We keep Lawrence homes spotless

Lawrence triple-deckers trap dust in odd spots

Lawrence grew up as a mill city in the nineteenth century, and housing went up fast for the families who worked the looms. A lot of it is wooden triple-deckers, with an apartment on each floor and porches running up the back. Most have stood for generations, and they are solid houses. Age shows in the small details, though, and those details are exactly where dust settles and stays.

Start with the heat. Plenty of these apartments still have old radiators under the windows. All winter, the warm air rising off them carries dust up and leaves a gray shadow on the wall above. Dust also packs in between the radiator sections where a vacuum barely reaches. The woodwork is wider than in a newer house, so door frames and window sills carry more on their top edges. Old hardwood floors have gaps between the boards, and grit sits in those gaps.

So in a Lawrence triple-decker we work from the top of each room down. Ceiling fans and the tops of door frames get dusted first, so anything that falls lands on a floor we have not vacuumed yet. The radiators and window sills come next. In the kitchen we can clean inside the oven and the microwave. The floors get vacuumed last. On a first visit a deep clean is usually the right call, and a recurring schedule after that keeps the dust from building back up.

• Ceiling fans and door frames dusted first
• Dust taken off radiators and window sills
• Mini blinds and wall hangings dusted
• Inside the oven and microwave cleaned
• Hardwood floors and carpets vacuumed last

Winter salt and sand wear down floors

Winters here tend to be colder and snowier than on the coast, because Lawrence sits inland on the Merrimack River, away from the ocean. Through the cold months the streets and sidewalks get salt and sand, and all of it rides home on boots. In a triple-decker that grit gets carried up the shared stairs and across every landing before it reaches the apartment door. By February the hallway floors show it.

Sand acts like sandpaper on a floor. Every step grinds it into the finish, and on old hardwood that shows up as a dull, scuffed path from the door to the kitchen. Salt dries into a white haze on wood and tile, and it leaves crusty rings on the mats by the door. None of it comes off with a quick sweep. If it sits there all winter, the scratches in the finish are there to stay.

Summer brings its own dirt. Lawrence is a dense city with busy streets. When the windows are open in the heat, fine dust drifts in and settles on the sills and mini blinds. Between the winter grit and the summer dust, a home here picks up dirt all year, which is why a recurring schedule suits the city. Regular visits get the grit off the floors before it can scratch them. One customer wrote on Google: "I work from home and having them come every other week keeps the place manageable."

Move-outs and renovations need a deeper clean

Renters make up a big share of Lawrence households, and a lot of the housing is apartments in multi-family houses. When a tenant moves out, the empty rooms show everything the furniture was hiding. There is grease on the stove and dust along the walls where the couch used to be. The landlord needs the unit ready to show, and the tenant usually wants the deposit back. Our move-in and move-out cleaning covers the whole empty apartment, including the inside of the oven and microwave. The floors get done last, once every room is clear.

When an old Lawrence house gets renovated, the dust that follows is harder to deal with than everyday dust. Tearing out old plaster or sanding new drywall throws a fine powder into the air, and it drifts through the whole apartment. It settles on every ledge and works its way into the window tracks, and a dry cloth only pushes it around. Post construction clean up is on our list of services. Patricia Weibel wrote on Google: "Called for a one-time clean after renovations and they handled all the dust and leftover mess without complaining."

Some houses need clearing out before they can be cleaned. A house that went through foreclosure, or sat empty for a long stretch, often still has furniture and trash inside. We handle foreclosure cleaning and trash out, so the rooms get emptied first and then cleaned from the ceiling fans down to the floors. Work spaces are on the list too. Several of the old mill buildings along the canals now hold offices, and we clean offices and workplaces as well as homes.

Getting a price in Lawrence

Call (617) 803-6705 and tell us about the apartment or house and the kind of clean it needs. If you would rather not call, we also offer online estimates, so you can ask for a price right here on the site. A move-out and a regular visit are different jobs, so tell us which one you have in mind. Either way you get a free quote before any work starts.