Spring Cleaning Checklist for Wellington Homes

What does winter leave behind in a Wellington home?

Mostly moisture. Months of closed windows, hot showers, stovetop cooking and washing drying on the clothes horse leave damp on the coldest surfaces in the house, and by spring it shows up as black spots on the ceiling and a musty smell in the wardrobes.

Single glazing does a lot of the damage. On a cold morning, warm air inside hits cold glass, condensation runs down onto the sills and pools in aluminium tracks, and anything that stays wet all winter grows mould. Older villas and weatherboard homes (Newtown and Petone have plenty) also tend to have cold spots on ceilings and external walls.

So before you clean anything, walk through the house with a torch on a chilly morning, when condensation is easiest to see. Check:

• Bathroom ceilings, especially the corner above the shower
• Window sills, frames, rubber seals and the corners of aluminium tracks
• Curtain hems and linings that sat against wet glass
• The back walls of wardrobes, and behind furniture pushed against external walls
• Under the kitchen and bathroom sinks, for slow leaks

Small patches of surface mould wipe off. Bubbling paint, soft timber, water stains or a patch that's back within weeks of cleaning points to a moisture problem that cleaning alone won't fix, so get it checked (and if you rent, tell your landlord). Our guide to mould and damp in Wellington homes covers safe cleaning, surface by surface.

What order should you spring clean in?

Declutter first, then clean each room from the ceiling down, doing the dry jobs before the wet ones. That way you never clean the same surface twice.

1. Declutter before you clean. Clear benchtops and wardrobe floors so you can reach every surface and see the damp spots the clutter was hiding.
2. Start anything that needs a soak. Oven racks and rangehood filters can sit in hot soapy water while you do the rest of the kitchen.
3. Go top to bottom. Cobwebs and ceiling corners first, then light fittings, curtain tops and blinds, then shelves and benches, and skirting boards last.
4. Do the dry jobs before the wet ones. Dust and vacuum before you wipe or mop, or the dust just turns into smears.
5. Finish with the floors, working back towards the door.
6. Save the outside of the windows for a calm, overcast day. Wellington wind throws grit back onto wet glass, and bright sun dries the cleaner before you can wipe it off, which leaves streaks.

Wash curtains first thing on a dry, breezy morning so they have the whole day to dry outside.

Room-by-room spring cleaning checklist

Work through the table one room at a time and treat it as your deep clean checklist for the year. The last column is where winter damp and grease build up, so give it extra time.

Curtains and blinds

Take curtains down instead of vacuuming them on the rail, because the hems and linings are where condensation leaves its marks. Check the care label before washing. Venetian blinds go faster than you'd think: close the slats, dust one side, flip them and dust the other, then wipe kitchen blinds with warm soapy water to lift the grease.

Oven, rangehood and fridge

A winter of roasts and casseroles bakes grease onto the oven door and into the rangehood filters. Soak the filters, scrape loose carbon off the oven floor, and give any oven cleaner the full time its label asks for. For the fridge, empty it into a chilly bin, wash the shelves and drawers in warm soapy water and wipe the door seals, where mould often starts.

Windows, tracks and sills

Vacuum the tracks before you wet them, or the grit turns to paste. An old toothbrush gets into the corners where black mould collects, and a cotton bud clears the small drainage holes so water can run out. In Kāpiti homes, wind-blown sand ends up in the same tracks and ranch slider runners, so expect to vacuum twice.

Outside glass on a two-storey house is a different job. Apex's window cleaning service covers interior and exterior glass where it can be reached safely, plus frames, sills and tracks, and we assess two-storey exteriors on site first.

When is it worth booking a professional deep clean?

When the list is longer than your free weekends, or the jobs need time and gear you don't have. A deep clean goes further than a regular clean, into the corners and fittings that only get attention once or twice a year.

These deep cleaning add-ons match the spring jobs that are easiest to put off:

• Oven and rangehood cleaning, for baked-on grease in the oven, on the stovetop and in the filters
• Fridge and appliance cleaning
• Wall spot cleaning and wall washing, for hallway scuffs and grease on kitchen walls
• Curtain and blind dusting, from venetians to the tops of curtain tracks
• Upholstery and sofa cleaning, after a winter of the couch being the warmest seat in the house
• Mould treatment for surface mould in bathrooms and damp corners

Every Apex quote is free and fixed before we start. We bring all the equipment and eco-friendly products, which are safe for children and pets.

If the oven and the bathroom ceiling are the only jobs holding you back, a one-off house clean with add-ons sorts them in a single visit. For deep cleaning in Wellington, our cleaners in Wellington City cover suburbs from Karori to Island Bay, and we work across the Hutt Valley and Porirua too.

If you own a bach, spring is the time to air it out before summer, and we do holiday-home and bach changeover cleans on the Kāpiti Coast. Once the house is back in shape, our guide on how often to book a professional clean helps you choose between weekly and fortnightly visits.

Book a spring clean in Wellington

Do the torch walk-through first, then leave the heavy jobs to us. Call 022-606-4460 (Monday to Saturday, 8am to 6pm) or request a free quote. If anything is missed and you tell us within 24 hours, we'll come back and re-clean it free.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a spring clean take?

It depends on the size of the house and how much winter grime there is. A regular clean of a standard three-bedroom home usually takes 2 to 4 hours, and a full spring or deep clean takes longer because it covers inside the oven, cupboards, walls and window tracks. Doing it yourself, spread it over a few weekends.

What is the difference between a spring clean and a deep clean?

They overlap a lot. A spring clean is a seasonal reset you do once a year, usually after winter. A deep clean is the professional version of the same idea: it reaches the areas a regular clean skips, like inside the oven, walls and skirting boards, and add-ons such as mould treatment can be included.

Should I clean the curtains or the windows first?

Do curtains and blinds first, then the windows. Taking the curtains down gives you clear access to the glass and tracks, and any dust that falls while you dust the blinds lands before the glass is clean, not after. Wipe the sills last, because drips from the glass always end up there.

Do you do spring cleans outside Wellington City?

Yes. Apex is based in Naenae, Lower Hutt, and cleans homes across Wellington City, Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt, Porirua and the Kāpiti Coast, with no travel surcharge anywhere in the Hutt Valley. Every quote is free and fixed before work starts, and add-ons like oven cleaning or mould treatment can be booked in the same visit.