Spring Cleaning Checklist: Room-by-Room House Deep Cleaning Checklist

A good spring cleaning checklist works room by room, top to bottom, and covers the jobs that get skipped all year: skirting boards, light fittings, the insides of cupboards and appliances, windows, limescale and grease. In practice it’s a house deep cleaning checklist, so you can use the lists below for a spring clean, a seasonal deep clean at any time of year, or to see what professional spring cleaning services should cover.

How is a deep cleaning checklist different from a house cleaning checklist?

A regular house cleaning checklist keeps things tidy week to week. A deep cleaning (or spring cleaning) checklist goes into the places that build up grime slowly.

Area	Regular house clean	Deep or spring clean
Kitchen	Worktops, hob, sink, floor	Inside cupboards, oven, fridge, extractor filter, behind appliances
Bathroom	Toilet, basin, bath, mirror	Limescale on screens and shower heads, grout, sealant, extractor fan
Living areas and bedrooms	Dust reachable surfaces, hoover	Light fittings, tops of wardrobes, skirting, radiators, under furniture
Windows	Occasional wipe	Glass, frames, tracks and sills
Soft furnishings	Change bedding	Curtains, cushions, mattresses, sofas and carpets

Step 1: declutter

• Work one room at a time, using three boxes: keep, donate or sell, and bin.
• Clear worktops, shelves and floors so every surface can be cleaned.
• Check use-by dates in the fridge, freezer and cupboards.
• Sort the “drop zones”: the hall table, the kitchen drawer and the bedroom chair.
• Book a bulky waste collection with your council, or a tip run, for anything large.

If the clutter is so heavy that rooms can’t be used, a normal checklist won’t fit. Our hoarder cleaning guide sets out a safer, staged approach.

Step 2: gather supplies

• Microfibre cloths, a duster with an extension handle, and a vacuum with attachments
• Degreaser, limescale remover, glass cleaner and a gentle multi-surface cleaner
• Oven cleaner if you’re tackling the oven yourself
• A mop and bucket, a scrubbing brush and an old toothbrush for grout
• Rubber gloves, and bin bags for the declutter

Step 3: use products safely

Spring cleaning means using stronger products than usual, often in small rooms. Read the label, open the windows and wear gloves. Government chemical safety advice warns that mixing household cleaners can form a highly toxic gas, with chlorine bleach and ammonia given as an example, so use one product at a time and rinse between them. Keep products in their original containers, out of reach of children and pets.

Test any new product on a hidden patch first, especially on natural stone, marble, wood and painted walls. Acidic limescale removers can etch stone, and abrasive pads scratch stainless steel and glass.

Room-by-room spring cleaning checklist

Kitchen

• Empty cupboards, wipe inside and out, and clean the tops
• Degrease tiles, splashbacks and cupboard fronts
• De-lime the sink, taps and kettle
• Clean the oven, hob and extractor filter
• Defrost and wash the fridge freezer, and vacuum the coils at the back if accessible
• Clean the washing machine drawer and door seal, and run an empty hot wash
• Clean the dishwasher filter and run an empty hot cycle
• Pull out appliances you can move safely and clean behind them
• Wash the bins inside and out

Bathrooms

• Descale shower heads, taps and screens
• Scrub grout and treat mould spots
• Wash the shower curtain or clean the screen seals
• Clear out cabinets and bin expired products; return old medicines to a pharmacy
• Dust the extractor fan cover and check it’s working
• Clean behind and around the toilet, including the base and hinges
• Wash bath mats and replace tired toothbrush holders or soap dishes

Living room and bedrooms

• Dust light fittings, curtain rails and the tops of wardrobes
• Wipe skirting boards, door frames, switches and radiators
• Vacuum sofas and under cushions, and rotate or flip mattresses where the manufacturer recommends it
• Wash or freshen curtains, cushions and throws
• Clean interior windows, frames, tracks and sills
• Vacuum under beds and furniture
• Wash pillows and duvets if the care label allows, or have them professionally cleaned

If curtains can’t go in the machine, our guide to cleaning curtains without washing them covers vacuuming, spot cleaning and steaming.

Hallways and stairs

• Wipe banisters, doors and handles
• Vacuum stairs edge to edge
• Clean the front door, letterbox and doorbell
• Sort the coat cupboard and shoe rack

Outside

• Sweep paths, the patio and the doorstep
• Wipe garden furniture and clear gutters you can reach safely from the ground
• Clean exterior window sills and the front door frame

A weekend spring cleaning plan

When	What
Friday evening	Declutter, gather supplies, strip beds and start the washing
Saturday morning	Deep clean the kitchen, including the oven and fridge
Saturday afternoon	Bathrooms
Sunday morning	Bedrooms and living areas, top to bottom
Sunday afternoon	Hallways, stairs, then all floors

If a whole weekend isn’t realistic, do one room each evening over a week, always leaving floors until last.

Spring cleaning in a rented home

If you rent, a spring clean does more than make the place feel fresh. It stops small problems becoming deposit deductions later. Limescale, grease and mould are far easier to shift after one year than after three.

• Treat mould spots early, keep rooms ventilated and report damp or leaks to your landlord in writing.
• Check your tenancy agreement before using strong products on worktops, stone or wooden floors.
• Photograph anything already worn or damaged, so there’s a dated record.

Moving out rather than refreshing? Use our end of tenancy cleaning checklist instead, as it follows what inventory clerks inspect.

Which jobs are worth leaving to a professional?

• Heavily soiled ovens, where carbon has built up over years
• Carpets and sofas, which need hot-water extraction machines for a proper clean
• Thick limescale across glass screens and taps
• Large or multi-bathroom homes, where a weekend won’t be enough
• Patios and driveways, where a pressure washer set to the wrong pressure can damage stone and joints

What do professional spring cleaning services include?

Our spring cleaning service covers the same ground as a deep clean: every room top to bottom, grease and limescale removed, and skirting boards, doors and switches cleaned. Most people who want a spring clean book it as a deep clean, and the prices are the same. Fixed prices from our prices page:

Property size	Fixed price
Studio flat	£135
1 bed, 1 bath	£175
2 bed, 1 bath	£230
2 bed, 2 bath	£270
3 bed, 1 bath	£325
3 bed, 2 bath	£360
4 bed, 2 bath	£435

Extras include a single oven (£35), a fridge freezer (£40), carpets (£30 per room), a 3-seater sofa (£60) and mattresses (£25). Cleaners are DBS-checked, the price is fixed before you book, and if anything’s missed, tell us within 72 hours and we’ll come back to put it right at no cost. Our guide to what a deep clean includes has the full deep cleaning checklist.

Frequently asked questions