When the building or renovation work is finished, your home isn’t ready to live in yet. A very fine dust covers everything, even inside the cupboards, and there are often traces of paint, glue or plaster left behind.
Cleaning after building work isn’t like a normal clean. Here’s what we see in our clients’ homes, what the tradesperson should put right, and how to go about it if you’re doing it yourself.
What our clients check first
When we finish a clean after building work, our clients go to the kitchen and the bathroom first. They open the cupboards, the units, the oven and the fridge: it’s the inside they check.
And they’re right. During building work, dust gets in everywhere, even inside cupboards and units that were kept shut. If you want the inside of your cupboards or appliances cleaned, tell us when you first get in touch.
Mouldy grout and seals
Our clients also look at the grout and seals in the bathroom and kitchen, to see whether the mould has gone. When the mould is only on the surface, cleaning gets rid of it. But sometimes it has got into the grout or seal itself. Then even a good clean isn’t always enough: the mark can stay.
In that case, the only fix is to redo the grout or seal, and that’s a job for a tradesperson. We’d rather tell you this up front than promise you grout that looks like new.
Tradesperson or cleaner: who does what?
Cleaning doesn’t replace the finishing work. A drip on a freshly painted wall, a badly done seal or a badly laid tile: it’s up to the tradesperson to put these right. Paint splashes on a window or on tiles are usually a cleaning job.
For rubble and large waste, talk to your building company about taking them away: they aren’t part of a normal clean.
Do you have some paint, lacquer or solvent left over? Don’t throw them in the bin. In Luxembourg, SuperDrecksKëscht accepts them, for example at its mobile collections, which come to every municipality.
Not your ordinary dust
Building dust is very fine. If you sweep it with a dry brush, it goes back up into the air and settles again a little further away. When concrete, brick or tiles are cut or sanded, the dust can also contain silica, and it’s best not to breathe that in. That’s why you should vacuum it up instead of sweeping it.
For this job, we bring our own vacuum cleaners, as we do for every end-of-tenancy clean. You don’t need to get yours out.
That still leaves the fine white dust that clings to floors: in the grout between tiles and in the grooves of wooden floors. It’s very hard to get out. For that, we have a special machine with rollers to suit each type of floor. If you need it, we’ll include it in your quote.
What order to clean in
If you’re doing it yourself, a simple order stops you from dirtying what you’ve just cleaned:
- Wait until all the dusty work is finished, touch-ups included. If anyone sands after the clean, you’ll have to do it all again.
- Start at the top: the tops of doors and furniture, door and window frames, windowsills. Anything that falls will be picked up later.
- Vacuum first, then wash. If you use a wet cloth too early on fine dust, it leaves streaks.
- Clean the inside of cupboards, furniture and appliances.
- Finish with the floor, working your way back towards the door.
- Do a last check in daylight to spot anything you missed.
For paint, glue or silicone marks, always try first in a corner where it won’t show: the wrong product or a scraper can damage the surface. And if you don’t know what’s in the dust, ask the building company before you start.
When should you call us?
You can contact us before the work is finished. But the cleaning itself is done once all the dusty work is over, touch-ups included. Paint, grout, seals and floors also need to be completely dry: ask your tradesperson how soon they can be cleaned.
If you can, have the cleaning done before you move in: in empty rooms, everything is easier to reach.
What to tell us in your request
To prepare your quote, tell us:
- which rooms need cleaning;
- what work was done (painting, tiling, a new kitchen…);
- which cupboards, furniture and appliances should also be cleaned inside;
- any marks you have spotted: paint, glue, plaster, silicone…;
- new or delicate surfaces, with the installer’s care instructions if you have them;
- which windows need cleaning, and any areas high up.
Photos help us a lot, but we always come and see your home before we send the quote: some things can only be seen properly in person.
In the quote, we write down what’s included: the rooms, the windows, the inside of the furniture… Anything not listed isn’t part of the job, so don’t hesitate to ask us.
For windows, we clean the inside and outside when we can reach them directly, with a small stepladder at most. Beyond that, we look for a solution together, and we write it into the quote.
A home or an office?
For a home, everything is explained on our page about post-renovation cleaning. For offices, a shop or other business premises, see our page on cleaning after building work for businesses.
Sources
- HSE — Cancer and construction: silica. Accessed 23 October 2026.
- HSE — Construction dust: dry sweeping. Accessed 23 October 2026.
- SuperDrecksKëscht — Paints, lacquers and glazes. Accessed 23 October 2026.
- SuperDrecksKëscht — Mobile collection. Accessed 23 October 2026.
Tell us about your project
Let us know which rooms are involved, what work was done and what you’d like cleaned. We’ll get back to you about the quote and the date.
Request a quote