How to Cleanup A Storeroom

A messy storeroom is not a pretty sight. Such a storeroom can be either an unused garage, a basement, an attic, a closet, or an outside shed not being used for its primary purpose. But there are easy and quick ways to clean out all types of storerooms to once again have free space inside them.

Assess Contents of Storeroom

Visually inspect exactly what’s inside. Look at all the old boxes, bags, books, magazines, furniture, old electronics, and little and big pieces of collectibles you’ve amassed over the years. Most of this material will be junk that you can quickly decide to throw out. To help you even more, you can write down a list of exactly what’s needed to be thrown out and what should be saved, as well as the best ways to get rid of each item. Most storeroom items have been stashed there for years and will be very dirty and will be dusty and unclean so it’s important to have sturdy gloves available before you start picking anything up.

Gather Your Boxes and Bags

Decide which items are to be bagged and which ones are to be boxed. You should try to box the heavier ones as they’ll likely fall through the bags. You can throw out books, magazines, old lamps, office supplies, and rusted tools in theses boxes. In the bags, you can place newspapers, small personal items, toiletries if any, electronic gadgets that don’t function anymore, as well as small toys and any used party items.

Carry theses boxes and bags outside of the storeroom and place them near your driveway or in your yard so you can move them off your property at a a later time. Use as many boxes and bags as you need. You can obtain theses boxes at many supermarkets for free or even pay very little for each one from local moving companies where they’re used as packing boxes for people who are moving.

Broom Sweep Floor and Vacuum

Once everything is cleared out in the box and bags, pick up anything by hand that was too large to fit inside a box or bag and place it outside of the storeroom. Then use a sturdy push broom to clean up the left over small sized pieces of debris, whether they’re newspaper clippings, or loose screws, bolts, and nuts, or anything that’s too heavy for a vacuum. After brushing it all away, then use a vacuum cleaner to fully clean the room ridding it of all the accumulated dust and debris.

You’ll see that the vacuum canister will fill up fast with all of the accumulated dust so you may have to empty the bag once or twice before you finish vacuuming, depending on just how long the storeroom was left unattended to and never vacuumed before. Then for the cleanest results, rent a floor cleaning machines such as a steamer and fully steam clean the floor to help disinfect all the accumulated dust and bacteria particles along the ground. Now the floor will be fully clean and free from debris.

Clean all Walls and Shelves

Now start to clean all of the higher surfaces of the storeroom with household cleaner. This can be some ammonia or vinegar and water. Work on cleaning the dust and dirt off of all of the shelves and also fully clean the walls so that there are no smudges or streaks of dirt, grease, oil, mold, mildew, or tarnished paint. Do a strong scrubbing job with stainless steel pads as well as with regular softer sponges for the best overall cleaning effect.

Donate Everything You Can’t Throw Out

Whatever you don’t wish to throw out in the garbage or local county dump, clean off and call up several charitable organizations to have them come and pick up the heavier items and offer them to these organizations as free donations so they can use them for a good cause. This will also help free up many of your larger, heavier items such as furniture, tables, and any old computers you think they would want. Plus, you’ll feel good doing this final clean up job.