Five hours to deep clean the house

[cleaningtime]

I've got a day off coming up and as we've just finished renovating our hallway over the last few weeks the house is due a good deep clean! If you had five hours to clean a four bed house what would you get done in that time?

Yes but I would hire in a cleaner who does deep cleans and go out to a nice cafe!

Our cleaner does 5 hours a week for our 4/5 bed (small room is an office) with 2 baths + downstairs loo. So could definitely do a good quality standard clean of everywhere but it wouldn’t allow for any deep cleaning extras like doing the oven, windows, skirting board scrubbing, inside of cupboards, fridge etc.

Hoover everywhere, mop kitchen, clean bathroom and kitchen, clean fridge, clean oven (if not totally gross), wipe skirting, chuck sofa covers in the wash. Possibly clean inside of windows but also I'd be much more likely to be having a sit down at this point!

Second this

Pick a couple of rooms and deep clean them, then if you get time do other rooms.
If you try to do the entire house you will probably find you do a normal clean rather than a deep clean. If allowing some breaks rather than continuous cleaning anyway.
Remember to move things out to clean under everything, wipe along all door frames, clean doors, plug sockets, tops of curtain rails etc.

I think I’d need to make sure that every room is tidy before your day off, so that you can actually clean. Otherwise your time will be spent tidying and sorting. Make sure there’s no mess, dishes, rubbish, laundry etc in any room by the evening before. Do jobs like cleaning windows and mirrors beforehand, as well as the skirting boards and doors.

On the actual day, I’d get up earlier than everyone else and put the washing on, then start with cleaning the fridge or oven if they need it (even better if you can do this on an evening beforehand). Catch up on ironing or recycling or getting ready for school. Wash any pets’ bedding and bowls etc.

Then when you’ve got the five hours to yourself, I’d open all the windows and go round with a bucket of soapy water with some dettol in, a Microfibres cloth to clean surfaces with and another to dry the surfaces with afterwards. Wipe mirrors and windows down with a dry cloth, change bedding and do the vacuuming/mopping. I take a carrier bag with me filled with cloths, wipes, bin liners etc so I don’t have to keep going downstairs for them and getting distracted.

Put rugs out for fresh air after vacuuming them. Wipe the stairs and banister with a damp cloth.

Put a podcast on as you go round and the five hours will fly - and get a take away so you can enjoy a clean kitchen that night!

Don't worry I have another day off where I will be doing a lovely walk and a cafe visit! I've been spending my days off doing DIY for far too long.

In 5 hours you could make a big difference! First thing I’d do is open windows, put a load of washing on, empty bins, sort dishwasher and then take it room by room. Bin bag carried round for anything needing rid of, strip all beds (more washing!), dust and hoover.
5 hours doesn’t allow time for deep cleaning really, but it’s certainly a decent amount of time to make some serious headway.

We have a cleaner for 4 hours a week for our 5 bed home, it’s enough time for everything to look lovely on a surface level but not deep cleaning - by which I mean things like skirting boards cleaning, furniture pulled away from walls and dusted/cleaned behind, woodwork washed, shutters cleaned, inside window frames done, that sort of thing. Those can be done at a later date!

Tidying the day before definitely a good idea! Things have descended into chaos the last few days while I've been pushing to get the hallway finished. Thanks for your post.

i'd lose at least two hours on tidying before i could get in to a proper deep clean. My kitchen would take a lot of time to deep clean as lots of cupboards and we do have a very dusty house and lots of skirting, dado rails etc so in five hours if i had a deep clean of kitchen/ diner, the hall and stairs and bathroom, i'd feel I'd achieved a lot. I'd probably skip cleaning appliances like fridge, oven etc as i often do these during a weekend evening while watching tv, and do vacuuming/ mopping throughout house.

Just want to reiterate what @Justkeepsplashing said. Cleaning and tidying are separate jobs! Cleaning becomes much easier once you understand this.

That sounds like a productive plan for your day off! If I had five hours to deep clean a four-bedroom house, I would prioritize the following tasks:

1. Bedrooms (1 hour)
2. Bathrooms (1 hour)
3. Kitchen (1 hour)
4. Living Areas (1 hour)
5. Hallways and Stairs (1 hour)* This plan should help make your home sparkle after the renovation!

Open windows
Bathrooms first (although presumably this has been recently, not sure why it would have stopped during a hallway renovation, you could get this out of the way before your day off)
Kitchen. Clean all surfaces and doors, insides of cupboards if you want.
Dust and polish the living areas
Go over the skirtings with a damp cloth.
Vacuum everywhere
Mop floors
Reed diffusers refilled/scented candles lit
Cup of tea.

Ah, just seen this thread is ancient!

After some serious DIY dust then I would prioritise wiping surfaces down with damp cloths, hoovering behind furniture, mopping, dusting the cobwebs on the ceilings, wiping down the skirting boards. I wouldn't be faffing about cleaning the fridge and the oven.