Top Tips for Professional standard cleaning

[EyesDoMoreThanSee]

Seeking advice - if there is a good thread already in existence or other webpage etc then I'd be grateful for the help.

We move next week. DH and I are both taking 2 days off to pack, the third day he is going with the van and I am staying to clean top to bottom.

We had a warning letter to saywe will be fined if we leave the rental in anything less than a professional standard. DH is hiring a steam cleaner for the carpets but I want that to be the last thing we do. I'm deep cleaning the bathroom and the kitchen this weekend. The deposit on this place is giant (almost 2k) and it will pay for our kitchen revamp and new sofa in teh new house :)

thank you in advance

Don't forget the skirting boards, the banister, the windows and the inside of the kitchen cupboards. Do one room at a time. Hoover first (don't forget the lamp shades). It's so much easier when the house is empty. Best of luck

Flylady

I only clicked on this because I thought you were despensing top tips.

Glass wipes..... To go over door handles and taps and anything that needs to shine and gleam

They are excellent!

Hoover under radiators, the fluff collects on the underside.

Get cooker prof cleaned.

Remember to clean the inside of cupboards and drawers, lightswitches and the wall around them, windows and sills, radiators. Not very green but cheapo flash wipes are fab for that sort of clean I think. I've left lots of rentals and it's always the carpet that lets me down! Also would definately be there when they do the check and agree/disagree to any charges there and then. They are robbing barstards!

I scrubbed my old house, Belmo. Everywhere except for the walls. I'm still waiting to hear about my deposit

For a 2k deposit is it worth getting a professional cleaner in?

All of the above, and get some dettol mould and mildew remover for the bathroom. It brings up the grout and seals like new. Lethal stuff though so you need to have all of the windows open.

Also hoover and damp dust any light shades and remember to wipe over the flex.

Keep the reciept from the hire of the steam cleaner to prove the carpets were cleaned, and take pictures of all of the rooms just before you leave. These will be required if there is a dispute over the deposit.

Thank you all.

I would get in a professional cleaner however tbh some of the places I have seen supposedly done by them I know I could do better. I also contacted three companies and not one of them got back to me. I'm a pretty thorough cleaner so I'm confident I'll be ok, I just need to think of the places that I wouldn't usually clean. I'm going to download some good tracks on my iPod and get scrubbing.

And if I deep clean the bathrooms and the kitchen this weekend I can go over them next Friday after we move.

Good thinking on the deposit check. Will arrange that with them.

Vacuum the extractor fan filters. Dish-wash the powder dispenser drawer for the washing machine. Use viakal to clear any line scale marks from the draining board. Soak the shower head in concentrated line scale remover, then buff clean. Get the windows professionally cleaned. Wipe each slat of slatted blinds. Make sure the fridge/freezer are immaculate and fully defrosted.

Take photos and video of EVERYTHING before you leave.

Oh - and buy a magic eraser to clean any scuffs off the painted walls

Oven - if you can't get it cleaned by a pro, get everything oven prided well BEFORE your last cleaning day, otherwise you will do nothing else on your cleaning day.

Marks on the walls - jif takes them off. Really freshens the place up.

Slightly damp cloth for all woodwork, amazing how much more comes off rather than just a dust or vacuum brush.

Windows - ecloth removes all the smears once cleaned.

Limescale remover.

Loads of kitchen roll and ecloths for EVERYTHING to get rid of smears and to get things bone dry for final polish.

I cleaned our rental last year over 3 days - about 3-4 hours each day. Scrubbed, polished, dusted and vaccuumed within an inch of its life and I got the deposit back. Mind you, that time scale included doing the oven.

I have a magic eraser :)

There is a week between moving out and handover so I will come back to do freezer.

Extractor wotsits on the oven I have an isue with They were so revolting when we moved in we didn't realise they had a grill in (honestly) and so put them through the dw a few times. Nothing has brought them up though. Did wonder about the oven shelf cleaning bags?

Oven pride is what you need for the shelves. Leave in the bag overnight if at all possible and with a gentle wash with fairy they will be sparkling.

Don't be tempted to overfill the bag though, the liquid needs a chance to get right around what is in the bag. Keep rotating the bag and moving the cleaner around inside the bag if you can.

I have e-cloths (glass and everyday one)

I have the ultimate in kitchen roll and I have viakel

I have copious baby wipes

I can work from home this afternoon so I am going via Sainsburys - buying up their stock of oven bag wotsit things and then home to deep clean teh oven

asked DH to do it last weekend - but see another thread I have in chat for the predictable outcome of that

can I use the bags on the extractor grills?

Sounds like you should be in good shape - it is quite stressful worrying about return of deposit - ours was £1500 and I was really panicked until I got the landlady's email saying all ok to release. So I completely sympathise with you.

Who does the inspection? We had an independent agent do our check out inspection plus landlady went as well later. As someone else says elsewhere, if you have any worries at all, take photos. Your check in inventory (if you had one) should have pointed out what wear and tear already existed and you obviously can't be expected to improve on what you were given when you moved in!

Don't know re extractor grills - might depend what they are made of. I think I did our extractor grills last time in dishwasher/soaked in very hot water with fairy. My current ones go in the DW fairly regularly to prevent build up.

We've run them through DW twice but they are utterlt disgusting - they are metal. I tried to clean them by hand but nothign worked. Maybe open windows and used the oven cleaner on them?

Our inventory was good but there were two things we didn't notice due to time. And we also have to cut the hedges but the weather has been so shit that its hard to get that done.

Ok, so o have the oven Brite stuff. Do yp think I could do the extractor metal grids in one half of solution, and then the oven racks in the other half of solution by reusing the bag?

Don't forget sockets and switches. Baby wipes.
Do one room at a time, close the door. If you have time, go back into that room a day or so later to remove any settled dust and hoover your way out again.

Def get a prof in to do the oven. so worth it.

Second baby wipes...cheaper than dettol/jiff wipes and are as good IMO.

Do not use polish..damp dust with e cloths/j cloths. So much better.

Get a prof in the clean the carpets too...the ones you rent arent very good (rug doctor?)

Use lots of bleach in the loos/bathroom so they can smell it when they check it! :)

Method window cleaner is the best I have used BUT my mum swear by vinegar and newspaper!

Febreeze all soft furnishings.

good luck!

What are ecloths? And oven bags? This is a whole new world to me!