Cleaning a DC Home: Rowhouses, English Basements, Condos and Humid Summers

Washington is a city of brick rowhouses with English basements below, older apartment buildings with steam radiators, and new glass condo towers along the rivers. It also has hot, humid summers, a spring pollen season that turns cars yellow-green, and winters with salt on the sidewalks. Each kind of home has its own cleaning problems, and each season adds one more. This guide covers what to do about them, and when a professional deep clean is worth booking.

Rowhouses: stairs, radiators and city grit

A DC rowhouse opens straight onto the street or a short front yard, so grit, leaves and winter salt come straight in. The stairwell carries dust from the basement to the top floor, and old sash windows let fine city grime settle on sills and tracks.

• Put a coarse mat outside the door and an absorbent one inside, with a boot tray in winter
• Vacuum stair treads weekly; wipe railings, spindles and the wall alongside monthly
• Vacuum window sills and tracks with a crevice tool, then wipe with a damp cloth
• Clean radiators while cold with a long radiator brush or a vacuum crevice tool, with a damp towel underneath, and wipe the wall behind
• Don’t sand or scrape old paint; homes built before 1978 may contain lead, so wipe with damp cloths instead

English basements: damp, mildew and airflow

An English basement sits partly below street level, with its own entrance and small windows near the ceiling. It is often the coolest, dampest part of the house, and in summer moisture condenses on walls, in closets and in the bathroom. That is where mildew starts.

• Run a dehumidifier from late spring to early fall and empty it often, aiming for indoor humidity below about 50 percent
• Run the bathroom fan during and for 20 minutes after every shower, and clean the fan cover twice a year
• Keep furniture and boxes a few inches away from outside walls so air can move
• Leave closet doors ajar, and don’t store clothes or shoes against cold walls
• Clean grout and caulk monthly in summer; replace caulk that stays black after cleaning
• Check window wells for leaves and standing water after storms

Mold that covers a large area, keeps coming back, or follows a leak or flood needs a remediation specialist once the water source is fixed; it is beyond a cleaning visit.

Older apartment buildings

Pre-war buildings in Columbia Heights, Adams Morgan, Mount Pleasant and Dupont Circle have character and quirks: steam radiators that dry the air in winter, older windows that let in grit, small kitchens with gas ranges, and shared laundry rooms. Wipe radiator tops weekly in the heating season, put a humidifier in bedrooms if the air gets very dry, and clean the range hood filter monthly; grease builds up fast in a small kitchen with little ventilation.

New condos: glass, balconies and stacked laundry

Newer condos around Navy Yard, NoMa and the Southwest Waterfront are easier to keep clean, but they have their own details. Floor-to-ceiling windows show every fingerprint and pollen film, balcony doors and tracks collect grit, and stacked washer-dryers hide lint and mildew. Clean the inside glass with a squeegee in the shade, vacuum door tracks monthly, and wipe the washer gasket and leave the door ajar after each load. Check your building’s rules before cleaning balcony glass or furniture: many don’t allow water to run off onto the balconies below.

Windows and screens

Twice a year is enough for most DC homes: once after the spring pollen and once before the heating season. Vacuum tracks with a crevice tool first, then wipe them with a damp cloth; wash screens with soapy water and a soft brush; and clean glass in the shade so it doesn’t streak. In older homes, wipe painted sills rather than scraping them.

What each season brings

Seasonal cleaning in Washington, DC

Season	What it brings	What to do
Spring	Heavy tree pollen from late March through May	Windows closed on high-pollen days, sills wiped with damp cloths, screens and balcony furniture washed once it falls
Summer	Heat and humidity, mildew, ants and fruit flies	Dehumidifier and fans, grout and caulk cleaned monthly, counters wiped nightly, fruit kept in the fridge
Fall	Leaves in window wells and gutters, the first heat	Radiators and vents cleaned before the heat, filters changed, window wells cleared
Winter	Salt and grit, dry radiator heat	Mats and boot trays, salt film mopped weekly, a deep clean before the holidays

Pollen season

Spring in DC is beautiful and dusty. Oak, maple, birch and other trees release pollen from late March into May, and it settles as a yellow film on sills, balconies, stoops and cars and comes indoors on clothes and pets. Dry dusting only moves it around. Wipe surfaces with damp cloths, vacuum with a HEPA filter, wash bedding more often while it lasts, and wash screens once the trees have finished.

Shared walls and pests

In rowhouses and apartment buildings, mice and cockroaches travel along shared walls, pipes and basements, so even a spotless home can see visitors from next door. Cleaning doesn’t replace pest control, but it makes your home less attractive: store food in sealed containers, clean under and behind the stove and fridge, take trash out on time and don’t leave pet food down overnight. If you see droppings, call a licensed pest control company and clean up afterwards with gloves and a disinfectant, never by sweeping dry.

Small kitchens, big grease

Galley kitchens in rowhouses and older apartments often have gas ranges and weak or recirculating range hoods, so cooking grease settles on cabinet tops, the wall behind the stove and the top of the fridge. Wipe those monthly with warm water and dish soap, soak the hood filter in hot soapy water, and pull the range forward once a year to clean behind it. In summer, wipe counters every night and keep fruit and bread sealed; ants and fruit flies arrive with the heat.

Cleaning for allergies

Pollen in spring and dust mites and mildew in humid months make DC hard on allergy sufferers. Use a sealed vacuum with a HEPA filter, damp-dust rather than dry-dust, and wash bedding weekly in hot water. Keep pets off beds, change HVAC filters on schedule and keep indoor humidity down, which slows both dust mites and mildew.

Cleaning with the rivers in mind

Many DC storm drains lead to the Anacostia and Potomac rivers. Don’t pour cleaning products, paint or mop water into street drains or tree boxes. Paint, solvents, batteries and electronics go to the household hazardous waste and electronics drop-off at the Fort Totten transfer station; check the current days. When stoops and patios are washed, keep the runoff on site.

When to book a deep clean

A deep clean covers the places a regular visit skips: radiators and baseboards, vents and ceiling fans, grout and caulk, window sills and tracks, light fixtures and the inside of appliances. It starts at $200, and our 3 deep cleans in Washington, DC so far had a median job total of $508, add-ons included. Most people book one in late spring, once the pollen has fallen, or before the holidays.

What to do next

Tell us the size of your home, the number of floors and what needs attention, and we will confirm a price before anything is booked: get a free quote, or book deep cleaning in Washington, DC or regular house cleaning.