Ultimate Christmas Cleaning Checklist: Before and After Festivities

Christmas this year is going to be extra special because of the earlier lockdown in most countries. The pandemic restricted us to celebrate our beloved festivals confined in our homes only. But as things are slowly getting back to normal, all of you are looking forward to celebrating Christmas with great pomp and show. To help you get your homes festival-ready, here is an ultimate Christmas Cleaning Checklist.

We have jotted down important to-do-tasks that you need to finish before your guests arrive for your party and also mentioned instructions on clearing away the mess once your guests leave. The habit of maintaining a checklist makes one more productive and sorted. When you go by our Christmas Cleaning Checklist both before and after the party, you will find it easier to host a party and then get back to normal routine once the guests leave.

Before Christmas Cleaning Checklist – Two Weeks Before:

Home cleaning and maintenance is a never-ending job and festivals are a good reason to pep up your homes, fix the flaws and make it look neat and orderly. Here are some DIY Cleaning Tips that can help you get your home clean and maintained before Christmas.

Deep Cleaning of Floors in your Living Rooms, Foyers, Entrances, Kitchens and Showers:

Problem:

Superfluous or deep-rooted stains and mold are a common occurrence on floors and countertops depending upon the nature of the tile. Natural stone tile surfaces tend to form deep-rooted stains and mold because of the porosity, while non-natural tile have superfluous dirt or stains. Shower floors often get etched due to acidic cleaners and also accumulate soap scum apart from mold and stains. Once your guests come, you can expect spills and stains on your surfaces. Cooking a feast will also ruin your countertops with leaks and food and beverage spills. Furthermore, if you have previous stains, you need to remove them to cast a good impression on your guests.

Solution:

What you can do is to use a good quality alkaline and deep-soaking cleaner that will not cause etching on your surfaces and yet remove all the stains and mold at the root level. Use a good-quality grout and tile brush to clean your narrow grout lines and tile with this cleaner to remove hidden traces of germs, mold and stains.

Look for Cracks and Chips in your Tile and Grout and Repair them:

Problem:

Cracks in tile and grout may happen due to heavy impact or when your surfaces are not sealed properly. Chipped or cracked tile will cast a bad impression on your guests and the sharp edges may hurt anyone walking barefoot on them.

Solution:

Once your surfaces are deep-cleaned with a robust cleaner, you will be able to see these cracks and chips all the more clearly. Grout and tile crack repairing can be done using a strong epoxy/resin flexible solvent-based adhesive to seal these rough edges or cracks to get a seamless and uniform looking surface. Ensure that your sealer is not very bulky.

Repair Damaged Caulk:

Problem:

It is best to rectify your old damaged caulk now just before your guests arrive for Christmas. Caulking, anyways is not a permanent fix to sealing shower corners, as it tends to peel or crack in some time. This Christmas, why not use a permanent solution?

Solution:

A permanent cure would be to use a caulk substitute such as a good pigmented solvent-based flexible epoxy/resin sealer. Use one that can be shaded in many colors and does not pop off from the surface. You can use the same sealer that you used to repair cracked tile and grout.

Remove Efflorescence:

Problem:

Do you find a whitish cement-like deposit coming out from your drains and settling on the shower tile? This is efflorescence formed when water travels under the tile or there is some moisture present under the tile at the time of installation. This slurry slowly grows and then travels to the top of the surface, leaving whitish deposits. If not removed, it may clog your drains or crack your tile.

Solution:

Do not use a screwdriver or any other sharp tool to scrape it off as it may leave scratches on the surface. You need to use a good-quality efflorescence remover to eliminate this deposit without damaging the tile.

Seal Grout and Tile:

Problem:

Once the tile and grout are cleaned and repaired, they are still vulnerable to further mold or stain formation in case of spills or leaks. Shower tile and grout will soon get wet and dirty again with the next use. So how do you prevent this?

Solution:

Cleaning and repairing the tile and grout will make your surfaces look neat and tidy. But sealing them will deliver a lovely sheen, while also adding a coating protection. Indulging in sealing now, will save you from a lot of cleaning labor after the Christmas party. After cleaning, you should color seal the grout lines using a titanium based solvent epoxy/resin sealer and then use a clear topical solvent-based resin sealer on the tile. This will make both the surfaces water-proof.

Cleaning Glass Surfaces:

Problem:

Shower glass doors get stained with soap scum, hard water dots and other dirt. This happens with every use of the shower. Sometimes, these glass surfaces also get etched on using acidic cleaners.

Solution:

You can clean the stains and water dots with a glass-approved cleaner that can easily remove these stains and not damage the surface with its alkaline nature.

Sealing Glass Surfaces:

Problem:

Cleaning these stains once does not mean that they will not appear again. So, do you keep cleaning every time after use, or is there a better solution?

Solution:

The better solution is to seal your shower glass doors with a sealer that makes your glass water-proof. Sealing your shower doors this way with a glass sealer will lessen your burden after Christmas festivities and make your maintenance jobs easier.

We suggest you to follow these Before Christmas guidelines to get your house spic and span. You obviously want to cast a good impression on your guests and family members, don’t you! A week before Christmas can get very busy with planning your lunch or dinner menus, stocking your pantries, decorating your Christmas tree, putting up Christmas lights and arranging for a cake.

After Christmas Cleaning Checklist – The Next Day:

After the festival gets over and your guests leave, it is time to re-arrange everything back in its place, clear the mess, clean the bathrooms, clean the kitchen counters and get things back to normal routine. Since, you have already deep-cleaned and sealed your surfaces, your after Christmas cleaning checklist becomes very light. Here is what you need to do.

• Use a good quality floor maintenance cleaner to clean the floors in your bathrooms, showers, living rooms, bedrooms and kitchens. A maintenance cleaner is designed to clean the superfluous filth, dirt and stains settled on the surface. Just one swipe with such a cleaner will give you sparkling surfaces instantly.
• Use a maintenance cleaner to clean your kitchen counters.
• Use a glass maintenance cleaner to clean your shower doors, and any other glass surfaces in the house.
• Vacuum your carpets, sofas, cushions and curtains.
• Clean your fridge and check the leftovers.

Go by our home cleaning tips after your Christmas party to get your house back in shape after your successful party. We are sure after reading our After Christmas Cleaning checklist, you will not worry about the cleaning later. Once you deep clean and seal your surfaces, there won’t be much damage done on your floors, counters or showers.

You can try using cleaning, maintenance and repair products and tools from pFOkUS – one of the leading restoration products manufacturing companies in the US. If you feel you do not have time or patience to indulge in a DIY cleaning, then you can hire experts from D’Sapone to do the job for you. Merry Christmas!