Buying a historic home, especially one listed in the National Register of Historic Places, can be enticing. A home is considered to be historic if it is at least 50 years old, has unique quirks, and character compared to modern construction, according to a report on Redfin. The architecture of historic homes also helps keep past stories intact.
However, over time, dust, dirt, and air pollutants accumulate in your old home, and failure to keep up with maintenance and cleanliness affects the overall value of the property. To keep the value of historic properties, there are essential home maintenance tricks you should know. If you own a vintage house, here's how to keep historic homes clean, organized, and classic.
Schedule Regular Maintenance
Regular upkeep, such as painting and fixing plumbing fixtures, goes a long way to help you protect the unique features of your historic home. Also, check the roof for leaks and get your heating and cooling appliances checked and cleaned once every few months. This trick helps reduce future damages that will not only affect the function and aesthetic of your vintage home but also cost more to fix. Other monthly home maintenance tasks you should add to your checklist include descaling faucets and shower heads, cleaning the furnace filter, inspecting tubs and sink drains, and testing smoke alarms.
Dust Surfaces
There’s no doubt that vintage homes get better with time, but dust and debris accumulate, taking a toll on the quality of the windows, wall painting, and ceilings. Besides affecting the aesthetics of historic homes, dirt reduces indoor air quality. For this reason, it’s crucial to wipe dust from hard surfaces in your home. As a general rule of thumb, always start dusting from top to bottom. That way, you won’t have dirt resettle on clean surfaces.
Make sure to wipe off dust from the ceiling and ceiling trim, walls, ceiling, and baseboards using a microfiber mop. Then, wipe other hard surfaces like shelves, wooden furniture, and built-ins with furniture cleaning agents or polish. Don’t forget to clean the nooks and crannies because that’s where pollutants, such as pollen, dust mites, food debris, and condensed particulate matter, hide.
Deep cleaning windows is also key to improving air quality and brightening your home. When you deep clean the windows, you get rid of dust that accumulates on veneers and finds its way into the house through airflow and sunlight. Other ways to keep your vintage home free of dust and improve air quality include waxing wooden floors, restoring carpet pile, replacing HVAC filters, and keeping windows open during the day.
Declutter Before Deep Cleaning
There are many reasons to declutter your home, including reduced stress, having more space, and peace of mind. Getting rid of clutter makes finding items within your space easier. After all, you’re only keeping the items you love and add value to your home and life. Clearing clutter also makes deep cleaning and organizing your historic home less stressful. Check to see if there are a few random items taking up space in the living room, kitchen cabinets, bathroom drawers, under the stairs, closets, tabletops, and workspaces.
Historic homes have unique design features and tell interesting stories about the past. But the aesthetics and air quality of vintage properties deteriorate over time if not maintained properly. With this in mind, it's crucial to know the essentials of cleaning and organizing old homes to keep them classic and keep their homes. These steps include keeping up with routine maintenance, dusting surfaces regularly, decluttering, and deep cleaning.
