Apartment Cleaning Checklist - Tips to Cleaning Your Apartment Before Moving In

 

kitchen, big countertop

 

While your new apartment may seem clean at first, giving it a full deep cleaning before bringing in your stuff will ensure that everything is disinfected giving you a clean space to unpack. It enables you to reach any hard-to-reach spots, such as corners and ceilings. You will also be moving into an apartment that smells fresh and clean.

Deep cleaning will also ensure it's clean just the way you like it before making it your home. Another benefit is the chance to properly inspect the house and uncover any issues that may need to be addressed before you move in, such as insect infestations, leaks, or other maintenance difficulties.

Here's how to ensure that your new house is spotless and ready for you. You can use these guidelines whether you are the one cleaning or hiring professionals from https://ambitioncleaning.com.

 

Start from the top

Before cleaning any living space, it's always a good idea to start all the way from the top and working your way down.

And we're talking all the way up! Dust is likely to be generated by ceilings, ceiling fans, and high cabinets. When you clean that dust, there's a good chance it'll make your freshly cleaned worktops or floors dirty.

Cleaning the floors last gives you plenty of time to ensure that you have cleaned everything before hauling in furniture, because it will be harder to clean with furniture around.

While you're working on the ceilings, look for any signs of roof leaks, which might indicate a bigger problem than just a dirty spot.

 

The kitchen

The kitchen is probably one of the high-traffic spaces in your house. It contains many items, and cleaning it first will ensure that it is ready when you need to take a little break from unpacking to fix some lunch or dinner.

Deep cleaning the kitchen before you move in is easier because it may be the only time you'll have an empty fridge or cupboards. Take advantage of this by cleaning and sanitizing all the surfaces including all the appliances.

Start by cleaning the fridge because you will have a clean fridge to store all your food carried from your previous house. Fresh and frozen food tends to spoil faster so moving them into a clean fridge makes it easier to store them.

Next, you can dust the light fixtures, remove cobwebs from corners, and wipe down the tops of wall-mounted cabinets.

Then push all the appliances away from the wall carefully and clean under and behind them. Additionally, when cleaning kitchen cabinets, ensure you also clean the inside and outside.

After you are done with the kitchen cabinets and appliances, clean the walls and shelves from top to bottom, as well as the doors and knobs. Don't forget to also clean the kitchen sink and wash down the counters before vacuuming and mopping the floor thoroughly.

The main objective of cleaning the kitchen is to remove all food debris, oil, water stains, and food spatters, but it's worth mentioning that you don't have to use chemical cleaners to do so; natural options, such as cleaning with vinegar, baking soda, and lemon, maybe just as effective.

 

Bathroom

Your bathroom is another space that stores a lot of your stuff and is usually used often. While your property owner should have obviously done a thorough cleaning in this area, it's ideal to give it another once-over.

After all, you want to be certain that all of the filth and gunk from the previous owner has been removed. You'll feel a lot better knowing that you went over this area on your own and that everything is spotless and disinfected.

Scrub the toilets and bathtubs using cleaners and disinfectant too. Purchase a low-cost toilet seat and disinfect the toilet paper holder, light switches, faucets, and doorknobs. Make a point of cleaning any areas that you may have overlooked during a normal cleaning. The idea is to begin with a clean slate.

 

Moving through the other rooms

You can now start checking off the other rooms, such as the foyer, living room, home office, bedrooms, and so on. All of these should be quite simple. An effective efficiency strategy is to consider them all as one and clean by item rather than by room.

Therefore, in each room, you'd dust the ceiling fans, then go back and dust the tops of the doors, then the light switches, window sills, and so on, working downwards. This allows whatever dust you've stirred to settle. The final thing you should do is vacuum or mop the floors.

It's also essential to wash off the windows, but if it's sunny outside, you might want to wait because it makes it difficult to detect streaks, so save it for a rainy day.

Keep an eye out for items like wall damage, surface repairs, broken taps, malfunctioning light switches and sockets, loose nails, and so on as you make your way through the rooms. As you proceed, make a list to remind yourself of what repairs need to be done.

 

Clean the soft furnishings and curtains

If you're moving into a rental, there's a good possibility you'll have existing drapes and soft furnishings to clean, as well as a mattress. Don't overlook them - you'd be surprised at how much dust and dirt textiles can accumulate. Fortunately, if you know how to clean upholstery properly, it's a rather simple task.

A steam cleaner is the most effective approach, and if you rent a hand-held kind, it's quite adaptable - just make sure the cloth you're using it on can withstand the heat.

Take advantage of the chance to thoroughly clean your carpet and any area rugs that came with the house using the steam cleaner.

If your house comes with any lingering odors such as smoke or pet odors you can start by airing out the space. Open all the windows to let in fresh air. You can let the apartment stay like this for a few days to let out the funny smell.