graham real estate blog
Spring Cleaning Checklist 2023
Spring is the ideal time to get your hands dirty and embark on an all-out home-cleaning marathon. Rather than tackling everything all at once, try to spread out the workload over a 2-week period – after a long winter there’s much to do! Let’s get down to it and review our top spring-cleaning tasks for 2023.
Fire Safety
Before all else, we need to ensure our homes are safe. For this reason, we suggest starting with fire safety measures. Change all your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms if they’re more then 7-10 years old or are defective. Do you have a fire extinguisher? If not, run to your local home store and pick one up. You can easily store it in your kitchen, garage or closet.
Wash Your Windows
Give your windows a good wash, both interior and exterior. If you have condensation issues during the winter months, you may have noticed a build-up of mould on your window tracks. There are multiple products you can use to kill mould (e.g. Mold-X), but don’t use a bleach cleaner. Contrary to popular belief, bleach can spread mould spores further. If you find your sliding windows or doors are stiff, you can add some clear track lube.
Clean The Trim
From baseboards, and door/window frames, to crown moulding, wipe down these often-negated surfaces. Use a sponge or cloth with soapy water. Make sure to wipe them dry when you’re done.
Deep Clean Carpets
Unfortunately, vacuuming carpets is not enough to keep them clean. Every 2-3 years you should have carpets professionally cleaned. Alternatively, you can rent or buy a carpet cleaner, but it will take longer to complete the job.
Clean Under Furniture
We all dread moving around furniture only to find a hot mess of dust, pet hair, crumbs, and that forever-lost kid’s toy. It’s astonishing how dirty these areas can become, so pull up your sleeves and clean under all these items.
Clean Kitchen Appliances
When was the last time you conducted a deep clean of your fridge, stove, and microwave? Spring is the perfect time to tackle these jobs. Remove every item from your fridge and wipe down all surfaces. Clean your stove with the self-cleaning function or using cleaning products (follow the manufacturer’s instructions).
Refresh Your Paint
Touch up any walls around your home with a fresh coat of paint. This is also a great time to mix things up and change your colours. We recommend Benjamin Moore paint.
Get Organized
There’s no better time to up your organizational game. Take a hard look at your closets, pantries, kitchen drawers, and the like to find meaningful ways to properly organize these spaces. There are countless products out there to assist with home organization. Our favourite Canadian stores for these items are Amazon, Bouclair, HomeSense, Wayfair, Canadian Tire, Walmart, and the like.
General House Cleaning
Even though you’re consistently cleaning your house in a general sense, now is a good time to go the extra mile. Rather than a basic washing of your floors, get down and properly clean the grout. Don’t just wipe off your granite counters; make sure you also polish and seal them.
Exterior Power Wash
Once the weather improves enough to turn on your exterior water, get out there and power wash all primary walkways, doors, brick, patios etc. We don’t recommend power washing wood surfaces as this could damage the wood. For wood surfaces, such as a deck, you can use specialty products found at your local home store that are designed for the job.
Exterior: Prepare Your Tools
Make sure all your gardening and power-based tools are ready for the season. Change any oil, add appropriate lube (e.g. for air compressor tools), and wash any dirty tools.
Garage Door Lube
If your garage door is making a lot of noise while opening/closing it may need garage door lube. We use a silicon-based lube for ours, which is colourless and won’t leave black staining like standard WD-40.
Clean Gutters
There is a good chance your gutters are full of leaves if your house is surrounded by large trees. Grab your latter and clean them out. Remember, gutters play an important role in diverting water away from your foundation. If they’re not clean you could experience an increase in the water around your house which may result in water penetrating your foundation.
Prepare Outdoor Furniture
The feeling of unwrapping outdoor patio furniture is nothing short of a slice of happiness. This simple exercise is a reminder that we’re only a few weeks away from the warm sun beating down on us. Unwrap with pride and get your outdoor setup ready for the summer.
General Home Maintenance
There are many items within a home that need ongoing or periodic maintenance. Here’s a high-level list to consider:
- Check the roof for issues. Replace if needed.
- Check the attic for signs of rodents, mould, water leaks, and insulation issues.
- Hire an HVAC specialist to inspect and clean your furnace.
- Change furnace filter.
- Inspect pool equipment.
- Replace burnt lightbulbs.
- Check downspouts to ensure they’re connected properly.
- Check foundation walls for new/worsening cracks.
- Clean and reseal tile grout.
- Conduct an electrical safety audit.
- Repair/replace windows if required.
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