleys between tiles in your bathroom. But construction cleaning in the wake of a full dust and demolition derby is another monster in and of itself.
Not only do you need heavy duty equipment such as dry-and-wet vacs, commercial scrubbers and floor polishers, power washers and heavy-duty cleaning solutions, but you also need a good approach so that you are not just pushing the dust and debris around. Aside from the fact that dust, and particularly dust from building materials, some of which may still contain hazardous chemicals like asbestos, can be harmful to your health, certain kinds of dust can harm the interior of your space which is the last thing you want after you’ve spent a ton of money for renovations.
Other post-construction cleaning supplies that may be necessary to get the desired result include brooms, brushes, dustpans, mops, buckets, rags and microfiber cloths, magic erasers, scrapers, an all purpose cleaner like Simple Green, hydrogen peroxide or bleach, a glass cleaner, a stepladder and squeegee, trash bags, and possibly a dumpster if you are clearing large amounts of garbage away as well. For personal protection, you will need gloves, dust masks, and possibly goggles.
It may be more cost effective to hire a professional than attempt a construction clean yourself, but if you like gettin down and dusty, here are the steps necessary for a well-executed construction clean:
- Open the windows while cleaning.
- Let Dust Settle.
- Remove any remaining debris.
- From top to bottom, dry-vac, sweep, dry mop, and using microfiber towels to pick up the finer dust particles that tend to clog your HVAC system and ruin electronics, wipe up all the dust.
- Tackle adhesive residue, scraping windows, paint splotches, and caulking splashes.
- Wipe down all glass windows and doors.
- Wash the walls, door frames, and baseboards.
- Vacuum and mop the floors. If you have carpet or rugs, consider hiring professional carpet cleaners or taking the rugs to an off-site facility that specializes in rug cleaning.
For certain areas of the house such as the bathroom and kitchen, you may also want to squeegee the shower cubicles, use grout cleaner to get in between the tile, thoroughly detail the appliances inside and out, and wipe down all fixtures and cabinets.
Even if you enjoy the vigorous activity of cleaning and the self-sufficiency of doing things on your own, construction cleaning is a massive undertaking in terms of time, equipment expenditure, and effort. So if you’d prefer to focus on what you do best and outsource the rest, the Paige Blue Industries arm of PopUP CleanUP which provides professional post-construction cleanup services are happy to come to your rescue.
