It is a familiar moment: someone pulls out the fridge to replace a socket, and underneath appears a grey, sticky layer. Or you climb a ladder in the kitchen and find dust on top of the wall cabinets that is no longer dust but a greasy film. Yet the flat has been clean for years: wiped, vacuumed and mopped every week. Weekly cleaning does its job well; it simply does not reach these spots.
Weekly cleaning is maintenance. What it doesn’t reach builds up over time, and from then on it is no longer a matter of cleaning, but of restoration. This article goes room by room through where these spots hide and how best to deal with them.
Why is it always the same thing that gets missed?
The spots that get missed have three things in common, and once you know them, they are easy to find in your own home.
- aren't visible: the top of the wardrobe, the floor behind the fridge or the radiator fins go unnoticed at eye level
- something has to be moved: a ladder brought in, furniture pulled aside, a filter removed
- they need time: descalers and degreasers need dwell time, which doesn't fit into a regular visit
Kitchen: where grease traps dust
Grease released into the air during cooking settles on every horizontal surface and binds the dust. That is why the kitchen gets dirty faster than any other room, and why these spots need a degreaser rather than a simple wipe. A greasy surface wiped with a dry duster only smears.
- the cooker hood filter and casing
- the tops of the wall cupboards and the gaps between cupboards
- the inside of the oven, the baking trays and the racks
- the floor behind and under the fridge, and the folds of the fridge door seal
- the tile grout above the worktop and the hob
The metal grease filter of a cooker hood can be cleaned by soaking it in a degreaser. Most activated carbon filters, however, cannot be washed: they need replacing at the intervals the manufacturer specifies, otherwise the hood filters less and less effectively.
Bathroom: limescale and soap residue
In the bathroom, limescale and soap residue build up layer by layer. At the base of taps, in shower tracks and along the silicone, a weekly wipe is no longer enough: here you need a descaler suited to the tiles and fittings, and the right contact time.
- the base of the taps and the aerator at the end of the spout
- the shower head, the shower enclosure track and the bottom edge of its door
- the silicone and tile grout around the shower and bath
- the underside of the toilet rim and the wall behind the cistern
- the ventilation grille, where humid air binds the dust
Acidic products cause permanent damage to marble and some stone surfaces: in the bathroom, choosing the right product matters more than force.
Living room and bedroom: behind and above the furniture
Dust collects under the sofa, the bed and the wardrobes, and settles between radiator fins too. During the heating season, a greyish band often appears on the wall above the radiator: warm air carries dust upwards, and it settles on the wall. Doors, frames and switches are touched every day, yet they are rarely cleaned.
- the floor under and behind the bed, sofa and large wardrobes
- radiator fins and the wall behind them
- lampshades, the curtain rail and the outside of the air-conditioning unit
- door leaves, frames, handles and switches
- skirting boards, especially in the corners
Upholstered furniture and mattresses are a separate matter: fine dust that has settled between the fibres cannot be removed with a vacuum cleaner. How often machine deep cleaning is worth booking is covered in in this article .
Windows, shutters, sills
Many people clean their window glass regularly, but the frames, sills and blinds less often. Dirt building up in the corners of the frame makes even a freshly cleaned window look neglected, and a lot of dust collects between the slats of the blinds. We have written separately about the on the technique for streak-free glass is covered separately.
At a glance: what builds up there, and how to treat it
| Points | What collects there | What to treat it with |
|---|---|---|
| Cooker hood, tops of cupboards | Grease-bound dust | Degreaser; soak the filter |
| Base of the tap, shower enclosure track | Limescale, soap scum | Limescale remover suited to the surface, with dwell time |
| Marble and other stone flooring | Limescale, soap scum | An acid-free product suitable for stone; never an acidic one |
| Silicone, tile grout | Soap residue, discolouration | Gentle product, steam, soft brush |
| Radiators, floor under furniture | Fine dust | HEPA-filter vacuum cleaner, narrow nozzle |
| Window frames, shutters, sills | Dust and build-up | Wet cleaning, corners included |
| Upholstery, mattresses | Fine dust, stains | Machine deep cleaning, as a separate item |
When is it due?
For homes, it is worth tackling these points in a single visit once or twice a year: during a spring or autumn tidy-up, before the holidays, or before the holiday home's season opens. Moving is a different matter: an empty home is the best opportunity, as we explained in our article on on the right order for a move .
So the layer behind the fridge is not a sign of laziness, but of a weekly routine that these spots simply don’t fit into. Once they have been dealt with, weekly cleaning can keep them that way. Our deep cleaning item list is the same in the quote and at handover, so at the end you can check point by point that the tops of the cupboards and the radiator fins were covered too.