Cleaning After Renovation
Renovations are messy business. Even if you’ve taken the necessary steps to keep your house clean during the renovation by covering your furniture and blocking the area off with plastic, there is still going to be leftover construction dust throughout your house. If you’re using a construction company, most of the time they’ll do a quick clean up for you. But if you’re doing your own renovations or if you would like a deep clean, you’re going to need to clean yourself.
Cleaning up after renovations is absolutely necessary. Breathing in construction dust can cause respiratory complications such as asthma. To keep yourself and your family healthy, use the following tips to keep your house clean.
Get the right equipment
Before you start cleaning, gather all your equipment. You’ll need a shop vac, vacuum, mop, cleaning rags, cleaning liquids specific to your floors and furniture, and a face mask. A face mask will help prevent you from breathing in any construction dust or debris as you clean.
Get rid of all debris
As soon as construction is complete and all tools are removed, do a walkthrough of your house. Check for any trash that might have been left behind, such as empty paint cans or used drop cloths. Also, look for any leftover nails or other small equipment that might have been overlooked.
Use a shop vac
A shop vac is a powerful tool that can suck up any leftover dirt, dust, or chunks of material. You’ll want to run the shop vac over the entire renovation area, including the walls, ceiling, and floor. Start from the ceiling and work your way down. Loose material will likely fall off any ledges as you go and you’ll be able to vacuum it up once you get to the floor.
Pay special attention to your floors. You’ll want to vacuum carpeted areas several times. If you have wood, tile, or linoleum, you’ll want to vacuum once and then mop. Don’t mop your floors without vacuuming because that will push particles of dust around on your floors, which could cause scratch marks.
Vacuum your furniture
Even if you had your furniture covered up, you’ll want to vacuum it. Vacuuming helps ensures that all dust is removed. You can use a shop vac or a regular vacuum on your furniture. If you’re looking for a good vacuum, check out this review on Kenmore vacuums. Most Kenmore vacuums have attachments that allow you to clean all the crevices of your furniture.
Also, don’t forget to clean off any pillows. Vacuum the pillows first, and then throw them in the washing machine or take them to a dry cleaner. Making sure your pillows are free from all construction dust is especially important since you’ll be laying your head on them. You don’t want to accidentally breathe in a bunch of dust!
Wipe down everything
After you’ve vacuumed, get a rag and appropriate cleaning solutions and start wiping everything down. Baseboards, windows, window sills, handles, hinges, light fixtures — if it’s in the room, wipe it down. If you have any wooden furniture in the room, such as a bookcase, you’ll also want to wipe that down. Dust can accumulate in small crevices. Even if you can’t see it, there’s still a chance that it’s there.
Check your light bulbs
Some individuals forget to check the light fixtures throughout the room. If you have lamps or ceiling light, you’ll want to make sure there isn’t any dust or debris around your lights. Wipe down your lights with a microfiber cloth. Checking your light bulbs also allows you to make sure your light fixtures weren’t damaged during construction.
Clean your vents
Unscrew any air vents that are in the room and wipe them down with warm, soapy water. During this process, you’ll want to turn off your AC to prevent any dust inside your air ducts from circulating throughout your house. You can also vacuum inside your air ducts. Use the hose of your vacuum to reach as deep inside the vents as possible.
Change your air filters
As noted above, sometimes construction dust gets into your air ducts. To ensure that the air circulating throughout your house is as clean as possible, replace any air filters. Replacing your filters is simple. Locate your HVAC unit, find the air filter slot, remove the old filter, and insert the new filter in. Some folks also like to vacuum the outside of the unit off afterward to ensure all dust is cleaned up.