How to deep clean an office: a room-by-room checklist
To deep clean an office, pick a quiet day, have everyone clear their desks the day before, and work room by room from the top down: high ledges, vents and light fixtures first, then walls, desks and equipment, then baseboards, and the floors last. Give the kitchen and restrooms the most time.
When should you schedule it?
When the fewest people are in: a weekend, a holiday week or a planned closed day. Send a note a few days ahead asking people to clear their desks, take home anything personal and empty the shared fridge of what's theirs. In a Philadelphia winter, the weeks after the worst of the road salt are a good time to get to the carpet and the entry.
What do you need?
- Microfiber cloths in two colours, one for restrooms and one for everything else
- An extendable duster for vents, ledges and light fixtures
- An all-purpose cleaner and a glass cleaner
- A disinfectant registered for the surfaces you're treating, used for the full contact time on the label
- A vacuum with a crevice tool and upholstery tool
- A mop and bucket for hard floors
- Trash bags, and rubber gloves
How do you deep clean the work areas?
- High first: vents and returns, the tops of partitions, shelves and cabinets, light fixtures (switched off).
- Walls and doors: marks around light switches, door handles and kick plates.
- Desks: cleared, wiped all the way across, then the legs and the modesty panel.
- Electronics: power off, a dry or barely damp microfiber cloth on screens, never a spray straight onto a device.
- Chairs: vacuum the seat and back with the upholstery tool, wipe the arms and the base.
- Low: baseboards, cords and power strips (unplugged and dusted), the bottoms of chair wheels.
- Floors last: vacuum carpet slowly in two directions, with the crevice tool along the edges. Mop hard floors.
How do you deep clean the office kitchen?
Empty and wash the fridge, clean the microwave inside and out, descale the coffee maker as its manual says, run the dishwasher empty with a clean filter, and degrease the cabinet fronts and handles. Our office kitchen cleaning guide goes appliance by appliance.
How do you deep clean the restrooms?
Top to bottom, with the restroom cloths only: vents, partitions and the tops of dispensers, then mirrors, sinks and fixtures, then toilets and urinals inside and out, then the floor and the grout lines along the walls. Disinfect the touch points: handles, flush levers, faucets, dispensers and door pulls.
What about the carpet and the entry?
Vacuum entry carpet slowly in two directions, then treat salt marks by blotting with warm water and a little white vinegar, and blot again with plain water. Heavily soiled carpet may need hot water extraction from a carpet cleaning company. Long walk-off mats inside and out keep a lot of it out.
How do you keep it from building up again?
Write the deep-clean jobs onto a calendar with a name next to each one: vents and high ledges quarterly, the fridge every Friday, carpet extraction once or twice a year. Our office cleaning by season post lays out the year.
Should you hire it out?
If the deep clean keeps getting pushed back, it's worth pricing out. See our office cleaning page, then request a quote for Commercial Cleaning with your square footage, the number of people and the rooms you want covered.
FAQ
How often should an office be deep cleaned? A few times a year, often once a season, on top of the regular cleaning. Offices with a lot of foot traffic, a busy kitchen or carpet that takes winter salt may need it more often.
How do you get salt marks out of office entry carpet? Vacuum the carpet slowly in two directions first. Then blot the white marks with warm water and a little white vinegar, and blot again with plain water. Heavily soiled carpet may need hot water extraction from a carpet cleaning company.
When should you schedule an office deep clean? When the fewest people are in: a weekend, a holiday week or a planned closed day. Give staff notice to clear their desks and take personal items home, so surfaces can be wiped all the way across.
Request a quote
Our service area: every Philadelphia neighborhood, plus the Pennsylvania suburbs within about 30 miles of Center City, in Montgomery, Delaware, Bucks and Chester counties. Request a quote at phillyscleanteam.com/request-a-quote, or call or text (215) 798-7576, 9 AM to 9 PM, every day.
