Every room gets cleaned top to bottom

Dust falls, so we start up high

A deep clean goes after the dirt that builds up slowly in places a normal visit does not reach. Think of the gray fuzz along the tops of door frames, or the cloudy film on shower glass. None of it shows up in a week. After a few months it is the first thing a guest notices, and a quick wipe only spreads it around.

So we work from the top of each room down. Fan blades and the vent covers on the ceiling come first, then the tops of door frames and upper cabinets. Next we wipe light switches and door handles, then the baseboards by hand. The floors are always last. That way, anything we knock loose up high lands on a spot we have not cleaned yet.

Skip that order and the house looks dusty again the next day. Mop first and dust the fan afterward, and a fine gray layer settles on the clean floor by evening. Wipe the counters before the tops of the upper cabinets, and the dust up there drifts right back down onto them. A deep clean done in the wrong order still takes the full time. It just does not stay clean.

• Ceiling fan blades and vent covers wiped
• Door frames and upper cabinet tops dusted
• Grease cut off kitchen cabinet doors
• Tub, tile and shower glass scrubbed
• Baseboards wiped by hand, floors done last

Kitchen grease needs more than a wipe

Cooking puts a fine mist of oil into the air, and it settles on every surface near the stove. On its own it is hard to see. Then dust lands in it and sticks, and over months it turns into a tacky brown layer. You find it on the range hood and on top of the refrigerator, and on any cabinet door close to the stove.

A wet rag on that layer just smears it around. We spray on a degreaser first and give it a few minutes to soften the film. Then we wipe it off with a clean cloth and rinse the surface. That way no leftover cleaner sits there to catch the next round of dust. Cabinet doors get extra time on the edges and around the handles, where hands leave the most oil.

When it is done right, the doors feel smooth under your hand, and the paint color is even again instead of darker around the handles. When it is done wrong, with a scrub pad or too much water, the finish goes dull or starts to peel at the edges. Painted cabinets scratch the easiest. We test the cleaner on a hidden spot before doing a whole wall of them.

Humidity and pollen make the buildup worse

Middle Tennessee summers are hot and sticky, and the damp air has nowhere to go in a small bathroom. After a shower, water sits in the grout lines and along the caulk at the edge of the tub. Soap film holds that moisture in place. That is where the black and pink spots start, usually in the corners and along the bottom row of tile.

We break down the soap film on the tile and glass first. Stains under it will not come out while the film is still there. Then we scrub the grout lines with a stiff brush. The corners and the caulk line get a mildew cleaner and time to sit before we scrub them. We finish by rinsing everything and drying the glass so it does not spot.

Spring brings a different mess. Nashville gets a heavy pollen season, and the yellow dust works its way in around doors and windows. It collects on window sills and in the tracks of sliding doors, where it mixes with moisture and turns into a gritty paste. We vacuum the tracks out before we wipe them, because a wet rag on dry pollen just makes mud.

Nashville homes collect dust in different places

A lot of houses around Nashville are brick ranches sitting on crawl spaces. Those homes usually have vents in the floor, since the ductwork runs underneath, and the vent covers catch grit and hair all year. In a humid summer the crawl space also pushes damp air up into the house, and closets on outside walls can get mildew spots. We lift the floor vent covers to clean them and the opening below, then wipe down the shelves and walls in those closets.

Older houses, like the bungalows in East Nashville and the big homes in Belle Meade, have far more wood trim than newer builds. Tall baseboards and crown molding both have a flat top edge where dust can sit for years. Old wood windows hold dirt in the tracks and on the inside sill. Hardwood floors in these homes can swell under a soaking wet mop, so we use a damp one and dry as we go.

In newer homes, the dust sits up higher. The tall, skinny houses going up all over Nashville have high ceilings and long staircases with railings to wipe. Bigger houses in Brentwood and Franklin often have a two story entryway with a light fixture far overhead. Those high spots get skipped on a regular clean because they are hard to reach. On a deep clean, they get done first, before anything below them.