We clean homes across Franklin

Older Franklin homes need careful cleaning

The streets around the Franklin town common and Dean College hold some of the oldest houses in town. Many are colonials and Victorians with wood floors, painted trim, plaster walls and cast iron radiators under the windows. They were built to last, but nobody built them to be easy to clean. Every stair spindle and every strip of molding is a place where dust settles and stays.

Radiators are the worst for it. Dust packs in between the sections all winter, and when the heat comes on it rises right back into the room. Old wood floors are the other worry. The finish on them is often worn thin. A soaking wet mop or a harsh cleaner can dull it, or swell the boards and raise the grain. Skip that care and an old house looks dusty again a day after it was cleaned.

So in these houses we slow down. Radiators get dusted by hand, and wood floors get a damp mop instead of a wet one. If you know what your floors are finished with, tell us and we will clean them to suit. We take care of your home like it was our own, and an old house is where that care shows. Joyce Frank wrote, “We’ve never had anyone better and we are spoiled for life.”

• Radiators and baseboards dusted by hand
• Wood floors damp mopped, never soaked
• Painted trim and window sills wiped down
• Stair railings and spindles dusted
• Salt film cleaned off entry floors in winter

Newer Franklin homes have more rooms

Away from downtown, most of Franklin is newer. The town grew quickly as families moved in for the commuter rail and the highway. Whole neighborhoods of colonials and split-levels went up on streets cut out of the woods. There are plenty of townhouse and condo complexes too. These homes are simpler to clean than an old Victorian, but they tend to be bigger, with more bathrooms and more floor to cover.

Size changes the job. A tall front hall with a hanging light gathers dust up where nobody can reach. Kitchens open onto the family room, so cooking grease settles on more than the stove. Many of these houses have forced hot air heat, which blows dust out of the vents and onto every flat surface all winter. Then there are the bathrooms, and a busy family can use several of them every day.

For a house like this, a standard cleaning on a regular schedule keeps the kitchen and bathrooms under control. A deep clean now and then catches what a regular visit misses: the tops of cabinets, light fixtures, vent covers and baseboards. It is also the right start for a house you are about to move into. Diane Roth wrote, “We needed help with cleaning before we moved into our house. My husband and I were very happy with the service provided!”

Franklin winters track salt into the house

Franklin gets real New England winters. Snow piles up along the driveways, and the roads are salted and sanded for months. All of that comes inside on boots and on the dog, and it ends up in the mudroom and across the kitchen floor. Left alone, salt dries into a white film on tile and wood. The sand is worse, because the grit scratches the floor finish every time someone walks across it.

Spring brings its own mess. Mud season comes with the thaw, and then the oaks and pines around town drop a coat of yellow pollen on sills and screens. Summer is humid. Bathrooms and basements hold moisture, and soap scum and mildew build up fast in a shower that never quite dries. In the fall, leaves get tracked in and ground into the rugs.

The cleaning changes with the season. In winter we put more time into entry floors and the salt film on them. In spring we get the pollen off the sills and the grime out of the window tracks. Before the holidays, a deep clean gets the house ready for guests. Tell us what is bothering you most when you call, and we will start there.

Getting a price in Franklin

Call us at (508) 816-5094, Monday to Friday. Tell us how big the house is and whether you want a standard cleaning or a deep clean. If you would rather not call, leave your name and number on this page. We give you a free quote before any cleaning starts, so you know the price up front. Franklin offices get the same, with the estimate based on the size of the space and the weekdays you want us there.