House move of horrors - how to make it liveable

[misstiggiwinkle]

Completed on our property purchase yesterday only to arrive with our lorries to a vendor who had not even packed let alone moved out. Apparently she assumed she could move out casually over the weekend . Awful day of our movers literally moving her out onto the street so we could get in. She finally left at midnight and left behind pets, chickens and a car! Needless to say we just want it all gone and are assured she'll collect it today...we'll wait and see!

Interestingly the big name estate agent in charge of her sale said it was nothing to do with them and ignored our calls all day. Lawyers very much involved and police threatened but it didn't improve the fact that she just wasn't even packed.

Anyway, now we are in the property we can see the level of grime and filth is horrendous. I'm desperately scrubbing everything so we can start to unpack for our kids but it is utterly awful.

I need your best tips for getting this house habitable. We have decamped to my parents for the next few days as it's frankly a health hazard and my kids are young but we need to get this sorted asap. What will really help me? Think carpets are unsalvageable but how do I get 20 years of grease off the kitchen?!

I was in the same boat with the disgusting kitchen when we moved in. It was utterly filthy. We decided to decamp to my parents for a few weeks and ripped it out and put a new kitchen in. I appreciate that's quite extreme, but in your shoes I would get on to local cleaners and pay one to do a deep clean of your house asap.

Ick. I would decamp to the folks for a week or two and get a professional clean and new carpets fitted. Can’t see life being easy with young DC and no carpets. And it’s not fun changing them when all your stuff is in.

We had something similar when we moved in to our house. It took a lot longer than a few days because we discovered a massive leak in the water tank that sellers had taped up. Still makes me so angry especially as we left our house in a lovely clean state. You are right to camp at parents. Professional cleaners are a great idea. If not able to do this, just give yourself a day or two to chuck everything out and blitz it with a steam cleaner and strong detergent.

Get one of the rooms liveable for you and DH and possibly kids to use a base at the house. Think mattress, kettle, curtains or temp window coverings (we put bin bags over the windows) so you don’t have to keep traipsing back and forth from parents all day with kids. If parents are ok to watch the kids, you two can tackle the house. If not, take packed lunches and settle the kids in that room as a camp. When your carpets are pulled up, give the floor boards a good clean and mop then they may be liveable while u get new ones sourced and fitted.

Get some end of tenancy cleaners in. Join them and blitz everything to within an inch of its life.

All our stuff is in, piled floor to ceiling in a couple of the rooms so we can focus on everything else. My kids are with me unfortunately as parents are away but at least we can sleep at their house.

Now it's raining there are leaks appearing everywhere. I knew it was going to be bad when we bought it, long term project and all that but not this bad. Parts of it are very old so many horrors to find!

If only it weren't bank holiday weekend! I can't find anyone to clean with me.

Talk to me about steam cleaners. Basically what can I buy today to make this easier

Get the locks changed so she can't just let herself back in.
It sounds like she didn't want to move.

We have done a number of house renovations so seen a lot of houses in a bad state but this is something else! Think the vendors teenage son smoked weed in his bedroom, how do I get rid of the smell?

Op I have a vax steam moped. It does floors but can also be used as a handheld...... Ideal for getting in to nooks and crannies. Good luck with the rest of your weekend x

Re weed smell, ripping out all carpets/ window coverings. Scrub walls with sugarsoap solution. Paint as soon as you can.
I had to do that for tobacco smoke smell so hopefully that works.

Hire a rug doctor to clean carpets - Tesco, b&Q do these.

You can hire steam cleaners. Google for your area.

Open all windows and doors to let the fresh air in.

Keep all receipts for hire stuff and ask solicitors to bill vendor.

Can you afford a professional deep clean?

We moved onto a rented house years ago while we were house hunting and it was filthy. I sent DH out with the DC for a couple of days to keep them out of the way while I scrubbed every inch. Luckily it wasn't a large house.
We met the people who'd rented before us as they turned out to be our new neighbours a few weeks later - they said they were so horrified by the state of it they'd not stayed one night, just used it to store their furniture and decamped to his parents miles away.

She really was taking the Michael, wasn't she! Shs knew full well the deadline for leaving.

You need vats of Elbow Grease. Spray it on and walk away -. It makes the grime slide off in a few moments. Then wipe up.

You'll want lots of blue roll and a steam cleaner. Don't spend a lot, B&M will do.

I would ring round deep clean companies and see if any are available. It sounds too big a job for just you.

We had similar; house even had fleas and bed bugs 🤢. Kitchen pipes under the floor burst on day one, drains outside overflowed as the bitch had dumped all her rubbish down them, the kitchen floor took out the electrics. Fun! Nowhere else to stay either.

Take up the carpets, underlay, grippers etc, hire a van and take it to the tip/get a clearance company to take it. Hammer in the nails. Moving boxes flattened out and tape make a fine flooring while you decide what to do; it’s a waste to put down new carpet asap if you later change your mind.

Washing up liquid, hot water and a bucket plus copious elbow grease will sort out grimy walls and kitchen cupboards. You’ll probably find mouse poo 😭

Fresh air is a tonic. Keep the windows open, air air air the place. Clean the windows! Vinegar and newspaper. Cleaning windows and taking down the filthy rags we’d been left as curtains (even though the fixtures and fittings expressly said she wouldn’t do this) made everything improve. Also changing the “murder scene in a Victorian alley” lightbulbs for brighter wattage helped us see more dirt, but also made it cheerier.

When it’s roughly tolerable, make one room really habitable and nice and camp out there while slogging through the rest: sitting room/playroom is good. Make kids share a room while improving their own room one at a time.

If there’s wallpaper, steam it off and that also helps clear any smell as it harbours old smoke and filth.

Seconding elbow grease spray, it's only about £1 a bottle. Miraculous stuff and smells nice too.

If there were pets do be alert for fleas etc. We had this is in a dirty doer upper and flea bites were the cherry on top 😫

Good luck, I hope this is all a dim distant memory soon as you turn it into your family home.

Use sugar soap for dirty walls.

If you can afford it I would focus this weekend on getting stuff out (carpets/ curtains/ crap/ old furniture etc). If there’s anything else of hers stick it in the garden under a tarpaulin. Then see if you can clean the kitchen and bathrooms and windows, assuming you are keeping them, and whack a coat of paint on a couple of the rooms. See if you can get into a cheap carpet place and get some new carpets or those stick on tiles. Next week get a cleaner in to finish off and get the carpets fitted (or large rugs in the interim) and get a couple of rooms nice so you can sleep there and have a cup of tea!

The cannabis room will need everything taking out, carpet, curtains etc and deep cleaning/ repainting. If the smell doesn’t go you may even need to replace the floorboards and replaster but have a go without doing this first.

Third the sugar soap suggestion. And rubber gloves and a bucket. Sugar soap is an excellent degreaser and cheap and any diy store will have it

Dishwasher tablet dipped in warm water and used like a scrubber is miraculous on kitchen grease!

This was me when I moved but at least she was actually moving but just took a long time. Also I was aware from viewings that it wasnt very clean so had already planned not to move in for two weeks. First thing what made it better was the carpets being ripped out on the first day. It made a huge difference to the smell. Also the room with weed smell definitely needs the carpets up and painted. This was the only way we got rid of the smell. We cleaned and painted ourselves but if time is not on your side then definitely get a professional. They aren’t always the best but if you pay for 3 hours and you’re there too with them, then it will make sure they’re not skiving.

Thank you all for your suggestions. Carpet in son's room being ripped out as we speak!

Garden kneeling pad is good for if you're on your hand and knees scrubbing.

Could ask friends if any have a steam cleaner. Remember steam cleaners will ruin gloss as it melts it but if the house is that bad it might not matter - you can always heat gun it off later when you redecorate.

Microfibre clothes are really helpful for adding a good chunk of friction and therefore helping dirt come off.

You can bulk buy "magic eraser" sponges on eBay much cheaper than they are in the shops and they really help.

Get the washing machine plumbed in asap so you can buy a load of cleaning cloths and just chuck them in the wash at the end of every day rather than constantly trying to rinse them out every 10 minutes.

Unless you go for a new build house or apartment... good luck.
I heard there are problems with new builds though, so it feels a bit hopeless.
You will get there.
I don't understand twenty years worth of grime in the kitchen 🤢😳

and that's why you don't complete on a Friday of a bank holiday weekend - lessons learned
Sorry that is not a helpful comment - but after 3 house moves in 10 years I feel your pain
It may not feel like it now, but once everything is cleaned and decorated in the way you want then this house will start to feel like a home again

This degreaser is an absolute miracle, and it worked for us on decades of nicotine staining too, so may work to get the weed smell off the walls and ceiling.

https://www.zinsseruk.com/product/universal-degreaser-cleaner/