Deep cleaning a previously-roach infested kitchen
Kitchen was in a house of hoarders and has had various roach infestations over the decades. It is something where I cannot mentally use the kitchen with all of the memories of opening a dish drawer/cabinet and having roaches run out, and so part of this deep cleaning (and making this thread) is to quell that mental aspect by literally scrubbing it from top to bottom.
I guess I'm mostly looking for this thread on what product would you use to clean? Obviously the most specific stuff will have their own products (eg the oven) - but it terms of just scrubbing down every inside/outside of every cabinet and shelf and what not, what would you use to say "okay I have peace of mind that this has been cleaned and is safe to use"
But also still looking for general advice, as I've never fully deep cleaned a kitchen. Eg Something I didn't think about but came across was deep cleaning a dishwasher (and I've seen them crawl out of the drain there, so even washing dishes haven't been safe). But I mean macro level it's basically "clean the room and clean the appliances" I imagine lol
...which, and I'm guessing more a plumbing issue than a cleaning one, there is a smell that permeates from drains. It's especially bad in the kitchen sink which does have a garbage disposal (and so I imagine it's mostly take that part and clean it out), but I figured I'd still throw that out there now too for any tips on helping with that
(I've already applied Bifenthrin as an insecticide, and haven't seen anything in the past couple months. I've also completely emptied out the entire kitchen, so I can literally scrub from top to bottom.)
I don’t have any advice for the roaches.
In general, I can’t feel comfortable in a space unless I have cleaned it myself. It doesn’t really have anything to do with cleanliness. But I use whatever I can find with bleach in it. Bleach is a very good cleaner, and sometimes people ignore it. I really like 409 (contains bleach), but it doesn’t really even matter. I cleaned out an apartment (for moving out) recently, and all I used was a spray bottle of some random bleach cleaner.
Agree with the above! Nothing feels quite as clean as scrubbing down with bleach. I'd also suggest for any greasy feeling surfaces that you get a strong Barbeque cleaner. Not stovecleaner, barbeque specifically. A good barbeque cleaner spray can be sprayed on the ventilation thingies above stoves, or just near the ceiling in general, and it'll loosen up any yucky/sticky dusty surfaces!
Quick warning/reminder though - never EVER mix a solution with bleach with ANY other cleaner / solution. That's how you get mustard gas hah!
So in this case I'd suggest using the BBQ cleaner spray first on any dusty yet sticky surfaces and behind where the stove was/is, and once that's loosed the stuff and been wiped off use a bleach solution to sanitize.
Lastly, steam is your friend. There are some fantastic but cheap steamcleaners out here (look for steam mop or similar) that'll blast your floors with boiling steam. Not even cockroaches can survive that. You can even get some now that you can use on walls - fantastic way to get grime off of your walls without damaging tiles!
I’ll extend the bleach mixing recommendations to all products. Just don’t mix any cleaners ever, unless they are explicitly designed to be mixed. It’s just not worth it. You may be surprised by what products contain bleach or ammonia (and I didn’t realize acids were an issue but it makes sense). For example, 409 had bleach, and windex had ammonia. I am sure you can find those ingredients on the label, but they are not prominent.
Just don’t mix cleaning chemicals.
I'm going to second bleach! We had a mouse issue at one point. Once we dealt with the infestation I bought bottles of sprayable bleach and used it everywhere that wasn't made of fabric. I then went over with disinfectant wipes but that was just for extra peace of mind.
Thanks! That was my assumption but didn't want to lead to an answer; I have a "Cleaner + Bleach" bottle from Clorox I was planning to use, so glad to know it will do the trick. Like you said, kinda has less to do with "cleanliness" but comfortness so thanks for the confirmation!
Haven't seen a recommendation for a mask in this thread so I'm just adding that in. I don't have any objective evidence but in principle I would feel better wearing a mask when there's inevitably going to be mold, roach poop, and god knows what else being kicked up into the air.
Being winter for most of us, I imagine you're not opening up all the windows either which means your furnace filter is probably going to catch a lot of extra stuff. Maybe change that out after you're done.
I may have an exaggerated view of what you're getting into but these seem prudent regardless.
Smells coming from drains: there are a bunch of things that can cause this, and you can sometimes figure out what it is by the quality of the smell. Usually it's just an accumulation of gunk (grease, food, hair, etc, that builds up and then rots) in the pipes, but it can also be smells of sewer gas. So carefully try to decide which it is by smelling the smell. Don't just huff the smell in willy nilly though.
If it is a sewery shit smell, then usually there's an air gap somewhere that is letting the smell come back to the house. Fill the sink completely (like almost to the brim) then let it drain.
If it's a gunk smell,
then boil a large amount of water on the stove in the largest boil-friendly container you have. Pour the boiling water down the kitchen sink. Repeat several times. I do this about every quarter to my own sink; if grease or fat has built up, it helps to disperse it. You can add a surfactant of some kind as well; dish soap works.[Edit: removed suggestion, see @vagueallusion's comment] Don't boil soapy water, though, boil then add soap. You can also pour a good amount of baking soda into the drain, then follow it up with vinegar. Let it sit for maybe 30 - 60 minutes then flush it with hot water.As with any time doing deep cleaning, be careful and read the labels of anything that you are using. Make sure you don't mix anything that has ammonia with anything that has bleach. I'm sure this is usually known, but still worth mentioning.
Professional Drain cleaner here, I’d advise against boiling water. This generally will move the FOGs (Fats, Oils, Grease) further down the line where it can cause problems literally and figuratively down the line.
My recommendation: Go under the sink, disconnect the P-trap, remove the junk and clean as thoroughly as possible. If any of the plumbing under your sink is a slinky looking plastic, replace it with proper PVC.
Reconnect your P-trap and test it to make sure it is not leaking.
Instead of boiling water, use warm water and a ton of Dawn soap. Fill up both sinks with soapy water and then drain them out. Repeat a couple times.
Fill them up again and add a few tablespoons of vinegar to each sink and let them drain. Repeat.
If the smell persists consider a professional line de-greaser, NOT Drain. We use Grease-X. The enzyme foames up and sits in the line for half a day. This breaks down the FOGs.
If the line drains slowly, rent a sink cable machine and clean the line out from under the sink.
Of course hiring a small local professional to inspect the lines with a camera would be the best option but following these steps should help you DYI the issue.
I've crossed out that suggestion, bowing to superior knowledge in the area, with thanks.
Oh man, thank you so much for the breakdown! Yeah I've been assuming that's going to be more "hire a professional" thing (especially because of other plumbing issues), but trying to start tackling things in life myself first before asking for help.
Would that also be usable on a toilet? Eg I guess that'd be making the toilet water soapy/vinegary and flushing that?
There are generally less FOGs put into the the toilets. (if used properly)
Also toilets are connected to "mainline" pipes which are 4-6 inches in diameter. So as long as people aren't dumping pots full of bacon grease into their toilet it's not usually a problem.
Soap and vinegar won't do anything for a main line.
For shower drains just cleaning out the best you can with tweezers or pliers to remove chunks of hair.
If I was buying a new house I would test the drainage of every sink by filling them up and seeing if it empties quickly.
The main line would ideally be scoped with a camera to check for obstructions or damage before purchase. If I didn't have a scope I would turn all the water on in the house to full blast, bathtubs, showers and make sure nothing backs up with the full amount of water being used in the house.
Generally most problems are just in the smaller one and a half to 2 in sink drains.
If any drain backs up while using water from a different source. For example a shower drain in a basement backs up when you take a bath upstairs. It's time to call a drain cleaner. We are way less expensive than a plumber and assuming they're ethical can give you a good diagnostic of what the problems might be.
I'll definitely double check but my money is on the accumulation of gunk, so big thank you for that break down.
Would that be doable in a toilet? I'd assume that would be turning the water to the toilet off and flushing out all the water, dumping stuff down, and then turning the water back on
Before doing anything I suggested, please make sure you see @vagueallusion's correction.
I think that anything I said would be doable in a toilet as well.
Thank you - the joys of leaving a thread opened and missing the later corrections haha
It's also kind of a caveat emptor sort of vibe; sometimes the advice that is freely given with good intentions isn't the best advice!
You can do tap-hot water in a toilet (and with some Dawn soap too) - but do not do boiling water. I have (luckily heard, not experienced) that boiling water down a toilet, while it can help with clogs, can also shatter the toilet due to the temperature differential/thermal shock.
My best suggestion is to look up a couple of the folks on social media that do deep-cleans for hoarders frequently, I know they use scrub daddy sponges a lot (in part because they're donated but they're donated because she used them) but I know the one I see occasionally discusses what cleaning products she uses.
Genuinely any multipurpose cleaner will handle basic cleaning and sanitizing, but if you need to get up the grime or anything caked on pro cleaners like that might have other recommendations.
Thank you for the suggestion (and @rip_rike for a specific example)! I've mostly been working on the rest of the house first and have been able to empty them out and rip our the carpets (also hoarded pets) and such...but there definitely is still this lack of feeling of "cleanliness" and seeing their whole processes will help a lot with that.
Yeah I think seeing that it can get actually clean will help. And if you need to wipe things down a few more times to make yourself feel better, do it! It's a small cost for piece of mind.
I can't recall the exact video (though there are several) but this channel cleans a lot of horrifically unclean houses, including hoarder houses, and he walks through every step of the clean as he's doing it, including the products he uses. If you have the time to watch a video or two, it might be helpful.
Thanks for making this topic. I've always come up empty when trying to find the best ways to deep clean, although my problem isn't exactly the same as yours. No one seems to make guides for scrubbing off the accumulated grime of years and how to access/clean the unseen parts of a house (like drains).
One thing I did find just by reading the label: don't use Easy-Off in a convection oven (like countertop air fryers). I couldn't find the reason why, though I found some vague speculation that it might be bad to get it in the fans.
While this is not necessarily what you're looking for, I went down a rabbithole for some mold remediation.
Get yourself some RMR 86 and be prepared to not use the house for a few days. It's an ultra-concentrated bleach-based cleaner which fumes to high hell but also melts away mold like nothing. I can promise you that those before and after pictures are not a deception.
Ohhh thank you! Especially for the whole house; I was likely going to need to have made a bathroom thread too, but that basically covers that lol