Your best heavy duty cleaning tricks....

[MrsFabuloso]

DH and I are moving out of our place soon and need to clean it to within an inch of its life! We will be renting the place out and it hasn't been REALLY cleaned for about 3yrs...(how old is my DD?? lol!) So we really have to get everything into order.
What are your tricks of the trade?? I need to clean the verticals, the light fittings, the windows.sliding doors, dorr tracks, tiles on the floors and bathroom/kitchen walls, grout, yada yada yada....any suggestions?

[Rouge]

Clove oil for mouldy grout. Dab it on and leave it. It will kill the mould. If the grout is stained repaint with grout paint.

Vacuum window tracks and anything with dust. Then use a wet sock to get the rest out. Socks are great for tight bits, all the nooks and crannys (wear it like a sock puppet).

Verticals I will PM you a PDF.

Kitchen Walls: Always vacuum first with a brush. Sounds crazy but dust sticks to the walls, and when you wet it will cake. Once you've vacuumed get a broom and cover the head it in a damp pantyhose and go over the entire wall. Then go over that with a towel. You should find it comes clean.

Tiles I can give you the easy way or the hard way. The best way is windex and cloth nappies or towels. The easy way is metho and water mix with a micro fibre mop.

Any other things needed let me know.

[MrsFabuloso]

Wow, thanks for all of that Rouge! I'm getting stuck into the blinds tomorrow.

Any other handy tricks people??

[~clover~]

I liked what a friend of mine did for the outside of her windows yesterday. Bucket of cold water, mop, hose & eco choice dishwashing liquid! Mopped the soapy water over the windows & around the outside too for cobwebs etc, then simply hosed it off. No streaks or marks after! (Fine of your on one story of course!)

[Rouge]

Can you do that with water restrictions though? I thought you weren't allowed? Maybe it's just Vic.

[Visitor7]

Bucket of cold water, mop, hose & eco choice dishwashing liquid! Mopped the soapy water over the windows & around the outside too for cobwebs etc, then simply hosed it off. No streaks or marks after!

That's what we do, turns out great!

[~clover~]

Possibly not on the water restrictions, unless its in the hours you are allowed to use a hose....if at all. We don't have restrictions here, so didn't think of that. Sorry.