Help - how to clean a dirty neglected house?

rosered1963

Hi there and hope it's ok to ask you this here.

I am a domestic cleaner. The lady I work for has put other work my way recently - now its the home of an old man that has been in hospital and is coming home. The house is damp and absolutely filthy. I don't know where to start and am a bit daunted. There is mould all over the walls and windows - you can smell it. Also cobwebs everywhere and insects. I just don't think my cloths and cleaning things will cope - do I need a flamethrower?! The bathroom is mould everywhere (black dots all over walls and window frames) and awful limescale in the toilet and around the bottom of the taps.

I live in an old unheated house myself, but keep on top of these problems as best I can, but this is something else.

I am no cleaning expert at this sort of level and would really appreciate some help on how to tackle this and in what order to do things. I have said I will do it for the man as he is alone in the world and has no money. My boss will pay me something to do it for him.

Thanks so much for reading.

PasturesNew

You need to watch some re-runs of the "how clean is your house" programmes. They give some great tips. They mostly use combinations of bicarb of soda, lemonade, vinegar and lemon juice.

Today they did some old wooden furniture too, using instant coffee. Also tackled a filthy cruddy brown stained toilet using lemonade ...

The sort of places they clean are just like you described. Apart from their tips etc, they do actually use hand-held steamers and larger steamers too ... and use a team of people to crack through it all in double quick time.

foreign_correspondent

We cleaned my grans house whilst she was in hospital - it was not as bad as this, it was tidy, but a lot of grot had built up, as she does not like accepting our help, and she cant see it very well herself.

It is hard to advise without knowing more, but it sounds like a mammoth task to get through on your own - there were two of us and it took days... do you have a friend you could rope in to help, or would the lady you clean for pitch in?

Is it messy and untidy or just dirty?

Do you need to do the whole house, or would it make sense to focus on kitchen, bathroom and living room?

Personally, I would stock up on some cheapo microfibre cloths and scourers that you can chuck after, bin bags, rubber gloves, some stardrops, bleach, a chepo loo brush and something like viakil toilet cleaner to get rid of the limescale.

I would start with getting rid of any obvious rubbish, emptying bins and taking off any bedding etc that you can wash, get some windows open, then give everywhere a good dust and hoovering to get rid of the loose stuff, then go onto wiping the hard surfaces down with something anti fungal/bacterial or just bleach in hot water. Cleaning windows and light fittings can make places seem a lot brighter. I found that Stardrops cannot be underestimated for cutting through built up grease and grime.

If the carpets are bad, I suppose you could shampoo them if you could borrow a machine but it risks introducing more damp into the house, which may be problematic if it is unheated.

Just a thought, has anyone looked into warm front grants etc for this old man? He may be eligable for some help improving his heating and insulation - we got my gran's cavity walls done whilst she was in hospital - she would not have let us otherwise! The hospital social work department should be able to advise - but may need asking to do so.

You sound very kind!

jenniewb

I'd get some help! Rope some others in with you:

When I was reshoused by the council (post 3 years in a homeless hostel) I was given a place that looked suspiciously like the person before me had died. There were black patches on the wall. The day I accepted, it looked like it had been gutted- no carpet, (concrete uneven floor) nothing but wall paper and black armchair shapes along the walls. I think the guy smoked his way to death. When I arrived to start painting, flies were appearing out of every corner- I opened the window, they were in the window pane! I opened doors, they were hiding behind them! Its not nice when creapy-crawlies scare the **** out of you!

It took me about 2 weeks of constant cleaning. The only way I could do that was to not have anything in the flat whilst I did each wall at a time. Sugar soap, then disinfectant. Twice. Removed some of the grime but not all. I then needed to repaint. It was the only way to get rid of the black smokeed arm chair shapes.

For the flies, I had no money for exterminators, I just had to leave the winows open and cover them with fly killer. Did this daily for the two weeks I could before I moved in. Still today 5 years later I get these flies- ugly bluebottles but on the skinny side (though not as badly as before) I have a feeling they live with the wasps in the ceiling beyong the light fittings. (If anyone knows how to get rid of them, please share!!)

I think that yes, it did take some elbow grease and time to clean, but I would look into inductrial products especially when dealing with damp and mould like I had too. Its all well cleaning it up but if you don't stop the problem at its root, it will just come back. Also, just because you cannot see it, doesn't mean there are not mould spores flying around- hence illness of the old man maybe? It could also cause you to become ill too so be careful, especially if cleaning is your livelihood.

Get some help from whomever ownes the building (ie the council) if its the old man that owns the place, then persuade him it needs industrial cleaning for the problems like mould, the council can still help, but either way it will cost him money. If he doesn't get it dealt with, he will very easily become very unwell, especially if he is already weak after leaving hospital. Do the hospital and social services know about his home? Maybe they could offer some help/advice.

If you want the job, its yours to take, you could even be like a mini-mamager and arrange all the cleaning from a back seat! Help out with what you can. But it is OK to say no, its not taking the easy way out, this house sounds like it needs more then a cleaner!

culpepper

I would wear a boilersuit type overall for cleaning that place and something to cover my head plus a face mask like you can get for spray painting.
The way I would manage would be to sweep and hoover from the top down wherever possible. So ceilings first(wear eye protection) then walls.Cover the broom with rags tied on for any awkward high up messes. Youll never get mould or cigarette stains off wallpaper, that is a decorators job really. The best you can do is remove surface debris and clean it from non porous surfaces.
The windows are easily tackled by squeegee and soapy water and some old towels to clean the squeegee between .
The mould is most likely where he has kept all the windows and doors closed in an effort to stay warm and is too infirm to tackle it even if he can see it.
You could bin anything obviously rubbish and put anything dubious in boxes or bin bags for the owner to decide what to do with.
You cant do much more than launder loose covers and hoover upholstery.Polish off dust and clear the floor of debris.
IF it is really a gargantuan task, consider that the owner may be trying to avoid paying environmental health to tackle it and is looking for a cheaper route.
How clean is your house may be just two ladies and some lemon juice but they have a large team of people who come in at the start and do the majority of the work including steam cleaning and a skip removes the rubbish.
We did my late FIL's house a few years back, it took 9 or 10 family members popping in for whole weekends and still needed repainting. The worst things were the cooker,the toilet and the cat spray pong.

Mrs_Thrify

Gosh Rose, it sounds like you have taken on a big job cleaning that house.
Lots of very good advice has been given too! I thing kitchen and bathrooms first, one room at a time.

Zazen999

I hope you are getting paid well.

Good luck chuck.

b4be

if there is black mould do not use bleach on it, dampen it with a spray bottle of water first so spores dont get distrubed and spread , always cover your mouth when dealing with wall and ceiling mould ,you can get those papery mouth covers at any diy store , had the problem myself and did a bit or research , hope it helps.......good luck

meg72

OP you are very kind to even consider tackling this. Personally I would not touch it.

When my 87 year old Father was coming out of hospital recently. The hospital
explained to my Mother that they had a Duty of Care to visit and ensure that
he had everything he needed equipment wise and that she had every help and
support that she needed to cope. They were really great.

I think for the old mans sake a Social worker should see the house, before
cleaning, and assess his needs. Cleaning wont cure the damp and it wont be
long before its in the same state again. It maybe that he needs to be rehoused.

If you contact Age Concern they will be able to advise you.

rosered1963

Thanks so much to everyone for your excellent advice - so helpful - with what to use and the mould and insects problem, where to start and what to use. I am so grateful.

The old man has lived in the houe all his life and owns it. he won't hear of Social Services as he fears they will take over his life (I have come across this problem before). I will look into a grant for him for his heating and insulation - thanks for that. Also, you have made me think he will be entitled to Pension Credit because his only income is £60 a week. Poor old bloke. I Will do my best to make the houe safe and clean for him, but listening to what you said, I agree that no amount of cleaning will stop the problem coming back, as he has no heating. I am going to ring Age Concern now as well, so thank you, as apparently they have volunteers who visit people if they want the company and advice. My Dad is old with cancer and the lady I clean for is terminally ill, so I have my hands full at the moment so can't take this old chap under my wing, much as I would love to.

Thanks to everyone - you have made me feel much better about it all.

greenbee

jenniewb wrote: »

For the flies, I had no money for exterminators, I just had to leave the winows open and cover them with fly killer. Did this daily for the two weeks I could before I moved in. Still today 5 years later I get these flies- ugly bluebottles but on the skinny side (though not as badly as before) I have a feeling they live with the wasps in the ceiling beyong the light fittings. (If anyone knows how to get rid of them, please share!!)

Meths... these sound like cluster flies. They return to the same place every year, quite often window frames, and find their way there by smell. If you clean the windows and frames with meths every few months (ALL of them, as otherwise they just move round), it gets rid of the smell and they go elsewhere.