Older homes can have a beauty that newer homes do not, often standing out due to their ornate designed and authentic feeling materials. The wood and masonry are often incredibly solid, but over time, these materials can decay and wear down.
As older homes age, they create cleaning challenges that homeowners may have trouble dealing with. In order to preserve the original appeal of these homes and to keep them looking beautiful for as long as possible, homeowners need to know how to clean the rooms well. That means they would be using the right kinds of cleaning methods and materials and would be aware of the unique challenges facing them.
Ornate Designs Call for Detailed Cleaning
We love the look of older homes where significant thought and planning were put into the creation of even simple components. Decorative staircase rails, detailed designs in cupboard doors, and carefully etched designs on stone flooring make for a beautiful, artistic home. These intricate details, however, can caus e some problems for whoever cleans the home.
The grooves in the home’s building materials trap dirt and grime well. They can be tough to clean properly and may require the cleaners to slow down, take their time, and use precision cleaning instruments. Where a soft cloth could clean the average wall in a modern home, a toothbrush or other fine instrument may be required to clean the detailed wall in an older home.
Professional cleaners understand this, and Boston old house cleaners would know to use specific tools to clean inside grooves and other tough to reach places where dirt can hide away. If you are cleaning an older home with its ornate designs the same way you would clean a modern home, you may be leaving a lot of dirt behind.
Tough Love and Delicate Treatment
When cleaning older homes, the very durable surfaces and buildup of grime over long periods of time mean that tough cleaning practices will be necessary sometimes. You may need to scrub vigorously to get rid of stuck-on grime and to remove dirt that has made itself comfortable in the home. Those durable surfaces made with long-lasting materials can handle the rough treatment.
At the same time, you will need to be careful about delicate older materials that need special care. Not every surface in an older home will be tough and able to handle rigorous cleaning methods. Some of them will be brittle and start to fall apart, and you have to be careful in order to preserve them.
The expert cleaner can tell the difference between which surfaces are in need of tender care and which ones need a rough hand. Homeowners sometimes make the mistake of cleaning every surface in a similar way, which can result in some damage to older homes. If you want to preserve your home well and to ensure that repairs are kept to a minimum, then take time to educate yourself on which surfaces tend to deteriorate faster.
Pay close attention to evidence of decay, like cracks and depressions on the surface or sawdust or grains on the floor. If water or termites have damaged your home materials, then you need to be extra careful with how you clean so that you do not cause further damage.
Dust Harbors Abound in Older Homes
If you have ever cleaned an older home and then noticed that it felt dusty again a few days later, then you might be dealing with some dust harbors. There are parts of the home that can simply hold onto dust and release it periodically. These are areas of the home that are often slightly out of the way or that remain mostly unnoticed like vents, cubby holes, grates, baseboards, and high ledges.
These all tend to be part of the design in older homes, and they can retain dust for long periods if they are not cleaned well. The dust can hide just out of sight, so if you are only doing a surface level cleaning, then you will not notice. The dust will continue to hide and continue to bother you until it is completely removed.
Are you aware of the dust harbors in your home? Over time, homeowners will learn where dust is hiding in their home, but they need to be aware of those spots and deal with them thoroughly when cleaning. If they have professional cleaners come in and do the work for them, then they may want to point out some of those features about the house that have a tendency to retain dust.
Each home has its quirks, and especially older homes that have intricate design details, recessed shelves, and other little features that are useful or beautiful but also annoying to clean. Keep in mind that older homes need to be cleaned in a way that targets not just the easy to see dirt and dust.
Floors Need Extra Care
The most sensitive area of an older home will usually be the flooring. The floors are designed to take a lot of abuse, but if they are the original floors and the home is 50 years old or older, then those floors have already been abused tremendously.
The wax on wooden floors will come off over time, and other sealing and protective coatings will wear away as well. They may need to be replaced in order to preserve the flooring for years to come. If they have not been replaced yet, then you should take extra special care when cleaning floors. Ensure that they are treated with the right cleaning methods and cleaning solutions and that nothing harmful is sprayed or scrubbed onto them.
The unique qualities of older homes give them a charm and beauty that modern homes often have difficulty matching. However, these details make them a little more challenging to clean as well, and we hope this article sheds some light on a few of those challenges for those with older homes.
