After facing every deep cleaning challenge known to man in our fixer upper (this is only a slight exaggeration, or at least that’s how I felt at the end of every day), the list of tools for a proper cleaning arsenal became clear. Here’s the list.
A note: For everyday cleaning I try to use a lot of green-cleaning formulas. White vinegar is a favorite. However, if you are tackling a gross job (like our 12-years-abandoned house), stay safe and go for maximum disinfecting.
Must haves (starting with the obvious):
- 409: I had no idea how versatile 409 was until I started using it. Not only does it disinfect and degrease, it also removes stains from Shoji screens. A deep cleaning must.
- Comet or Ajax: Remove stubborn stains from porcelain or enameled tubs and sinks. Cheap and ridiculously effective.
- Howard’s Feed-n-Wax: Oh my god. My favorite cleaning tool hands down. Restores shine to wood, hides minor blemishes, restores wicker. Wood we thought would need to be refinished really just needed some Feed-n-Wax.
These railings can thank 409, toothbrushes and Howard’s Feed-n-Wax for their new shine - Brasso: Strange nasty strip of metal? In our house, this turned out to be copper edging around all of our kitchen cabinets! Dingy door handles? A little Brasso revealed beautiful brass handles. Thanks Brasso!
Brasso brought these door handles back to life! - Leather Conditioner: Dry leather comes to life with a bit of leather conditioner. I’ve used Weiman’s, but can’t say I have one must-buy brand.
- Mini Shop Vac: My Eureka Mighty Mite is hands down the best vacuum cleaner for major deep cleaning jobs. It sucks up pretty much anything. Think of it like a mini shop vac. You might like your Dyson for carpets, but no one is taking my Mighty Mite.
- Broom and Dustpan: Enough said. For everyday I love the set from Casabella (they also sell this set at the Container Store and I have seen them in TJMaxx for around $12) because it is small and stores easily. It’s also high quality and is still going strong after two years. If you have a really gross deep cleaning job, I recommend buying cheap and throwing away after the worst is over. I hate waste but I also don’t want to get things dirty all over again. When you get to everyday cleaning, the Casabella set is the best.
- Tons of rags (both microfiber, regular, and t-shirt): Use the microfiber for dusting and feed-n-wax, the regular for cleaning, and t-shirt for windows, Brasso, and Old English or Restore-A-Finish. At least here you can still clean green by washing used dirty rags on hot with bleach.
- Sizeable Bucket: My favorite is a commercial version from Ettore. I’ve had it even before our huge house project and it has never let me down. Front porch washing? Then you need this bucket.
- Ettore Pole and Attachments: Another never-lets-me-down. Extends ridiculously long for loft ceilings and second story windows. As for attachments, buy the squeegee for windows, the cobweb grabber, and a duster. So good that our house came with an additional set of very old Ettore attachments that work like new.
- Toothbrushes: Purchase from the Dollar Store for savings. These work for deep cleaning in all sorts of nooks and crannies. I soak mine in a little bleach after cleaning so they are fresh for the next use.
- Bleach: Run into any rodent droppings? Disinfect by spraying with bleach and waiting for at least 30 minutes after spraying before removing. Then remove with mask, gloves and a heavy trash bag to stay safe. I throw away anything I used in removing rat poo to stay on the safe side if you are deep cleaning an abandoned or fixer house.
- Gloves: Buy them in bulk for large deep cleaning jobs and don’t buy too fancy. They will break with heavy scrubbing and need to be tossed after any gross deep cleaning jobs. Your cheapest options here are either a club store like Costco (I think I bought a pack of 10 pair) or the Dollar Store ($1 a pair).
- Paint Scraper/Putty Knife: This little guy helps remove gunk, goo, and grime. If you are removing something from wood or a fragile surface, go super easy so as not to damage. I have two types in my cleaning kit – one metal for tough jobs and a plastic one for delicate jobs.
- Dust Mask: Save yourself from allergies by buying a few good quality dust masks. The pack of five in the link is a good buy. No deep cleaning should be tackled without them
Nice-to-haves (Add these to the must-have list if you have a fixer upper house)
- Steam Cleaner: This little vacuum like cleaner was much faster at removing stains from Shoji screens (than 409 which worked but involved a lot of scrubbing), removes water stains from wood (water removing water stains? I still don’t get it but it works), gets off duct tape that has been there for years, removes annoying stickers, and works great on rock walls. We have 6 giant rock walls in our house. I will post on how to clean those later in case you have a similar weird feature. All steam cleaners are not created equal (I had another that was very ho-hum). I recommend this one from Wagner – it gives you at least 45 minutes of steam cleaning power per fill.
Steam cleaning removed these stains from our 55 year old shoji screens. 409 works well too. - Air Compressor: How I love my air-compressor! This little guy blasts dust out of places even a toothbrush can’t go. It’s a deep cleaning monster. See my video on Instagram about dusting these slatted areas in the house. Kind of shocking! I think there were 50 years of dust in those things. In the future, I will also post about ways you can hack your air compressor in the future for other fun projects!
- Goggles: If you use an Air Compressor, goggles are a must. I couldn’t find what I thought was a good deal to link to on Amazon, but any hardware store should carry these in their safety section.
- Bird and Spider Stain Remover: White dots in the corners of your hard woods? That’s spider poop. And it is super freaking sticky. See photo:
Spider poop is white and sticky and tends to lurk in corners of rooms. Trying to clean this stuff with 409 or soap and water takes ridiculous amounts of scrubbing. That said, this remover is expensive, especially if you have a lot of spider poo to tackle in your deep cleaning. So a steam cleaner will quickly pay for itself and remove the spider poo quickly and effectively too. That said, one bottle of the Bird and Spider Stain Remover is good to have on hand for quick touch ups or stubborn spots.
If you are interested, see my post on Cleaning an Abandoned House for a little overview of deep cleaning a fixer upper.
Disclaimer: This post does contain affiliate links, but I only put them where I felt you also could get a good deal and also as a reference to what I’m talking about. I really do try to be here to help!