Deep Cleaning Your Home Post Renovation

What you should know after you have completed your home renovation project

What is Post Renovation Cleaning?

Renovations to your home can be a very exciting time. The facelift that a renovation can provide your home can make your space feel like brand new. The process of renovations can bring a lot of temporary chaos to your home. Post renovation, you may find dirt, debris, construction dust, painters tape, caulking, and paint splatter, just to touch on some of the potential trailings that will be left behind. In order to make your home a livable space after any renovation changes, is to do a thorough cleaning of the space.

Post Renovation Cleaning versus Residential Cleaning

Although the goal of companies that market their services as post renovation clean up or residential clean up may be the same, the process and work that needs to be done is very different.

With residential cleaning, the general work that needs to be done includes sanitation of your home, vacuuming of carpet and upholstery, a deep clean of high traffic areas – which tend to be your kitchen and bathroom, and some final touches such as decluttering or tidying of a space. Different residential cleaning companies will have their own touch to their service to differentiate from competitors. Some may go the extra mile and pay attention to your blinds, to folding your hand towels in a certain way.

Post renovation cleaning services have teams of cleaners who pay extra attention to details specific to renovation situations. They also have special equipment to take care of construction grade dust. Often times metal scraps, metal dust, wood dust, dry wall dust, and the like cannot be handled by standard cleaning supplies and machines. Residential cleaners may also not agree to doing a job that require them to handle cleaning and tidying that is outside the realm of their job. In renovations, there may be painters tape left behind, caulking bits and pieces that are stuck to surfaces, flecks of paint splatter, grease spots from the use of lubricant for piping, and other details that only a post renovation cleaning service will agree to cleaning.

Post renovation cleaners will have the know how to remove health harming dust particulates for your health and safety at home. They will also be equipped with standardized personal protective equipment that general residential cleaners may not have access to.

Deep Cleaning Post Renovation For Your Health and Safety

Take for example finer dust particles like silica dust. If you have recently remodelled your home and upgraded your floors to a natural stone flooring, chances are, there will be silica dust left behind. This is in part, because a lot of stone flooring, such as brick, stone tiles, quartz, and any filler materials like gravel, clay, grout, cement, drywall, and the like contain silica.

Post renovation cleaning experts carry industry knowledge when it comes to understanding the health and safety standards set by regulators. In the instance of silica dust, if not disposed of properly, it can become a major health hazard. Silica dust that gets into your lungs can lead to scarring of lung tissue, and in long exposure cases lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Although, silica dust will not cause these risks if left undisturbed, but once airborne, it will become a hazard.

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, construction and renovation sites will have silica dust in three states:

New silica dust which has been made through cutting, drilling, or grinding
Silica dust build-up which is blanketed dust piles that have built up over time
Airborne silica dust which is dust that have been agitated and is released through the airborne

Residential grade vacuum cleaners are not designed to handle finer dust particles. They may not have a HEPA grade filter, and the dust particles may damage the machine. Additionally, vacuuming can often kick up dust as much as it sucks up dust and debris. As such, there are industry graded cleaning machines that are designed to remove construction dust the correct way.

What Can You Expect When You Hire A Post Renovation Cleaning Service

Depending on the amount of renovation done to your home, the type of work that will be done will differ. Generally speaking, dust and debris removal will be the top priority. Areas that will have attention given to will be floors, baseboards, light fixtures, outlets, carpets, rugs, and air ducts.

In addition to dust cleaning, cleaners will look for smaller details such as messes left by caulking, painting, or installation of pipe and plumbing fixtures. If there are plastic tarps left behind to protect your home’s surfaces during renovation, they will be removed. Stickers on new appliances and protective coverings that they come with should also be removed by the cleaning service.

Some post renovation cleaning services may ask if you want an additional service of getting your air ducts cleaned. In general, getting your air ducts cleaned is not necessary. However, in the instance of post renovation or moving into a home that has been lived in for a very long time by previous tenants, getting your air ducts cleaned out by professionals is highly recommend.

Post Renovation Tools To Get The Job Done

If only a portion of your home has been renovated, professional cleaners will seal that portion of your home off, so when cleaning begins, dust, debris, and other renovation particulates left behind will not be spread and contaminate other areas of your home.

Cleaners will often cordon off major throughways with heavy duty tarp, so that when particulates are agitated, they will stay in the renovation area.

Expect to also have your floors protected with drop mats, construction paper, or other higher grade protective coverings so that your floors will be protected from being scratched.

Air ventilation in your home is another variable that should be considered. Major renovation projects often happen during warmer weather so that windows can remain open while the work needs to be done. Even with HEPA grade vacuum cleaners, dust and particulates will invariably be kicked up. If measures are not taken to promote airflow from the inside of your home to outside, the process of dust removal will not be as efficient. Some cleaning services will come into your home equipped with HEPA grade air purifiers to aid with the dust removal process.

Hiring a Professional Cleaner

If you are currently looking for a professional cleaner that has an expertise in post renovation cleaning, looking for a company that is bonded and insured. A company that is bonded and insured have measures set in place in case their employees damage or steal from your property. This protects both the company and you, the client.

General cleaning jobs for residences will not pose a very high risk, but when it comes to post renovation, there are more health risks involved. It’s important that companies you support have the foresight and care to treat their employees properly. Ask if the companies provide their cleaners with the right PPE’s. Make sure the company also covers their employees under WSIB. In the case that a cleaner hurts themselves on the job, it’s good to know that they will continue receiving some form of compensation while they are rehabilitating their injury.

Hiring a post renovation cleaning service is beneficial in many ways. Our Toronto professional deep cleaning service has your needs covered.