You’ll Wish You Knew These 5 House Cleaning Hacks from Professional Cleanout Services

Professional cleaners see it all in a day's work. Some homes need just a basic spring cleaning and others a full deep clean. If you’ve ever seen one of the many reality shows about hoarders, you’ll know how bad things can get.

Whether you fit in either category or somewhere in between we have some great cleaning hacks from professional cleanout services to restore your home to its bright, clean and inviting best.

What Are House Cleanouts?

Full house cleanouts may be needed for a number of reasons including hoarding, maintaining a vacation rental, moving, estate sales and clearing out rental properties for the next tenant. They can involve clearing out years of junk buildup, disposing of items that aren’t salvageable and full home disinfecting. In many cases furniture and appliances have to be replaced in the process.

What is the Purpose of A Property Cleanout?

In a nutshell, the purpose of a property cleanout is to make a home or business clean and safe to inhabit or work in. You’ll want to do a deep clean and pay special attention to the corners where mold and dirt buildup may be hiding.

How Often Should You Have A Cleanout?

There are regular cleaning tasks homeowners should perform on a daily or weekly basis. As far as full cleanouts are concerned, every few months should be a good target, or even once annually if you do a great job during your weekly cleaning sessions.

Plan Ahead — Things You’ll Need Before You Start

Before you get started on your full cleanout or even just a basement cleanout, you’ll want to be honest with yourself. Is this a task you can handle by yourself with the help of your family or are you going to need to enlist professional cleanout services along the way?

Cleanout services can be expensive depending on the state of the home.

Prices can range from as little as $200 to well over $1000 if the home’s been occupied by hoarders. Then you’ll also have to consider the cost of a junk removal service which can cost up to $500 or more in some cases or a dumpster rental which will range between $250 and $650 depending on the size of the dumpster.

If you are going to tackle things in the family you’ll want to prepare just like the professionals. Here’s a list of things you should keep in mind:

• Organizing and Preparing Your Team of Helpers: Professional cleaners rarely work alone, neither should you. One of the most basic cleaning hacks you should start with is to arrange for a team of family or friends to help — at least with the bigger tasks such as furniture removal.
• Waste, Recycle and Organic Containers: You’re going to need something to put all of the waste and junk you’re cleaning out. Professional cleanout services will always have plenty of heavy duty garbage bags on hand, as well as recycle containers and organic containers if necessary. If you have a garbage disposal unit in the kitchen that will work as well.
• Personal Protective Equipment: You’ll never see professional cleanout services working without the protection of gloves and masks. This is even more important if you’re clearing out the home of a family member that’s a hoarder. Even if the home you’re cleaning isn’t overly dirty, it’s a good idea to have them on stand by just in case.
• Cleaning Supplies: Before you start on a major cleanout make sure you have all of the cleaning supplies you need to tackle every task along the way. This should include glass cleaners, disinfectants, heavy duty grease cleaning compounds, rags and cloths.
• Convenient Waste Disposal: One other cleaning hack advice you'll hear from most professionals is to always have a quick and easy way to get rid of all the junk and waste as you go.

Loading up your pick up truck and making dump runs can work, but it’s time consuming. Junk removal companies are another option, but that can get expensive. Renting a dumpster is probably the best way to go. You can load it as you go and work at your own pace. Once you’re done and the bin is loaded you just call for removal and you're done.

5 Key Steps In Your House Cleanout

1. Trash Cleanout (Decluttering)

The first step in any major house cleanout is to go room by room and clear out all of the trash. At this point you’re not worried about organizing — you just want to get that junk in the dumpster and declutter. Anything you’re keeping, find a convenient place to store it out of the way for organizing later.

Remember, if the house hasn’t been cleaned in a long time or if you’re clearing out the home of a family member that’s a hoarder, have that mask and gloves ready to go. You might not need them for every room, but you’ll want them handy when you do.

2. Tackling the Floors

With all of the unwanted junk out of the way you should now have a clear picture of what kind of shape your floors are in. It’s usually a good idea to rent a carpet cleaner to deal with potentially years of build up. For kitchen tiles and bathroom tiles you’ll want to break out those tile and ceramic cleaners.

3. Wipe Down and Disinfect

With the floors taken care of, the next step is to wipe down and disinfect surfaces around the home. You’ll want to pay special attention to the bathrooms and the kitchen where germs and bacteria will often be at their worst.

This stage should include wiping down cupboards, vanities, countertops and surfaces. Don’t forget the toilet bowl and shower — they can be a major challenge in some circumstances.

4. Clean Your Air

One thing that homeowners often overlook, but professional cleanout services keep at the top of their to do list, is to deodorize the air. Having a few air fresheners on hand is a good idea and even a plug in or two if you want to keep your rooms smelling fresh all day.

Another great suggestion is to invest in an air purifier. Now that the home is clean, these can help to keep more than 99% of bacteria and dust particles from the air.

5. Hard to Reach Spaces and Final Inspection

As you walk through your home on your final inspection after a job well done, make sure you check in any hard to reach spaces. You’ll want to inspect the corners of rooms, baseboards, cupboards and window sills.

It’s in these areas where you may find mold, dust and even spider webs and you can’t consider a home truly cleaned out until all of these are cleared away and cleaned up.