Things a House Cleaner Won’t Clean

Hiring a house cleaner can make keeping your home clean much easier, especially if you have a busy household, but there are some jobs a house cleaner typically cannot or should not do. A professional house cleaner is trained and equipped to handle many common household cleaning tasks, but they are not qualified to handle every cleaning or maintenance problem in a home.

Some jobs require specialized equipment, training, licensing, or safety precautions that go beyond normal house cleaning. Knowing the difference can help you hire the right professional for the job and keep everyone safe.

What Does a House Cleaner Typically Do?

A house cleaner generally handles the routine cleaning that keeps a home looking and feeling clean.

Services vary, but common house cleaning tasks may include:

• Dusting furniture and surfaces
• Vacuuming carpets and rugs
• Sweeping and mopping floors
• Cleaning bathrooms
• Cleaning toilets, sinks, tubs, and showers
• Cleaning kitchen counters and sinks
• Cleaning the outside of appliances
• Cleaning mirrors and glass
• Emptying trash
• Dusting baseboards
• Cleaning doors and light switches
• Removing everyday dirt, dust, and grime
• Changing bed linens when requested
• Cleaning common living areas and bedrooms

Some cleaning companies also offer additional services such as inside refrigerator cleaning, inside oven cleaning, interior window cleaning, or folding laundry. Always check with the cleaning company to find out exactly what is included in their service.

What Can’t a House Cleaner Do?

There are certain jobs that are generally outside the scope of standard house cleaning. These jobs may require specialized training, protective equipment, specific licensing, or knowledge of building systems and hazardous materials.

Secure Pets

House cleaners are there to clean your home, not to supervise or control your pets. Before the cleaner arrives, pets should be secured in a safe location if there is any possibility they could interfere with the cleaning or become frightened, escape, or act aggressively.

This is especially important for dogs that are nervous around strangers, pets that may try to get out when doors are opened, or animals that do not do well with vacuums and other cleaning equipment.

Depending on the pet and the home, this may mean:

• Keeping dogs or cats in a separate room
• Using a secure crate or kennel
• Keeping pets in a fenced area away from the cleaning area
• Making sure doors and gates are securely closed
• Letting the cleaner know about pets before the cleaning begins

A house cleaner should not be expected to chase a loose pet, hold an animal while cleaning, or take responsibility for keeping a pet from escaping.

Even friendly pets can behave differently when a stranger is in the home or when loud equipment such as a vacuum cleaner is being used. Securing pets helps protect the animal, the cleaner, and the homeowner. House cleaners should be able to clean safely and efficiently.

Move Heavy Items

House cleaners generally do not move heavy furniture or appliances to clean underneath or behind them. Moving items such as beds, couches, dressers, refrigerators, or washing machines can cause injuries or damage to the item or floor. Most cleaners will clean around these items and may clean underneath them if there is enough clearance to safely reach with a vacuum or cleaning tool. If something needs to be moved for cleaning, it is best for the homeowner to move it beforehand or ask the cleaning company if they offer that service.

Clean Mold

House cleaners generally should not be hired to remove significant mold growth.

Small amounts of surface mildew may sometimes be addressed during routine bathroom cleaning, depending on the product, surface, and cleaning company’s policies. However, extensive mold growth, recurring mold, or mold associated with water damage should be handled by professionals who are trained in mold assessment and remediation.

Clean a Fireplace or Chimney

A house cleaner may be able to dust the outside of a fireplace, clean the surrounding hearth, or vacuum certain areas once they are completely cool, depending on the company’s policies.

However, cleaning the inside of a wood burning fireplace or chimney is generally a job for a qualified chimney professional. Chimneys can contain soot, creosote, and other combustible deposits that require specialized equipment and proper handling.

Clean Sewage or Biohazardous Materials

House cleaners are not equipped or trained to clean up sewage backups, large amounts of human or animal waste, blood, or other potentially hazardous biological materials.

These situations can expose workers to harmful microorganisms and require appropriate protective equipment and disposal procedures. A specialized remediation or biohazard cleanup company should be contacted when these conditions are present.

Remove Animal Waste

A routine house cleaner should not be cleaning urine, feces, or other animal waste. Homes with extensive pet waste may require specialized cleaning and remediation because contaminated materials can pose health concerns.

Remove Hazardous Chemicals

A professional house cleaner should not be expected to clean up spills or contamination involving hazardous chemicals.

This can include certain pesticides, solvents, fuels, industrial chemicals, or unknown substances. Cleaning products themselves can also become dangerous when they are mixed incorrectly.

If you are unsure what a spilled substance is, keep people and pets away from the area and contact the appropriate professional rather than asking a house cleaner to clean it up.

Carpet Cleaning

Vacuuming carpets is a standard part of many house cleaning services, but deep carpet cleaning is usually a separate service.

Professional carpet cleaning involves more than vacuuming. Depending on the carpet and the cleaning method, it may involve specialized equipment designed to rinse, extract, and remove deeply embedded dirt, stains, and other debris from the carpet fibers.

A house cleaner may vacuum your carpets as part of a regular cleaning, but you should not assume they will shampoo or professionally clean them.

It is also important to ask about carpet cleaning if you are hiring a house cleaner for a move-out or deep cleaning. Deep cleaning a house does not mean professionally cleaning the carpets.

Pest Infestations

A house cleaner can remove ordinary dirt and debris, but they are not a substitute for a pest control service.

If a home has an active infestation of insects, rodents, or other pests, the underlying pest problem needs to be addressed first. A cleaner may be able to perform additional cleaning after.

Exterior Window Cleaning

Cleaning windows inside the home may be included in some house cleaning services, but exterior window cleaning is typically not part of a standard house cleaning service.

Exterior windows can require specialized tools, ladders, extension poles, water-fed equipment, or other equipment depending on the height and type of window. Working on ladders or around the exterior of a home can also create safety concerns.

A house cleaner may clean the inside of accessible windows, window sills, and tracks if those services are offered, but exterior windows are handled by a professional window cleaning company.

If you want your windows cleaned inside and outside, ask about it when scheduling your cleaning. Don’t assume that “window cleaning” automatically means both sides.

Cleaning High or Hard-to-Reach Areas

A house cleaner may be perfectly capable of dusting a ceiling fan, cleaning accessible light fixtures, or reaching moderately high surfaces with an appropriate step stool or extension tool.

However, extremely high areas such as tall chandeliers or locations that require climbing ladders beyond what the cleaner can safely use may be outside the cleaning company’s service.

A professional cleaner should never be expected to put themselves in an unsafe situation just to reach a cleaning task.

Additional Services a House Cleaner Cannot Do

• Pressure washing
• Exterior cleaning – A house cleaner may be able to clean an accessible area just outside a door or sweep a porch as part of a specific service, but exterior cleaning is generally a service performed by professionals who specialize in that type of work.
• Water damage
• Smoke damage
• Remove asbestos
• Remove lead paint

Some of these jobs involve more than simply cleaning an area. They may require specialized equipment, training, licensing, or protective gear.

Asbestos and lead paint, in particular, can pose serious health risks when disturbed and should be handled by professionals trained to work with these materials.

Why Some Cleaning Jobs Require a Specialist

There is an important difference between being able to clean something and being qualified to safely deal with the problem.

Specialized professionals may have:

• Specialized training
• Proper protective equipment
• Specialized cleaning or restoration equipment
• Knowledge of hazardous materials
• Required licenses or certifications
• Appropriate insurance
• Experience dealing with specific hazards

For example, a house cleaner may know how to scrub a bathroom extremely well, but that does not make them a mold remediation professional. A cleaner may be able to vacuum a fireplace hearth, but that does not make them a chimney sweep. The right person for the job matters.

Always Ask What Is Included in Your Cleaning Service

Cleaning companies do not all offer the same services. One company may include an oven or refrigerator cleaning while another may charge extra. Some cleaners may offer interior window cleaning, while others do not.

Before scheduling a cleaning, ask what is included and whether there are any tasks the company does not perform.

This can prevent surprises for both the homeowner and the cleaner.

House cleaners play an important role in maintaining a clean and comfortable home, but they are not expected to do everything you need done.

Knowing what a house cleaner can do and what they cannot do helps you choose the right professional for each job. It also protects the cleaner, your home, and your family by making sure potentially dangerous or specialized work is handled by someone properly trained to do it.