Hi there,
When we decided to buy our new house, I never imagined that I would face such a big cleaning challenge. It wasn’t just about arranging furniture or choosing colors for the walls, but something much more basic: getting the house ready to live in.
The first few weekends were a mixture of excitement, frustration and a great deal of physical labor. Here I tell you how this process has been, from the chaos of the dirt to the small achievements that keep us motivated to continue with the work.
Here are the other articles about the purchase of the house:
Cleaning to exhaustion
Since we signed off on the purchase of the house, my plan was simple: clean everything on Friday, paint and decorate on Saturday. But what I found was nothing like I imagined. When we arrived at the house, the level of dirt was so extreme that the cleaning took much longer than I had planned.
We learned that the previous owners had two cats and a dog, which explained the tremendous amount of dirt. The cleaning was so thorough that we stayed until 2am on the first day. And that was just the basics: kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. The windows, front door and garage were left for the next weekend.
The second day we moved the bookcase and closet to organize the rooms as I had planned.
We decided to start with the windows, which we figured would be quick to clean. But that was not the case. Each window took us more than three hours, between cleaning the debris, hair, cobwebs, accumulated dirt and debris stuck to the frames. The same happened with the terrace: a never-ending job of cleaning with brush, bleach and pressurized steam.
Although we did not manage to finish everything, we did make considerable progress.
The second weekend we put new light fixtures in the kitchen, assembled some furniture, and started with the touch-up painting. But most importantly, we began to see that the house was finally starting to look like what we had envisioned.
We realized that the work was not just cleaning, but a lot of small repairs. We had to put silicone on the walls to prevent water leaks, put weather stripping on the doors to improve insulation, put cement and caulk in gaps and spaces where it was needed. All the windows were poorly installed because we had to put caulk, or silicone, or weatherstripping, and improve the insulation.
We also tried to clean the garage, but the hose was not working properly, so that task was left for later.
Every weekend seemed to have more details to correct, but we also realized that it was all part of the process of making the house our own.
I also started painting the kitchen.
Cleaning and adjusting the front door took us an entire morning.
We also put mirror paper on 2 windows.
Taking a break: balancing work and rest
After an exhausting first weekend, the second weekend was calmer. We decided not to demand so much of ourselves, as we needed to recharge our batteries for the return to Porto. Besides, between cleaning the house and our daily life, which also requires time and attention (cleaning our home in Porto, maintaining the garden, going to the gym…), fatigue began to take its toll.
The second weekend was more relaxed, although we continued to make progress in decorating and repairing small details. The key was to find the balance between work and rest, because we knew that this was not a race, but a process that would require time and patience.
The third weekend we left on a Friday morning because they were coming to install the internet.
That day I finished painting the kitchen and started with what little there was to paint in the rest of the house. By Sunday we were done with the green paint on the walls.
Since the previous owners had done everything wrong and had painted over the window frames, the process of painting around the windows was more complicated since we had to scrape and clean all the frames to be able to put the protective tape and paint.
I also painted the edges of the windows and the railings with epoxy paint. With the same epoxy paint, I painted the stone stairs on the inside of the house.
I had also planned to paint the facade, but we didn’t have time.
The neighbours lent us a device with which we sprayed bleach all over the mossy outside of the house and inside the garage. The next day, they lent us another pressure washer with which we managed to remove almost all the moss.
Since the previous owners had not taken any care of this house, the excessive amount of moss was not going to go away with just one cleaning session. I also purchased an anti-moss product that I would apply the following weekend.
We cleaned the garage, and it was a disgusting experience. Since the former owners had a dog locked up all day without even opening the garage door, it was a Dantesque spectacle of urine and pounds of hair.
Again, thanks to the help of the neighbours, we managed to dismantle a huge wine barrel that was the poor dog’s home. We could not make any use of it as it was putrid with dog urine.
We also thoroughly cleaned the washing machine which, despite being only 9 months old, was in a deplorable state.
We took out all the unused furniture that was in poor condition and left it at the garage door for the council to come and take it away.
Finally, on Sunday before returning to Porto, we fitted smart plugs to the stoves and water heater, put a smart bulb in the bathroom and another in the lamp above the bed, and fitted a security camera.
This weekend we also got a quote from a carpenter for 2 doors.
Renovating a house is hard work but also rewarding. Every little step forward is a victory. Although we still have many weekends ahead of us, we know that soon we will have our perfect house.
I will continue to tell you how this story goes.
This is what the house looks like after 3 weekends of work:
Here are the links to my YouTube channel: