We look after homes in Reading

Reading grew up around its common and depot

Reading grew up around its town common and the train depot, so many of its oldest houses sit on the streets near the center. Many are Victorians and older colonials with painted wood trim and original hardwood floors. Some still heat with radiators. Farther out come post-war capes and ranches, and past those, bigger colonials on wooded lots. Each kind of house collects dust in its own places, so we plan the visit around the house in front of us.

Older houses have more ledges than new ones. Dust sits on top of door frames and tall window casings, up where nobody looks. Radiators are harder to clean, because dust packs in between the sections and smells burnt when the heat comes on. Old hardwood needs care too. It gets vacuumed first so the grit does not scratch it, then a damp mop, never a wet one. Standing water works its way into the seams of an old floor.

Newer houses need different work. Many have open kitchens, so cooking grease drifts onto the family room shelves and the ceiling fan blades. So in those houses the kitchen gets the most time, and that can include the inside of the oven and the microwave. Ceiling fans and mini blinds get dusted, since both catch that grease. If your visit includes it, we change the linens and make the beds.

• Door frames and window casings dusted
• Radiators and ceiling fans cleaned of dust
• Hardwood vacuumed first, then damp mopped
• Inside of the oven and microwave on request
• Mini blinds and wall hangings dusted

Winter salt and spring pollen both come inside

Reading sits inland, so the salt that ends up inside a house here does not come off the ocean. It comes off the roads. From the first snow into spring, the streets get treated. Every pair of boots carries some of that salt and sand through the door. It dries into a white film on hardwood and tile. The sand scratches the floor finish, and by late winter the busiest paths through the house look dull.

So through the winter, the front entry and the kitchen floor get extra time. The grit comes up with the vacuum first, because a mop only pushes sand around. Then a damp mop takes off the salt film, and the floor gets wiped dry so nothing sits in the seams. Mats get vacuumed too, since they hold a lot of what comes in. It is small work, and it keeps a floor from looking worn by March.

Spring brings a different mess. Reading has a lot of mature trees, and when they release pollen, a fine yellow dust settles on window sills and screens. It comes in on shoes and through open windows, then lands on every flat surface in the house. Late spring is a good time for a deep clean. It is also the time to have the windows washed inside and out, once most of the pollen has passed.

We clean up after renovations and moves

When an older Reading house gets a new kitchen or bathroom, the work makes a lot of fine dust. Plaster and drywall dust is lighter than it looks. It drifts past the plastic sheeting into rooms nobody worked in. It also keeps settling for days after the contractors pack up. A quick sweep on the last day of the job leaves most of it behind, up on the door frames and inside the cabinets.

A post-construction cleanup starts at the top of each room and works down. That way, dust knocked off a ledge does not land on a floor that is already done. The insides of cabinets get wiped out before anything goes back in them. 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."

A move in or out of a Reading house is its own kind of job. Once the furniture is gone, you see what it was hiding, like dust lines on the baseboards where a couch sat for years. The kitchen appliances get cleaned inside, so the next family opens a clean oven. If bags or boxes of trash got left behind, trash removal is on our list of services too.

Getting a price in Reading

Call (617) 803-6705, or ask for an online estimate from this page. Tell us about the house and what you want done, whether that is a recurring visit or a one-time clean. If the house has fresh renovation dust or radiators in most rooms, say so up front. Reading is a short drive from our base in Danvers. You get a free quote before you agree to anything.