Tips For Making Your Rental Home Spotless Before Moving In
Getting a new space for living is exciting. You get to breathe the air of a new environment, meet new people, and find new opportunities. Looking for a rental home is not easy, and you are very lucky if you have found one.
A tricky thing with rental homes is that they come with things that you might have overlooked. A common scenario that owners experience upon moving is that they get surprised at how messy the rental home is.
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Discovering that your rental home hides dirt upon moving is not funny. It destroys your hopes for a simple yet comfortable living space.
So how do you avert this situation? To answer, knowing some home cleaning tips before you move into a rental home will be handy. Do not worry because I will not be talking about which rooms you should clean as this is a boring topic.
Instead, our discussion will be a collection of different tips for cleaning the most important parts of your rental home for better living.
Tips To Making A Dusty Floor Shiny
The floor is an area that you see first upon entering your rental home. A clean and shiny floor gives an inviting vibe that incites you to come in and embrace something new. In contrast, a dirty and dusty floor is violating. It tells you to stay out and makes you think that moving in might be a mistake.
So what are the things that you need to do to make your rental home’s dusty floor shiny? The tips below might help you achieve this.
Identify What Kind of Flooring Your Rental Home Has
Before you get to cleaning, you should first identify what kind of flooring your rental home uses. Hardwood, tile, and vinyl, these are common floorings for rental homes nowadays.
Identifying the type of flooring is important because it tells you how you should clean and what are cleaning mistakes that you should avoid.
Identifying the type of flooring also allows you to assess how much cleaning is needed.
For example, hardwood flooring is trickier to clean than vinyl or tile. Dust and dark blotches stick hard on its surface. Based on experience, hardwood flooring cannot be cleaned by simply mopping. You might have to use chemicals to make it spotless.
So how can you tell if the flooring of your rental home is hardwood, vinyl, or tile? Dropping a coin is a simple way to do this. When dropped, a coin does not bounce on vinyl and hardwood flooring. On the other hand, it bounces on tile flooring.
Pick The Right Things for Cleaning
After identifying the type of your rental home’s flooring, get cleaning essentials that give the best results.
For hardwood flooring, the best cleaning equipment is a moist microfiber mop because it is a bit magnetized, This unique function allows a microfiber mop to “pull” the dust and dirt that are sticking on the surface of the hardwood floor panels.
Vinyl flooring is best cleaned using a mop and warm water with apple cider. Warm water provides shine for the vinyl flooring and the apple cider acts as a first softener. The mop is for applying this mix evenly on the vinyl flooring’s surface and collects the softened dust.
For tile flooring; cold water, soap, detergent, and mop will do. Be careful not to use a mop that uses a hard cleaning pad because it might scratch the surface of your rental home’s tile flooring and damage the crevices.
Side Note
These tips also apply for cleaning your rental home’s walls. Common types of walls for rental homes are hardwood, concrete, and plywood. For hardwood and plywood, wiping them clean with a wet microfiber cloth will work.
Also, you might have to apply a fresh coat of hard wax oil and water-based polyethylene.
For concrete walls, brushing or repainting may work.
Dry Through Wiping
Mop your rental home’s flooring with a dry mop after it has been cleared of dust and dirt. Doing this allows your flooring to shine easier and will prevent dust particles that are suspended in the air from sticking.
Tips for Cleaning the Windows of Your Rental Home
When you are done cleaning the flooring, the windows should be cleaned next. With clean windows, the interior of your rental home will look brighter. It might even make your rental home feel airier even if it is not very spacious.
Follow these tips to make your rental home’s windows sparkle with delight.
Brush First, Wipe Later!
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Wiping the windows without brushing is a great mistake because the cloth gets filled dust. As a result, you will be washing it from time to time to get the dust off. This is why brushing first before wiping is a good practice. It thins the dust on the windows and allows for faster cleaning.
Long haired brushes are recommended for cleaning windows. These brushes can pick off the specks of dust that are hiding on the edges and gaps of the window frames. Aside from this, they remove dust particles with minimal strokes of your hand.
Use A Glass Cleaner or A Mixture of Baking Soda, Vinegar and Warm Water
Do not commit the pitfall of using water alone to remove black spots on your rental home’s windows. Water does not have much of an effect and may even do more harm than good.
For cleaning the windows, it is better to use a glass cleaner or a mixture of baking soda, vinegar, and warm water. Using these liquids will preserve the color of the window frames and provides better shine for the window panes.
Wipe the Window Panes In A Circular Motion
Wiping in a circular motion is better than doing so perpendicularly. Perpendicular wiping is not very effective for cleaning the window panes because it spreads dust all over their surface. Also, the wiping cloth does not pick the specks of dust effectively when wiping this way.
Your hands should follow a circular motion when wiping windows. This gives better results because it helps the wiping cloth pick the specks of dust with greater efficacy. Also, this method of wiping allows the panels to dry quickly.
Tips for Cleaning Your Rental Home’s Lighting
A rental home with clean lighting provides greater visibility at night. On their first day at their rental homes, some owners complain that their lighting is dim and needs replacement.
As a result, they urge their landlords to fix the lighting. Little did they know that this is a waste of energy and the problem can be fixed with cleaning.
I will give you tips for cleaning your rental home’s lighting. This is the last topic of our discussion. Here, I will not only teach you how to clean your rental home’s lighting but how to keep yourself safe while doing it.
Wear Rubber Gloves and Turn The Circuit Off
The lighting of your rental home might electrocute you if you are not careful. The shock may not be fatal but it may have enough power to knock you off the ladder or chair.
In connection, the resulting shock from the fall might lead to injuries such as a broken hip, arm, or feet. Worst, the fall might cause you to hit your head on the floor and lose consciousness.
You should wear rubber gloves and turn the circuit off before cleaning the lighting. Doing these will ensure your safety and will prevent you from electrocution.
Remove the Bulbs
For a thorough clean, remove the bulbs and clean them on the floor. Cleaning them while they are suspended in your rental home’s ceiling is stupid because cleaning their edges will be hard.
Also, cleaning them from up above takes a lot of work. As a result, you might get disoriented and suffer from an accident.
Removal of the bulbs will help a lot. The bulbs may be cleaned with comfort, efficiency, and efficacy if you choose to follow this tip.
Never Clean The Bulbs With Wet Cloth
Never clean the bulbs with a wet cloth. Do not transgress this tip as much as possible. Wetting may damage the bulbs and they may not light up when installed back into their respective sockets. However, if wetting is needed. Be sure to dry the bulbs before putting them back in.
Conclusion
The lighting, flooring, and windows are parts of a rental home that are hard to clean. Follow the tips that I presented and you will be cleaning your rental home without a hassle.
However, if you are not into cleaning, there is a great option that you can do. House cleaning companies are readily available online and purchasing their services is a good idea.
With house cleaning companies, cleaning your rental home before moving in will be a breeze. The best part of this is that you do not have to break a single sweat. Discuss this with a house cleaning company like eMaids of Brevard County and let them do the work!
