How often to clean a flat: a guide by room and appliance

A flat is usually cleaned at a rhythm that reflects how quickly each area gets dirty and what risk the mess carries. Clean the kitchen worktop after every cooking session, the bathroom and floors once a week, change the bed linen once a week, clean the fridge and cooker hood filter roughly once a month and wash the windows two to four times a year. Adjust the exact rhythm to the number of people and pets and the humidity in the flat.

What determines cleaning frequency

There is no single correct schedule for every flat. A one-person household in a studio flat gets by with less cleaning than a family with a dog. Three questions help you decide:

• Hygiene: does the place come into contact with food, the body or illness? The kitchen, toilet and bed linen take priority.
• Humidity: does water stay in the place? The bathroom, the area around the shower and windowsills are where mould appears if neglected.
• Build-up: does dirt accumulate gradually, becoming harder to remove the longer you wait? Typical examples are grease in the cooker hood or limescale.

You will find a ready-made schedule by day and week, including a printable table, in the article Úklidový plán domácnosti. Here we look at the individual rooms and the reasons.

Kitchen

The kitchen is where cleaning affects health the most. The CDC recommends washing utensils, chopping boards and worktops with hot, soapy water after preparing each food item and cutting raw meat on a separate chopping board.

• After every cooking session: worktop, hob, sink, chopping boards.
• Daily: the bin with biowaste; change tea towels as needed.
• Weekly: check the fridge and expired food, wipe appliance doors and handles, mop the floor.
• Monthly: inside of the fridge, microwave, grease filter of the cooker hood.
• Quarterly to twice a year: thorough oven cleaning, inside of cupboards, the splashback behind the worktop.

Fridge

Wipe up spills immediately and clean the whole fridge roughly once a month. For fridges, Bosch advises to switch the appliance off first, ideally unplug it, keep the food in a cool place and clean with a soft cloth, lukewarm water and a detergent with an approximately neutral pH; the seals with clean water only.

Cooker hood

Clean the metal grease filter according to how often you cook, roughly once a month with normal use. For its extractors, Bosch states that metal filters can be washed in the dishwasher on a programme without any other dishes. The carbon filter in recirculating cooker hoods is usually not cleaned but replaced; you will find the replacement interval in the manual for your model.

Dishwasher

Check the filter at the bottom of the dishwasher roughly every one to two weeks: take it out, rinse it under running water and use a soft brush if it is heavily soiled. The exact procedure for your model is in the manual.

Bathroom and toilet

In the bathroom, humidity is decisive. The CDC recommends keeping the humidity in the home as low as possible, at most 50%, using extraction to the outside in the kitchen and bathroom, and repairing every leak. Regular cleaning then prevents mould from taking hold on grout and silicone.

• After every shower: squeegee the water off the glass, ventilate or switch on the fan.
• Weekly: toilet, washbasin, bath or shower, mirror, floor, change towels.
• Monthly: remove hair from drains and traps, scrub the grout with a brush, shower curtain or door.
• As needed: remove limescale from taps and the shower head.

If mould has already appeared in the grout, you will find the procedure in the article Jak vyčistit spáry v koupelně.

Bedroom

Dust accumulates in the bedroom, and dust mite allergens accumulate in the bed. In its advice for households with asthma, the EPA states washing bed linen once a week in hot water, vacuuming carpets and upholstered furniture weekly, and dusting frequently with a damp cloth.

• Weekly: bed linen, vacuuming, dusting.
• Monthly: vacuuming the mattress, dust on top of wardrobes and under the bed.
• Seasonally: pillows and duvets according to the label, turning the mattress if the manufacturer recommends it.

Living room and hallway

• Daily: tidying up; in the hallway, sweep or vacuum grit from shoes, especially in winter.
• Weekly: vacuuming floors, carpets and the sofa, dusting, remote controls and switches. These frequently touched surfaces are easy to forget when cleaning.
• Monthly: skirting boards, door frames, light fittings, tops of cabinets.
• Once or twice a year: thorough cleaning of upholstery and carpets, for example by upholstery and carpet shampooing.

Appliances and often-forgotten places

Washing machine: Bosch recommends cleaning the drum approximately every three months with a special programme, because detergent residues cause odours. Wipe the door seal and the detergent drawer roughly once a month. For other brands, follow the manual.

Do not forget bins, cupboard handles, switches, radiators and windowsills. Wash windows and frames at least twice a year, and more often on a busy street or near a building site.

Overview table

How to tell your rhythm is not enough

The table is only a starting point. The flat itself will show you where to do more. Watch for these signs:

• Odour from the bin, sink or fridge even shortly after cleaning: shorten the interval for taking out the rubbish and checking the fridge, and clean the trap and the dishwasher filter.
• Dark spots on grout, silicone or in the corners of windows: the flat is damp. Ventilate more often, squeegee the water off after showering and consider a hygrometer.
• Dust visible the day after dusting: wipe with a damp cloth instead of a dry one and vacuum more often, especially carpets and upholstery.
• Greasy film on cupboards above the hob: the cooker hood filter is clogged or you do not switch it on when cooking.
• Laundry smelling after washing: clean the door seal, detergent drawer and drum of the washing machine according to the manual.
• White deposits on taps and the shower: descale more often and wipe the taps dry after use.

When the signs keep recurring, a one-off clean is not enough. Move the task to a shorter interval in your plan and check after a month whether the situation has improved.

When to clean more often

Increase the frequency when small children or pets live in the flat, when someone suffers from an allergy or asthma, when the flat is damp and water condenses on the windows, and when someone is ill. In the last case, also add disinfection of frequently touched surfaces; the article Čištění, nebo dezinfekce explains when disinfection makes sense and when ordinary cleaning is enough.

If you cannot keep up with weekly cleaning, you can arrange it on a regular basis. How such regular home cleaning works and what it includes can be found in the service description; prices are in the price list.