We look after Hamilton's older homes

Hamilton's antique houses need gentler cleaning

A good share of Hamilton's houses are old. Along Bay Road and the side roads you find antique colonials and farmhouses with wide pine floors and small-paned windows. Mixed in with them are mid-century capes and ranches, plus newer colonials set back on wooded lots. Each of those is a different job. The old ones take the most time, because soft pine floors and old window putty do not hold up to rough treatment.

The floors are where damage happens first. A soaking wet mop pushes water into the gaps between old boards, and over the years the edges lift and the finish turns cloudy. Those same gaps fill with fine dust and grit that a broom just skims over. On a floor like that, the vacuum goes first to pull the dirt out of the seams. Then a cloth that is barely damp picks up what is left, and the wood stays dry.

Windows in these houses take patience. An old window with many small panes has a corner at every pane where grime collects. The wood around the glass should not be soaked either. Door frames and the tops of wall hangings gather dust because nobody reaches them day to day. We work from the ceiling down, with ceiling fans and mini blinds before trim and trim before floors. That way the dust we knock loose lands where we have not cleaned yet.

• Pine floors vacuumed at the seams, then wiped barely damp
• Small-paned windows cleaned inside and out
• Ceiling fans and mini blinds dusted before the trim
• Door frames and wall hangings dusted by hand
• Inside of the oven and microwave on deep cleans

Hamilton's seasons bring different dirt inside

Hamilton is inland, so it does not get the salt spray that coats windows in the harbor towns. What it gets is weather you carry in on your boots. From the first snow into early spring the roads are sanded. That grit ends up in the front hall and ground into the rug by the door. Then mud season arrives. Driveways and side yards turn soft, and every trip in from the car brings some of it along.

Late spring brings pollen. Hamilton has heavy tree cover over its houses and along its trails. For a few weeks a yellow film settles on the sills and the glass. This is also horse country. A house near a barn or with a dog that runs the trails sees hay dust and dirt on the floors all year. It shows first at the back entry and along the track of the patio door.

Summers here are humid, and the basements of older houses tend to stay cool and damp. Many of them have the laundry room down there, and lint clings to every damp surface near the machines. When fall comes the leaves get tracked in. Winter shuts the house tight, so dust stays put. That is why a recurring schedule suits a Hamilton house. The dirt changes with the season, but it never stops coming in.

Renovating an old house leaves plaster dust

Plenty of old Hamilton houses get opened up and redone, a kitchen one year and a bathroom the next. Cutting into old plaster makes a very fine dust, and it drifts through the whole house, well past the plastic sheeting. It settles inside closed closets and along the tops of door frames. The contractor sweeps up the big debris. The fine layer on everything else is usually left for the homeowner.

Post construction clean up is one of the services we list for exactly that reason. Surfaces get wiped with a damp cloth so the dust actually comes off. The floors get vacuumed more than once, because fine dust keeps settling for a while after the work stops. Patricia Weibel wrote in her Google review: "Called for a one-time clean after renovations and they handled all the dust and leftover mess without complaining. Communication was easy and the price was fair."

Moves are the other time a Hamilton house needs a top to bottom clean. Once the furniture is gone, an empty room shows the dust that sat behind a dresser for years. The kitchen needs the most work, from the inside of the oven to the inside of the microwave. If things were left behind, we also do trash out. When a bank takes a house back, we handle foreclosure cleaning too.

Getting a price in Hamilton

Call us at (617) 803-6705, or fill in the estimate request on this page. Tell us what kind of Hamilton house it is, an antique farmhouse or a newer colonial. Then tell us whether you want a one-time deep clean or a recurring visit. We offer online estimates, so you can have a free quote for your house before you book anything. Our listed hours run around the clock Monday to Friday. On weekends we are open nine to five on Saturday and nine to two on Sunday.