deep cleaning to help stage your home - rose and womble

Staging a Home to Sell: Deep Cleaning

When getting your home ready to put on the market you really need to think in terms of “Spring Cleaning” or really what we like to call a Deep Clean. This is the elbow grease your mom talked about – when you roll up your sleeves and remove grime, dirt, and make your home look shiny. Here are some great tips about how to really your deep clean on!

What To Do
Air Conditioner & Heater
  • Change the filters in the furnace
  • Schedule a service in early spring to check the system out – you want to make sure the system works before buyers tour
Windows
  • Squeegee with water/ammonia mix – works better than glass cleaner
  • Clean on a cloudy day – less streaks
  • Touch up the windowsills with paint, inside and out
  • Repair loose glass
De-Griming
  • Wash down the walls and doors – a mixture of trisodium phosphate and water should work.
    • Concentrate this cleaning in bathrooms and kitchen
    • Soak cotton balls in bleach and place them in mildewed corners of showers when you start cleaning the bathroom.  Remove them when you’re done and the mildrew will be gone.
    • Use rubbing alcohol to clean caulking – or consider replacing the caulking
    • Disinfect and whiten toilets with chlorine bleach.  Let sit for 10 minutes to kill germs – wear gloves!
    • Remove mildew from floors and walls by spraying a mixture of ½ cup chlorine bleach, 1/3 cup powdered laundry soap and 1 gallon hot water, working from the base of the wall up.  Wear gloves!
Fridge & Freezer(yes people will look)
  • With a trash can and large cooler on hand, take out all fridge and freezer contents.  Throw away old and expired items and place the remaining perishables in the cooler.
  • Scrub down all the interior surfaces, including rubber gaskets around the doors
  • Re-organized the contents as you put them back by category.  Local organizational expert Amy Volk has a great plan for this on her blog, Simplified Living.
Floors
  • Vacuum hard surfaces first
  • Wax the floor and seal when dry to protect
  • Rent or hire a professional carpet cleaning service.
Odds & Ends
  • Smoke detectors – test, clean, and change the batteries
  • Water Valves – open and close the main water values and check for leaks
  • Fire Extinguishers – recharge and check dates
Exterior
  • Check your roof and gutters for leaves and debris.
  • Patch cracks in the driveway, patio, paths, and sidewalk
  • Power wash wooden decks and surfaces
  • Fix squeaky doors and windows
  • Have your chimney and furnace serviced

Information came from Peter Walsh