cleaning new (but very dirty) house

[katie9143]

so we just made an offer on a very large and very dirty house. typically around our apartment i clean with vinegar and water, thats it. sometimes a little tjs dish soap on the floors. im a little worried about getting rid of other ppls germs and dirt though in this new house. my dd is 13 months old and touches and licks everything so i want to feel comfortable after i clean to let her do her thing! what would you all use? are there good things that i can buy at wholefoods or order online? if i could find just one really good multi purpose thing that i could use in a bucket and also put in a spray bottle that would kill germs and nasties and be ok for her to be all over i would be so happy

tia!

[sunnysandiegan]

I don't know if this is an option for you, but when we moved into our house it was a FILTHY disaster (bachelor living in a fixer-upper with 3 large dogs) and I hired a housecleaner to do the job before we moved in. She already had the supplies that were necessary for this type of job. I didn't want to buy those supplies for a one-time use nor have them around nor throw them away. Hiring a housecleaner to clean an empty house was interesting. LOL You wouldn't believe how long it took her and her helper, though!

Anyway, after we moved in, I was able to start with a "clean slate" and use the products I prefer (baking soda and 50/50 vinegar/water) on a basically clean house. DH left the windows open to air out the house after the housecleaners left and we had other work done before we moved in (new door, new flooring in bathrooms, new carpet, etc). We had less than a week, but it worked out great.

Best wishes!

[clothdipemomof2boy]

If you want to hire a house cleaner but dont want to use the harsh cleaners that they use sometimes if you look around they have green house cleaners. They do a deeper clean and they do it with less harsh chemicals. I have heard of friends of mine use it but i myself have never used it. I would assume that they are a little more expensive then most but i dont know.

[pixiepunk]

i really like Citrasolv - the concentrated stuff that you dilute with varying amounts of water depending on what you need to clean. it's all natural, it smells *wonderful* and is actually one of the most effective cleaners i've ever used - more effective than a lot of chemical stuff. and for adding an extra level of disinfecting, you could add grapefruit seed extract to all your cleaning solutions. i've read that it was actually better at disinfecting than bleach. here's a decent link with info about GSE:

http://www.fungusfocus.com/html/grap...tract_info.htm

[Lovenest]

I think if you can hire someone to do it for you.
We own a "green" housecleaning business. We use all bio-kleen products. It does take us longer but as we all know its worth it for all natural products.
Expect to pay around $150 or more. You did not say how big your house was but that is my guess as you said big and very dirty.

[katie9143]

well its over 2700 sq ft - and there is no way i will be able to get my husband to pay someone to do it. thanks for the info on gse - i think i have some of that in my collection. and i will definitely look for the citrisolv and biockleen.

thanks for the recs

[bluebird68]

hey! We are in a similar boat, although a much smaller one, lol! I just bought the new Clorox Green products, and they work great! I have not yet tried the toilet cleaner on the new house (abandonded for 2 years after foreclosure), but it did wonders on our current toilets, which had really hard deposits. I actually squirted it all over a sink that had terrible stains that the previous owners also could not get off, and it again did wonders. The new Clorox products are cheap, too-- not more than $2.50 or so per product. Not bad for pre-made and green, too! Good luck... I'll send some cleaning vibes your way! Michelle

[katie9143]

Originally Posted by bluebird68

hey! We are in a similar boat, although a much smaller one, lol! I just bought the new Clorox Green products, and they work great! I have not yet tried the toilet cleaner on the new house (abandonded for 2 years after foreclosure), but it did wonders on our current toilets, which had really hard deposits. I actually squirted it all over a sink that had terrible stains that the previous owners also could not get off, and it again did wonders. The new Clorox products are cheap, too-- not more than $2.50 or so per product. Not bad for pre-made and green, too! Good luck... I'll send some cleaning vibes your way! Michelle

i actually saw them at bjs the other day and wondered what ppl thought of them....wonder just how safe they are since they are made by clorox. maybe im too much of a skeptic!

[sunnysandiegan]

Originally Posted by katie9143

i actually saw them at bjs the other day and wondered what ppl thought of them....wonder just how safe they are since they are made by clorox. maybe im too much of a skeptic!

I saw a commercial for these products and I thought the exact same thing...

I'd want to see the ingredients myself and SMELL the products.

[mgilleran@earth-co]

We built a new home this past year. So I can totally relate. There was more sawdust than you would believe. My problem with hiring someone *(besides the fact that they charge over $1000) is that they would use nasty chemicals that I wouldn't want my LO crawling on if I were you. I cleaned up using my homemade stuff. A shop vac will do wonders. Once all the dust is gone, it will look so much better. I scrubed all the floors (to remove glue, paint, etc ) with vinegar & water. I used old socks & rags, so they were more sturdy. I washed windows with vinegar/water. I scrubbed the sinks & tubs with baking soda & Dr B. I know it is overwhelming at first, but it is worth it to do it healthy. The dust is the worst part. Good luck & I hope your offer goes through!
Also, I bought some of the Clorox Greenworks multi purpose cleaner. It does work really well, but you have to rinse pretty well, it leaves suds if not. I like my homemade all purpose cleaner better. But I do love the citrus smell!

[ammamomma]

Originally Posted by mgilleran@earth-co

We built a new home this past year. So I can totally relate. There was more sawdust than you would believe. My problem with hiring someone *(besides the fact that they charge over $1000) is that they would use nasty chemicals that I wouldn't want my LO crawling on if I were you. I cleaned up using my homemade stuff. A shop vac will do wonders. Once all the dust is gone, it will look so much better. I scrubed all the floors (to remove glue, paint, etc ) with vinegar & water. I used old socks & rags, so they were more sturdy. I washed windows with vinegar/water. I scrubbed the sinks & tubs with baking soda & Dr B. I know it is overwhelming at first, but it is worth it to do it healthy. The dust is the worst part. Good luck & I hope your offer goes through!
Also, I bought some of the Clorox Greenworks multi purpose cleaner. It does work really well, but you have to rinse pretty well, it leaves suds if not. I like my homemade all purpose cleaner better. But I do love the citrus smell!

What is Dr B? Also, what proportion do you use for the vinegar water? Is it different for the floors vs. the windows? Thanks!

[katie9143]

i was just a bit more concerned since its not technically a new house, so there are other ppls nasty germs!! haha - that is why i wanted to use something a tad better than my good old vinegar and water. for my squirt bottle i do 50/50 vinegar/water and for my mop bucket i fill it up with super hot water and then just dump some vinegar in and sometimes a squirt of tjs dishsoap. i have been wondering lately at the apartment we have been renting if maybe the vinegar is starting to wear the finish off the hw floors? anyone ever heard of that?

[mgilleran@earth-co]

Originally Posted by ammamomma

What is Dr B? Also, what proportion do you use for the vinegar water? Is it different for the floors vs. the windows? Thanks!

Dr B is Dr. Bronners liquid castile soap. I used 50/50 on the floors, & I think I just used the same stuff on the windows.

I'm sorry. For some reason I was thinking you were buying a completely "new" house. New to you is just as great! That is why I thought it would cost so much to clean it. Construction cleaning is ridiculous. I think I would still stick to natural. Maybe use an all purpose cleaner with water, castile soap, washing soda, vinegar & eo. And since the Greenworks stuff suds good, I think it would work pretty well. And good old washing soda in water really cleans. Just wear gloves so it doesn't irritate your hands. You do have to rinse well with it. It is a great degreaser. Good luck!

[LaurenS]

I wouldn't go 50/50 with Dr B's. That stuff is super concentrated. I use it to clean my house. I usually put hot water in a bucket and add a squirt. If I was cleaning really dirty floors, I use a little more. Sometimes I wash the floor twice just to be sure. But if you use too much soap, it's hard to rinse off.

Another option for really dirty tubs and sinks. I read this a few weeks ago on this forum. Use a mixture of baking soda and laundry soap. I have to admit, I don't clean the tub too often. So whenever I do, it's a big job. But last week I cleaned our tub this way. I wet the tub, sprinkled baking soda all over. Then I poured a tiny amount of Biokleen laundry detergent in the tub. I scrubbed with a chore boy. It was amazing. Our tub hasn't been this clean in a very long time.