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Original poster

How Long to clean a 4 bed house?

29 replies

ecdysis · 26/08/2023 08:25

Like all good procrastinators I have woken early to start on some much needed housework and currently I am having tea and toast and finishing an episode series on netflix.

How long does it take a normal person to clean a house, I keep thinking how nice it will be when it's done, just as a boil the kettle.

OP posts:

derrydee · 26/08/2023 08:30

it would take me the entire day if not more - but that might say more about me / state of my house than anything else!

yomellamoHelly · 26/08/2023 08:33

It would take me the whole day, but I generally allow it to build up and up before I crack. Would not attempt to do it all in one day either. The downstairs, or upstairs, would be me feeling ambitious / energetic.

geoger · 26/08/2023 08:35

Depends on size and state of house. Whack on a playlist and get started. Could take 3 hours could take 6 - will take longer if you’re doing windows, skirting boards, tiles, moving furniture and mopping

trevthecat · 26/08/2023 08:37

Really depends how much has built up. If it's loads of tidying, then definitely all day! Put on a good podcast or music!

InDubiousBattle · 26/08/2023 08:37

If I started now and had a break for lunch I'd be done by 3/4 ish. Our house is tidy but doing a good clean seems to take forever!

MotherOfGodWeeFella · 26/08/2023 08:39

Kim and Aggie used to say an hour per bedroom so a three bedroom house takes three hours to clean. I'd say that's a fair assessment providing you've been dusting and vacuuming weekly. We live in an older house with three reception rooms - if it's not kept on top of it seems to take bloody ages!

Twizbe · 26/08/2023 08:40

It takes me 3 hours to do a basic clean. That’s bathrooms (3) dusting, surfaces, hoovering and mopping the floor downstairs.

I do that every week. Once a month I will do a bigger clean going into more detail.

I find doing it regularly means the house is never that dirty. We’re also a very neat family and DH will tidy up while I bath the kids every night. We also put away as we go.

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 26/08/2023 08:42

I could easily spend an hour in the kitchen alone.

I'd say it depends how much tidying needs doing first. I probably need to spend more time tidying, then whipping through cleaning afterwards takes less time.

Cucumberinginplease · 26/08/2023 08:46

It takes me about an hour once a week. That includes one big job each week. For example, inside windows one week, vacuuming under all furniture the next, cleaning down the kitchen cupboards the following etc. However, we tidy as we go, and my husband does the bathrooms in stages throughout the week. He also does the oven & lawns.

I will do a deep clean of one room about once a year, which, depending on the room can take a few hours. We also both tend to do little jobs as and when we see they really need doinng, such as sorting the kitchen junk draw, tidying the tupperware draw etc.

So I guess for me it's all spread out a bit. Works better for me! I have a friend who does a big clean about once a fortnight and it takes her most of the day which is probably all the time we spend over the same period when you tot it up.

ifonly4 · 26/08/2023 08:49

If you're focused, I reckon about three hours to clean bathroom, ensuite, hoover/clean floors and obvious dusting! If you then want to add in pulling furniture out to hoover dust, wiping skirting boards, cleaning windows, removing cobwebs, then that's a bigger operation and I'm not sure I'd have the energy to do it all in one day.

If you can do the three hour stint (might be less) I think you'll feel like you've achieved something.

WeWereInParis · 26/08/2023 08:50

Are you "just" cleaning, or is there a lot of tidying to do first? Are you moving furniture?

If it's fairly tidy and you're cleaning the bathroom, cleaning the kitchen, hoovering all the floors, and dusting, then a couple of hours?

If you're tidying first, moving furniture, cleaning the windows, doing a deep clean of everything etc, then all day.

RidingMyBike · 26/08/2023 08:52

Do you need to tidy and sort as well or are surfaces clear as that'll make a big difference?

DH usually does ours (bigger house) in 2 x 3 hour stints each week but that's with things put away and so not having to sort and declutter at the same time.

Original poster

ecdysis · 26/08/2023 08:56

Like the idea of three hours but I feel I am not at a clean enough start for that, but you are right that three hours would achieve a lot.

Do you finish each room or do you dust/tidy and leave the floors and do them all at once?

OP posts:

Original poster

ecdysis · 26/08/2023 08:57

@WeWereInParis tidying as well (needs a big declutter but have storage so basically hiding it) but no moving of furniture, it needs doing but not today.

OP posts:

Jellycatspyjamas · 26/08/2023 09:02

I do each room which gives me the motivation to keep going, cos I can see the results. I hate that half way through stage if I do all the dusting, then windows etc because I’ve been working for what feels like ages but nothings actually finished.

AnnaMagnani · 26/08/2023 09:04

A professional cleaner - 4 hours

Me - a month

Original poster

ecdysis · 26/08/2023 09:26

AnnaMagnani · 26/08/2023 09:04

A professional cleaner - 4 hours

Me - a month

😆 yes me too.

In fact I think I'm going to get a deep cleaner

OP posts:

DustyLee123 · 26/08/2023 09:29

I split my house up, so do bathrooms one day, dust and hoover upstairs another etc.

WeWereInParis · 26/08/2023 09:39

ecdysis · 26/08/2023 08:57

@WeWereInParis tidying as well (needs a big declutter but have storage so basically hiding it) but no moving of furniture, it needs doing but not today.

If you're going through lots of storage and decluttering then a whole weekend, if not more. Because once you start pulling stuff out and organising into piles for selling/donating/throwing away, it all looks a lot worse before it gets better.

Bananasplitlady · 26/08/2023 09:44

That's my job today/this week. I keep on top of it mostly, but by that I mean bathroom useable, kitchen sides clean and sink empty, recently ish hoovered, kind of tidy ..I need to do the kind of cleaning that means I move the microwave and pull out the sofa and that kind takes me forever.

Ceraunophile · 26/08/2023 09:45

I spend 2x 3 hours (one upstairs stint one downstairs) on cleaning each week. This is a quick dust and vacuum, quick clean of bathrooms, wipe over kitchen, mop of hard floors. Tidying and dishes etc is done on top of that. If I want to do a more thorough clean eg high dusting, pulling out furniture, cleaning the grout, cleaning windows and frames, wiping out cupboards etc it probably takes 1.5 hours per room which would be 22.5 hours (not including teenagers or lodgers rooms which I do not clean) which is why my house is never completely clean!

I think for a 4 bed house you could give everywhere a decent surface clean in 3-4 hours

Abfab63 · 26/08/2023 09:46

Depends how bad you let it get. I do a "surface clean" which takes about 30mins upstairs, 1 hour down.

If I'm descaling, doing the skirtings etc - that level of clean then I could spend all day.

Whack some music on and see how far you get!

Original poster

ecdysis · 26/08/2023 09:50

@WeWereInParis no I'm going to throw everything into storage and shut the door. I want a surface clean house to start the back to school routine. I do know that if I decluttered the storage my life would be easier.

Thanks for the motivation everyone. I'm going to take a picture of each room before I start so that I can at least see the difference. I'm starting a two hour timer and going to do as much as I can in that time, and then reasses. I'm ND and have in the past wasted whole days trying to get started having you all here helps.

OP posts:

KaySararSarar · 26/08/2023 09:51

The only reason our house is in a good state is because we have regular overnight guests. Love that people come to visit and think our house is this tidy all the time…if only they knew!!

Goldencup · 26/08/2023 09:53

We have 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and 2 extremely messy teens. We used to pay our cleaner 10 hours a week, but that included some ironing. Now I spend 3 hours on the bathrooms, DH does an hour and a half on the kitchen.

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