Cleaning after the Builders Left

Cleaning after the builders have been can be a right pain. It’s amazing the places that builders’ dust and grime can get, even if both you and the builders have been super-diligent about keeping everything covered and cleaning as they go along.

Cleaning after the builders have been can be a right pain. It’s amazing the places that builders’ dust and grime can get, even if both you and the builders have been super-diligent about keeping everything covered and cleaning as they go along.

With the recession and general tightening of belts that is de rigeur, people are less likely to buy a new home and far more likely to build an extension or loft conversion to create the larger living space they need for their family’s lifestyle.

Extending a home is most logically done in the summer months and right the way up to around now, when work is least likely to be stopped by rain or bad weather. Then suddenly the days start closing in, and your hope of cleaning through the house when the builders leave might also suddenly appear less tempting.

When the builders have gone and the house is nearly finished, you’re going to want that last push to get it completely decorated and ready before the Christmas rush of overnight guests, visitors and family arrives on your doorstep.

Attempting to do the decorating and the cleaning in what could be less than six weeks might be more challenging than you’d hoped in your spring/summer-imaginings of your completed extension.
Firstly you should clean the whole house when the builders leave, missing nothing. Move from the top of the house working from right to left and towards the door if you’re right-handed, and from left to right towards the door if you’re left-handed.

Cleaning before you decorate may sound like a crazy suggestion, but, as any artist knows, a clean canvas will produce the best work. Sweep and vacuum the walls as well as the floors and ceilings, to get rid of that fine dust that lingers when the builders leave.

With the walls, ceilings and floors cleaned, you can get on with decorating and putting your mark on your home again. Then, once more, move through the house cleaning thoroughly. Depending on the amount of dust your decorating created, you may find that actually the ceilings and walls don’t need to have a second pass—run your finger over them to check if there is a fine residue. If there is, clean it; if there isn’t leave it.

It’s around that second thorough cleaning, when the festive season really is approaching, that you might want to consider getting a domestic cleaning company in to help out. Your motivation will be low just at the point that your energies need to be at their highest.

Using a domestic cleaning company for the second round will also give you the chance to enjoy your home properly. There’s not much that beats walking into a cleaned house, especially when you know the fun and frolics of hanging the Christmas deccies is just round the corner – and this year, for once, you won’t need to do a massive pre—Christmas clean either. Crack open the mulled wine, I say