How to Clean Your Unfinished Basement Space

If your basement is like mine, it’s probably the messiest and toughest room in the house to clean. It’s not just the clutter that gets in the way of a thorough cleaning, but also having to duck around the pipes and the water heater, the furnace, ductwork, and other obstacles that makes the job harder than it should be it.

Cleaning an unfinished basement doesn’t have to be a chore. With these tips and hints, you can clean your basement in no time at all.

Declutter first. Most unfinished basements tend to be storage areas for stuff that we don’t need but hate to throw out. The first step in cleaning out the basement is deciding how much of this junk is worth keeping.

My strategy for decluttering the basement quickly is to set some empty boxes in the center of each room. As we sort through the clutter, we’ll toss trash in one box, recyclables in a second box, donations in a third box, and keepers in the fourth box. Once the box is filled, we carry it to the proper location whether it’s out by the trash can, to the car, or stacked in the corner of a basement room.

Vacuum next. Unfinished basements attract dust, cobwebs, spiders, and other critters. Before I begin cleaning, I’ll use my Electrolux and a dusting wand to vacuum the room.

Areas to vacuum should include the ceiling, walls, the vent covers, top of the ductwork and pipes, around the furnace and water heaters, along ceiling joists, baseboards, shelving, corners, concrete ledges, and window wells. To prevent dust from dropping onto surfaces that have been already vacuumed, always start at the top and work down.

Remove light covers and dust. It’s always safest to clean the basement light fixtures before the floors are washed to prevent electric shock. The easiest method is to remove the light covers first, bring them up to the kitchen sink to be washed with a grease cutter, then let them air dry on the counter. While the covers are drying, I dust the bulbs and replace the ones that are needed. After the covers have been reinstalled, it’s time to move on to the scrubbing chores.

Scrub. The type of cleaner used to scrub your basement walls and other surfaces depends on just how dirty it is. In our old house which once was heated with a coal furnace, I use sudsy ammonia in hot water to cut through grime. Mild solutions made with Lysol, Pine Sol, or even vinegar will work for basement walls that reasonably clean. If however your basement is prone to mold, then a mild Clorox solution might be best.

Use your cleaning solution to wipe down the walls, wood molding, outlet covers, the outside of the water heater and furnace, and other surfaces. Be sure to open doors and windows so the air can circulate properly.

Check the crawl areas for mold, animal droppings, and other not so nice surprises. Old homes with partial basements have dirt floor crawl spaces where the pipes and ductwork are usually located. Before washing the floors, this is a great opportunity to shine a flashlight in the crawl areas to check for signs of damage.

Finish up with the floors. Older basements tend to have concrete floors with a rippled surface that can be hard to clean. What seems to work best for my basement is to vacuum the floors first using the shop vac, then mop with an old fashioned string mop. For a cleaning solution, a warm sudsy amonia solution mixed with a drop of dish washing soap will do the trick.

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