We care for High Point homes

Older High Point houses need gentler cleaning

Emerywood and the streets around downtown High Point are full of houses built during the city's furniture boom. Plenty of them still have their original hardwood floors. Old floor finish is easy to damage with water. A wet mop leaves water sitting in the seams between boards, and over time the edges darken and start to curl. We clean those floors with a mop that is barely damp and a gentle green cleaner, then dry any spot that stays wet.

Those houses have other details a quick clean skips. Tall baseboards and built-in cabinets collect a fine dust that a vacuum never reaches, so we wipe them by hand. Some bathrooms still have the small white tile from when the house was new, with plenty of grout lines to scrub. Window sills may carry many layers of old paint, and old paint can contain lead. We wipe those sills gently and never scrape or sand them.

Farther from downtown, whole neighborhoods of High Point are lined with brick ranch houses from the middle of the last century. Closer to the old mills, there are streets of small frame houses. Many still have their original bathrooms in pink or green tile. That tile cleans up well with a soft brush and a mild cleaner. Scouring powder and rough scrub pads scratch the old glaze, and once it goes dull it holds soap scum and never looks clean again.

• Hardwood floors cleaned with a barely damp mop
• Baseboards and built-ins wiped by hand
• Grout scrubbed on small old bathroom tile
• Painted window sills wiped gently, never scraped
• Soft brushes on old pink and green tile

Spring pollen and summer damp get inside

Every spring the pine trees around High Point drop their pollen, and for a few weeks everything outside turns yellow. It coats cars and porch rails, then rides into the house on shoes and on the dog. Inside it settles on window sills and the blades of ceiling fans. A feather duster just throws it back into the air, which is the last thing anyone with allergies needs. We take it off with a damp cloth so it leaves with us.

Summers in the Piedmont are hot and sticky, and damp air is what feeds mildew. It starts as gray or black specks in the shower grout and along the caulk at the bottom of the tub. Caught early, it wipes away. Left for a whole season, it grows down into the caulk, and no cleaner gets it all the way out after that. Houses on shady lots under big oaks stay damp longer, so we scrub the grout and the caulk line on every visit.

Then there is the red clay. The soil around High Point is the same red Piedmont clay found all over the Triad. After a rain it comes in on boots and paws. Fresh, it wipes up easily. Dried into light carpet or the grout of a kitchen floor, it leaves a rusty stain that takes real work to lift. So we start at the back door and the path to the kitchen, because that is where the clay lands first.

Furniture market and moves need deep cleans

Each spring and fall the furniture market fills High Point with buyers and exhibitors. A lot of people in town rent out their house or a spare room for the week. Guests paying for that week expect the place spotless. A deep clean before they arrive covers what a quick tidy misses. That means the inside of the fridge and the bathroom from the vent cover down to the floor. After they leave, the house needs the same again before your family settles back in.

Moving is the other time a house needs more than a regular visit. On a move-out we clean what the furniture was hiding: the floor under the beds and the inside of every cabinet and drawer. If you are selling, a clean empty house looks better in listing photos and at showings. Renting? A clean house makes the final walkthrough with your landlord much easier.

Moving in needs the same care. The newer subdivisions on the north side of the city, out toward Oak Hollow Lake, see many families moving in. Even a house that looks clean on move-in day has dust inside the cabinets, and the window tracks are usually full of grit. We clean all of that while the rooms are empty, before your dishes and clothes go in.

Getting a price in High Point

Call us at (336) 310-9620 and tell us about the house: how many bedrooms and bathrooms it has, and what kind of clean you want. We also give estimates online, so you can send the details from this page instead. Either way, you get a free quote before we set a date. We are open Monday to Friday from nine in the morning to five in the afternoon, and Saturday from nine to two.