Spring Cleaning Checklist for Pacific Northwest Homes

Spring cleaning checklist for Pacific Northwest homes: mud-season floors, mildew in window tracks, carpets after a wet winter. Text for a written price.

By Yuri and Tatiana, owners of Shining Cleanse LLC, a family cleaning company based in Everett, WA and licensed in 10 cities across Snohomish and King County.

A spring cleaning checklist for a Pacific Northwest home covers what the wet season left behind: grit in entries and carpets, mildew in window tracks and grout, and dust on vents and fans that ran all winter. Then wash bedding and soft furnishings, work top to bottom one room at a time, and finish with the floors.

The checklist follows the same top-to-bottom order as our deep cleaning, written so you can use it yourself.

What is different about spring cleaning in the Pacific Northwest?

The problem here is moisture more than dust. Months of rain mean wet shoes, closed windows, condensation on cold glass and bathrooms that never fully dry, and all of that shows up in the same places every spring.

The EPA advises keeping indoor humidity below 60 percent, ideally between 30 and 50 percent, and notes you can check it with an inexpensive meter (EPA guide to mold and moisture). If your meter reads high all winter, expect black spots in window tracks and grout.

The other Northwest pattern is grit. Wet soil sticks to shoes, dries in the carpet and acts like sandpaper on hardwood and vinyl plank. Spring is when you remove it before it wears a path.

What should be on a spring cleaning checklist?

Start at the entry, then bathrooms, kitchen and living areas, and do windows and carpets once the weather lets you open the house. For a printable version with every room, see our deep cleaning checklist. The other half of the year is our fall cleaning checklist, written for the start of the rainy season.

Entry and hard floors

• Shake out both doormats; wash the inside one and replace an outdoor mat that no longer holds dirt.
• Pull everything off the entry closet floor, vacuum it and wipe the baseboards.
• Wash and dry the boot tray, then put it back on a dry surface.
• Vacuum entry and hallway floors slowly, in two directions, to lift grit from seams and edges.
• Wash hard floors with the cleaner made for that surface, and dry them. Standing water is hard on wood and plank seams.
• Spot-clean scuffs on walls and door frames at shoe height.

Entry floors and baseboards are part of every deep clean. Mats and the boot tray are a five-minute job for you.

Bathrooms

• Clean grout lines and the caulk around the tub and shower. Grey or black spots on the surface are usually mildew.
• Wash the shower curtain liner and bath mats; replace a liner that stays stained.
• Vacuum and wipe the exhaust fan grille, then check that the fan still pulls air.
• Descale faucets, shower heads and glass.
• Open the cabinet under the sink and look for drips or a damp base.

We clean surface mildew with dry steam at about 290°F at the nozzle, which reaches into grout without leaving residue. If mold covers a large area (the EPA’s line is about 10 square feet), keeps coming back through the paint, or follows a leak, that is a job for a mold or water-damage specialist, and we refer it out. Our guide on why bathrooms grow mildew in Washington homes covers prevention.

Kitchen

• Degrease the range hood and its filter.
• Wipe cabinet fronts and handles, especially near the stove, and the reachable tops of cabinets and the fridge.
• Pull the stove out if it rolls and clean the floor and sides behind it.
• Empty the fridge, wash the shelves and drawers, and wipe the door seals.
• Clean the oven interior.
• Wash the trash and recycling bins, and clear expired food out of the pantry.

A deep clean covers cabinet fronts, behind movable appliances, vents and the stovetop. The inside of the fridge and the inside of the oven are $56 each as add-ons.

Bedrooms and living areas

If you have forced-air heat, it ran all winter and spread dust onto every high surface. Clean from the ceiling down so dust falls onto floors you have not done yet.

• Dust ceiling fans before you switch them on for summer, then light fixtures and the tops of door frames.
• Vacuum and wipe vent covers and return grilles.
• Change the furnace filter, following the manufacturer’s size and schedule.
• Wash bedding, mattress pads, pillows and duvets according to their labels.
• Wash or vacuum curtains; wipe blinds slat by slat.
• Vacuum upholstery, including under the cushions.
• Wipe window sills often once windows are open, because pollen settles on them. A damp cloth picks it up instead of spreading it.

If someone in your home has allergies, our article on cleaning for allergies and asthma explains which of these steps matter most.

Before

After

How do you clean mildew from window tracks?

Condensation runs down cold glass all winter and collects in the bottom track, which is why window tracks here often have black corners by March.

• Vacuum the tracks with a crevice tool first. Wetting loose dirt turns it to mud.
• Scrub the tracks and sills with detergent and water, then dry them completely. That is the EPA’s guidance for small areas of mold on hard surfaces.
• Clear the small drain slots (weep holes) in sliding window tracks so water can get out.
• Wash the inside of the glass and the frames.
• Take screens outside, rinse them and let them dry before putting them back.
• Look at the caulk in the bottom corners. Black that does not wipe off is inside the caulk; it needs replacing, not cleaning.
• If the wood under a sill is soft or stained dark, that is water damage. Bring in a contractor; no amount of cleaning fixes it.

We clean interior windows, tracks and sills for the whole house as an $86 add-on to a deep clean. We do not do exterior windows above 8 feet.

Should carpets be cleaned in spring?

Yes, if they took in grit, damp soil and odor all winter. Spring is the easiest time: warmer air and open windows help carpet dry. Carpet cleaning with hot water extraction usually dries in 4–8 hours with a window cracked, and can take up to 12 hours in cold, damp weather.

• Vacuum slowly with a sealed vacuum before any wet cleaning. Most carpet soil is dry grit, and wetting it in makes it harder to remove.
• Spot-treat with the mildest product that works, tested in a hidden area first.
• Book extraction for traffic lanes, the entry and the stairs.
• A musty smell that returns after cleaning means moisture in the pad or subfloor. That needs a restoration company, not cleaning.

On our jobs we inspect first, dry vacuum, pre-spray and agitate the traffic lanes, then extract with extra dry passes and leave plastic tabs under any furniture legs we moved. Our guide on how to prepare for carpet cleaning covers what to move and what to leave.

Carpet prices: $82 per room up to 200 sq ft, 3 rooms $220, 5 rooms $306, stairs $5 per step, $220 minimum visit. Added to a deep clean, extraction is $59 per room (minimum two rooms). The full list is on our pricing page.

What to hire out and what to do yourself

Unsure about a full deep clean? Read whether deep cleaning is worth it. Planning this for an older parent’s home? Our guide to cleaning services for seniors covers schedules and what public programs pay for. We work in Lake Stevens and our other licensed cities in Snohomish and King County.

Our job

FAQ

What month should you start spring cleaning in Western Washington?

Many people start in March or April, when there are enough dry days to open windows. Do the indoor work first (bathrooms, kitchen, dust from the ceiling down) and save window tracks, screens and carpet for a drier, warmer week, because everything dries faster then.

How long does a professional spring deep clean take?

Our deep cleans take 5–10 work hours, which is two of us for about 2.5–5 hours, depending on the size and condition of the home. We price by work hours at $60 each and state the hours in the written price.

Can I use bleach on mildew in window tracks?

For small areas on hard surfaces, the EPA’s advice is detergent and water, then drying the surface completely. Bleach is not required for that. If you do use it, never mix it with ammonia or other cleaners. We only use bleach if a client asks for it.

Should I clean carpets before or after the rest of the house?

After. Dusting fans, vents and blinds drops dust onto the floor. Clean top to bottom, vacuum, then extract carpets last so they dry undisturbed.

Get a written price

Text 2–4 photos of your kitchen, bathrooms and carpeted rooms to (425) 539-5492 with your city and the number of bedrooms, or request a written quote. We reply with a written price the same business day (Mon–Fri 9am–7pm, Sat 9am–5pm), and for home cleaning you pay for the hours we actually work: never more than the written price without your yes, never less than the minimum. Carpet prices are flat: the written price is what you pay.

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