We clean top to bottom, floors last

A deep clean starts at the ceiling

We work from the top of the room down, because dust and grease fall. The first pass covers light fixtures, the tops of door frames, the top edge of the cabinets and any ceiling fan blades. Those spots get skipped in a normal tidy, so they carry the heaviest layer in the home. If we did the counters first, everything we knocked loose from above would land right back on them.

After the high work comes the middle of the room. That means cabinet doors and handles, light switches, door knobs, window sills and the exposed sides of the fridge and stove. Hands touch these surfaces all day, and skin oil holds on to dust. A dry cloth just smears that film around. We use a cleaner that cuts the oil first, then wipe it off with a clean cloth so nothing is left behind to catch new dust.

Floors come last, and they get the most time. Baseboards are wiped by hand before the floor is touched, since a mop pushes grime against them and leaves a gray line. Corners and the strip under the kitchen cabinets get scraped and wiped, because that is where old grease and crumbs pack in. When the job is done right, you can run a finger along a baseboard and it comes away clean.

• High surfaces dusted before anything else
• Cabinet doors and handles degreased
• Range hood and backsplash scrubbed of grease
• Baseboards and radiators wiped by hand
• Bathroom tile and grout scrubbed down

Kitchen grease has to soak before wiping

Cooking grease does not sit on a surface like dust does. It bakes on, picks up dust, and turns into a sticky tan film that gets harder every month. Wiping it with an all purpose spray moves it around and leaves streaks. The cleaner has to sit on the grease long enough to soften it before anyone scrubs, and that wait is the step most people skip when they clean at home.

Many older Bronx apartments have a range hood that blows air back into the kitchen, or no hood at all. In those kitchens the grease has nowhere to go. It settles on the cabinet doors next to the stove, the top of the fridge and the wall behind the range. We clean those surfaces the way we clean the stovetop, with a degreaser and a soft pad that will not scratch the finish.

Painted cabinets and old wood need a lighter hand than a metal hood. Too much scrubbing takes the sheen off paint, and too much water swells the edges of older wood doors. So we test a small spot first, then work in sections and dry each one as we go. Done right, the doors feel smooth instead of tacky, and the handles stop collecting fingerprints the day after.

Prewar apartments collect dust on radiators and trim

A lot of the housing around Kingsbridge and Riverdale is older brick apartment buildings, many of them prewar, with plaster walls, deep window sills and wood trim. That trim has ridges and grooves, and each groove holds a line of dust. Crown molding and door casings need to be wiped by hand. A duster passed over them looks fine from across the room and leaves the grooves full.

Cast iron radiators are the hardest thing in these apartments to get clean. The fins sit close together, dust packs between them, and steam heat bakes it on all winter. When the heat comes back on in the fall, that dust gives off a burnt smell. We work a thin brush down between the fins and wipe the outside. Then we clean the floor and the wall behind the radiator, where the loose dust falls.

Out in Fieldston the houses are larger, with stone and stucco walls, old hardwood floors and more stairs. Stairs take real time on a deep clean. Each tread gets vacuumed along the back edge, where dust collects against the riser, and the spindles on the railing get wiped one at a time. Old hardwood needs a mop that is barely damp, because standing water works into the seams between boards and lifts the finish.

New York weather changes what needs cleaning

Winter in the Bronx means windows shut for months and steam heat running hard. The air stays dry, and dust hangs in it longer before it settles on every flat surface. Boots bring road salt in from the sidewalk, and it dries into a white crust by the door and down the hallway. Left alone, that salt dulls a wood floor, so we lift it with plain water before we mop with anything else.

Summer brings the opposite problem. The air is humid, and a bathroom with no window or a weak fan never fully dries between showers. Mildew starts in the grout lines and along the caulk around the tub. We scrub the grout with a stiff brush and a mildew cleaner, then let it sit before rinsing. Caulk that has gone black inside cannot be cleaned, and we will tell you when we see it.

Window air conditioners add their own layer. The front grille pulls in city dust all summer, and the sill under the unit collects soot from the street. We wipe the grille and the sill, and we tell you when the filter needs a wash. Skip this part and the first hot day blows a gray puff of dust across a room that was just cleaned.