First, the distinction between a deep clean and a weekly clean is that the former reaches all the areas that are difficult to access and invisible to the naked eye. Therefore, a checklist of the deep clean should include all such hard to reach surfaces as skirting boards, extractor filters, tile grout, gaps on the top of kitchen cabinets, and tracks under sliding doors.
| At a glance· A deep clean covers the same rooms as a weekly clean, but adds the surfaces that routine cleaning skips.· The commonly missed cleaning spots cluster in four places: above eye level, behind appliances, inside soft furnishings and along edges.· Kitchens take the longest. One Cleantel client booked a kitchen deep clean expecting one to two hours and the job ran to six and a half.· A two bedroom apartment deep clean is usually a full working day, not a morning.· If time or budget is short, do the kitchen and the mattresses first. Both affect air quality and both are hard to fix later. |
What separates a deep clean from a weekly clean?
While the weekly clean keeps your place tidy, it is limited to such areas as floors, accessible surfaces, bathroom, and kitchen counter. All these places can be accessed with ease.
However, the room by room deep clean checklist is done in the same places but uses a different criterion. It is “open it, move it or get above it”. The Cleantel deep clean service will cover all the rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, windows, fixtures, skirting boards, door frames, even ceiling gaps and vents, and inaccessible spots like those behind furniture, which cannot be reached when doing a weekly clean and therefore collect a great deal of dust in an average UAE household.
As far as we need to compare two services in terms of their usefulness, we will discuss the cases when the service is applicable.
Kitchen: where the grease actually hides
The grease will not stay on the hob because it evaporates while cooking and travels with warm air falling in those spots where it slows down. These spots are usually above your head.
● Hoods using metal filter extractors: The metal filter becomes blocked from the interior side, and it cannot be cleaned through wiping it.
● Wall cabinet tops: Since they cannot be seen and the dust in the place forms a film by sticking to the grease, they cannot be cleaned with a cloth but will need a degreaser.
● Cabinets and kick boards: Food particles that fall into the gaps of the kickboards and the insides of the cabinets.
● Refrigerator and cooker: These two machines will need to be pulled out for them to be cleaned.
● Grout between tiles behind hob: There are numerous small openings in the grout where grease is collected.
● Roof panels, tiles and their joints, situated above the kitchen: A customer described how two people were cleaning roof panels and joints of tiles while deep-cleaning the kitchen, an area which not everybody thinks to look at.
The kitchen cleaning scope of Cleantel consists of exhaust hoods, tiles, cabinets, ovens and refrigerators, where instead of spray, food grade degreasing and descaling products are applied. The details of the process can be seen at the kitchen cleaning page.
Bathrooms: the parts a wipe-down never reaches
● Silicone seals and grouts where the hard water deposits mineral sediments, which are not washed off with a cloth.
● Overflow and shower drain pipes, which are usually a source of odor return after just one day from cleaning.
● The underside of the toilet rim and the fixing bolts at the base.
● Air intake grille of extractors, which captures moisture-filled dust.
The top edge of door frames and the shower screen track.
Hard water is the persistent agent in this scenario. The descaling process requires the use of some chemicals as well as the time of dwelling; thus, this is the reason why the bathroom becomes cleaner after cleaning but not after an hour of scrubbing.
Bedrooms and living areas: under, behind and above
Furniture is the reservoir. Dust accumulates in the fibers of the furniture in the form of dead skin particles and falls off when agitated.
● Mattresses. According to Cleantel, cleaning should occur twice a year. Moreover, if there are allergic reactions or skin problems, then the individual needs to carry out seasonal cleaning of the mattress.
● Under rugs and carpets, but not on them. The sand moves through the carpet and settles under the rug.
● Sofas. The cleaning process involves cleaning of sofa frames as well as the space beneath the cushions.
● Curtains that are vacuumed and steam-cleaned even while hung in the window frames by Cleantel.
● Ceiling cracks, air-conditioning vent covers, and lighting fixtures. One client identified air-conditioning vent covers and chandeliers being cleaned in their house as part of deep cleaning service.
Wardrobe tops and the backs of headboards.
The whole-home spots nearly everyone forgets
| Spot | Why it collects dirt | How often |
| Window and sliding door tracks | Fine sand blows in and compacts when damp | Every deep clean |
| Skirting boards and door frames | Horizontal ledges at floor and head height | Every deep clean |
| Light switches and door handles | High contact, rarely disinfected | Every visit |
| Behind wall-mounted televisions | Static attracts dust, and the gap is awkward | Twice a year |
| Air conditioning vent grilles | Everything circulating in the home passes through | Twice a year |
| Washing machine door seal and drawer | Trapped moisture and detergent residue | Every deep clean |
How long does a proper deep clean actually take?
And here we get into the realm of expectations and reality. The cleaning time of the two-bedroom apartment according to Cleantel will depend on the condition of the house and any add-ons and usually takes one working day. Here are some reviews from real clients on the testimonials page of Cleantel:
| What was cleaned | Time taken |
| Kitchen deep clean, two cleaners | 6.5 hours |
| Two bedroom furnished flat with balcony | 7 hours |
| Two and a half bathrooms, kitchen and AC vents | Over 5 hours |
| Full home deep clean, supervised | 11 hours |
If the quote mentions two-hour period for the deep cleaning of your home, then it is a completely different procedure.
| Proof: a kitchen that needed a working day· Client Preya Rajan booked a kitchen deep clean expecting it to take one to two hours.· Two cleaners worked for six and a half hours, including roof panels and tile gaps.· She described the price of 285 as good value for the time and level of detail involved.· Source: Cleantel testimonials page. Currency to be confirmed, see Client questions. |
How to prioritise when you cannot do everything
Not all homes do the whole deep cleaning of the house at once. And if you have to choose then go with the following order:
● Kitchen: The older the age, the tougher the job gets and it becomes tougher with every passing month.
● Mattresses and upholstery: Your sleep cycle of eight hours is dependent on this.
● Bathroom: Gradually, a bond is formed due to the limescale which won’t be removed by the cleaner anymore.
● Carpets and area rugs: In case of families having kids, after every four-six months.
● Everything above the eye level: Ceilings, vents, and cabinet top, after all other jobs.
The choice of vacuum is far more important than you might think. HEPA-filtered vacuums do not recirculate allergens, pollen, pet dander, and dust mites; they purify them from the air. The vacuum technology used by Cleantel is certified by the Carpet and Rug Institute.
Frequently asked questions
What should be on a deep cleaning checklist?
A deep cleaning checklist must start with the individual rooms and then progress to the places where deep cleaning usually isn’t done: extractor filters, cabinet tops and interiors, behind the appliances, grout, baseboards, door frames, window tracks, air conditioning vent grilles, ceiling cracks, and fabric such as curtains and mattresses.
Which spots do cleaners most often miss during a deep clean?
The trouble spots are the places that are out of reach or hidden behind something big. Wall cabinets tops, ceiling behind the stove, refrigerator and stove backs, the area under the carpet, the door seals of the washing machine and the tracks of doors and windows. They have to be specified specifically while scheduling the service.
How is a deep cleaning checklist different from a weekly clean?
Weekly cleaning includes only the areas that can be easily seen and reached. During deep cleaning, there’s more work involved: opening and rearranging stuff, sometimes even climbing on the furniture. The appliances must be moved aside, the cushions removed, filters cleaned, and the ceilings and vents included. The same rooms, but deeper cleaning.
How long does a deep clean take?
Cleaning a two-bedroom apartment takes an entire workday. The time, according to clients’ reviews, varies from six and a half hours spent in one kitchen to eleven hours for the entire house. It depends largely on the condition of the place, its size, and the number of cleaners.
How often should a home be deep cleaned?
All homes require a deep cleaning twice a year, while mattresses should be cleaned twice a year as well, and even more often if you are an allergy sufferer. In families with children, carpets should be cleaned once in every four or six months.
Can I deep clean my home myself?
Indeed, yes. The pieces that cannot be reproduced easily are carpet and furniture extraction, steam sanitization at the proper temperature, HEPA vacuuming and working up to the ceiling level. These are the elements of the process that most people prefer to subcontract.
Booking a deep clean in Sharjah
Since 1980, Cleantel has been cleaning houses and offices. Our company was founded in 1980 and initially performed phone cleaning – hence the name of the company. A deep cleaning begins with a fixed price quotation for your home and ends with an inspection tour during which your rooms are checked together with an overseer and all the deficiencies are immediately corrected.
Take pictures of the rooms that require cleaning and send them to our Cleantel WhatsApp service on the number +971 50 480 7273, together with the request for a fixed quotation for a deep cleaning and checklist like the one mentioned above. If you want a scope in writing, the full list of deep cleaning services in Sharjah will give you information about it.