Post Renovation Cleaning Your Home on a Budget

Did you know?  Post-renovation cleaning goes far beyond standard cleaning. It involves a thorough removal of fine dust particles from drywall, wood, and cement that settle on every surface, in air vents, and within appliances. (Source)

When your renovation is finally done, you might think that the burden is finally gone, but that’s where the real chaos begins. The contractors have packed up, you’re thrilled with how everything turned out, and then you actually look around and realize there is nothing but a load of dust and paint splatter on the windows.

Most people at this point will hire a professional for detailed cleaning after renovation projects, and honestly, there’s no shame in that. But if you are someone like me who doesn’t save enough money for clumsy problems, then don’t worry, this blog post here will rescue you and give you a mind-blowing roadmap. 

Let’s begin!

Key Takeaways 

• Understanding the actual problems to deal with 
• Decoding important things to buy 
• Looking at the personal experience 
• Uncovering some Malaysian ways to save money

What You’re Actually Dealing With

Renovation dust is not like regular dust. It’s sneaky. It gets into your clothes, settles inside closed cabinets, and somehow ends up in rooms that weren’t even renovated. I found plaster dust in my bedroom closet after a kitchen reno. How? No idea.

You’re probably looking at cement dust, paint drips, adhesive residue from all that masking tape, maybe some grout haze if you did tiles, wood shavings if there was carpentry, and general construction gunk. The best part is that none of this requires fancy chemicals to remove. The bad news is there’s a huge amount of it.

Interesting Facts 
The global cleaning services market was valued at $68.1 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow to $121.05 billion by 2032, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.6%

What to Buy (Without Going Broke)

You can do this entire job for around RM150-200 in supplies. Here’s what I’d get:

Head to Mr. DIY or your nearest hardware shop. Grab a decent broom (RM15-20), a couple of buckets (RM5 each), a mop with extra heads (RM30-40 total), and a pack of microfiber cloths (RM20). Buying them is worth it because you can wash and reuse them dozens of times. Don’t buy the RM3 ones that fall apart.

For cleaning solutions, skip the expensive imported stuff. You need white vinegar (RM5-8), baking soda (RM3-5), regular dish soap (the yellow Sunlight one works fine, about RM5), and maybe one bottle of all-purpose cleaner from Cif or Mr. Muscle (RM10-15). That’s it. Anything telling you that you need a specialized “post-construction formula” is trying to take your money.

Oh, and face masks. Get proper ones from the pharmacy, maybe RM10-15 for a pack. That renovation dust will mess with your lungs if you breathe it in all day.

How I’d Tackle It

Block out a long weekend if you can. This isn’t a one-afternoon job unless you had a very minor renovation.

Day One: The Gross Part

Start off by wearing old clothes that  you don’t mind ruining. Tie your hair back. Mask on. Open every single window because you’re going to kick up a lot of dust.

Start by just removing the obvious trash. Leftover materials, plastic sheeting, random bits of wood, that mysterious pile of something in the corner. Get it all into trash bags. Then sweep everywhere. Don’t mop yet! You’ll just make mud. Just sweep, repeatedly, until you stop seeing clouds of dust with every stroke.

After sweeping, go through with dry microfiber cloths and wipe surfaces down. This gets the layer of dust off without spreading it around like water would. Your cloths will be filthy. That’s normal. Shake them out outside (not in the house!) and keep going.

Day Two: Actually Cleaning

Now you can use water. Start at the ceiling and work down, because gravity exists and dust falls. Wipe ceiling fans, light fixtures, aircon vents, the tops of door frames, all those places you probably never clean normally.

For walls, use a barely damp cloth. Too wet and you’ll get streaks or damage fresh paint. Just damp enough to pick up the dust. Go in sections, rinse your cloth constantly.

Windows and glass are next. You can buy glass cleaner, or just mix equal parts vinegar and water in a spray bottle with one tiny drop of dish soap. Spray, wipe with microfiber, then dry with newspaper. Yeah, newspaper. My mom taught me this and it works better than paper towels. No streaks.

Day Two Evening/Day Three: Floors

Sweep again first. You’ll be shocked how much new dust appeared. Then mop, but here’s the thing: you’ll need to change your water every room or two. Dirty water just spreads dirt around. I usually do 2-3 passes on each floor. First pass picks up the bulk of the gunk, second pass actually cleans, third pass if needed.

For tiles with grout that’s looking dingy, make a paste with baking soda and a little water. Scrub it into the grout with an old toothbrush (or buy a cheap one from Daiso for RM5). Wipe clean. Looks brand new.

If you’ve got wood or laminate, be careful with water. Use as little as possible. Damp mop, not wet.

Day Three: Kitchen and Bathrooms

These need extra attention. Wipe down the insides of all cabinets before you put anything away. Trust me on this. There’s dust in there even if they were covered.

For the sink and counters, baking soda is your friend. It’s mildly abrasive so it scrubs off stuck-on gunk without scratching new surfaces. Make a paste, scrub, rinse. For the bathroom, same deal. Baking soda on tubs, sinks, tiles. Vinegar on glass shower doors and taps to get rid of water spots or residue.

Open all the taps and flush toilets a few times. Sometimes debris gets into pipes during construction. Better to clear it out now.

Final Pass

By now you’re sick of cleaning. I get it. But do one more sweep and mop of all floors, one more wipe of frequently-touched stuff like light switches and door handles, and clean your aircon filters. Those filters caught all that dust and if you don’t clean them, the aircon will just blow it all back into your clean rooms. That would be sad.

Very Malaysian Ways to Save Money

Ask your neighbors if anyone has a wet-dry vacuum you can borrow for a day. Those are amazing for construction dust but expensive to buy (RM300+) so not worth it for a one-time use. Someone on your floor probably has one.

Check Shopee and Lazada for cleaning supplies before going to the store. You can get 20 microfiber cloths for RM25 with free shipping if you hit RM50 minimum. Compare that to buying 5 cloths for RM20 at the supermarket.

Use old t-shirts as cleaning rags. Cut them up, use them until they’re destroyed, throw them out. Free and weirdly satisfying.

After the completion of your major renovation, see if your contractor will do a basic clean as part of the package. Some do, some don’t, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. The worst they can say is no.

When to Just Pay Someone

Look, sometimes DIY isn’t worth it. If you renovated your entire house, the amount of dust is genuinely overwhelming. If you’re working full-time and have kids, finding 3-4 days to clean is basically impossible. If you have asthma or other breathing issues, this dust is not good for you.

Professional cleaning for a 3-bedroom apartment runs about RM400-600. Yes, that’s more expensive than doing it yourself. But they’ll be done in a day with a team, they have proper equipment, and you don’t have to spend your weekend covered in dust. Sometimes it’s worth it for your sanity.

You could also do a hybrid approach: handle the bulk of the cleaning yourself and then bring someone in for finishing touches or specific tasks like carpet shampooing or high windows you can’t reach safely.

What It’ll Cost You

If you’re going full DIY on a typical apartment, expect to spend:
– RM80-150 on tools (broom, mop, buckets, cloths)
– RM30-50 on cleaning products
– RM20-30 on trash bags, masks, gloves
– Total: RM130-230

Plus your time. For me, a 1200 sq ft apartment took about 3 full days. A landed house would be more.  But you save RM200-400 compared to professional cleaning, which can go toward furniture or fixing that one thing the contractor messed up that you just noticed.

Random Tips I Learned the Hard Way

Don’t start cleaning until the contractors are definitely, completely, 100% done. I started once when they said they were “basically finished,” and then they came back to “just quickly” do something and messed up everything I’d cleaned. Frustrating.

Work room by room, finish each before moving on. Otherwise, you’ll have a half-clean house and lose track of what’s done.

Don’t use too much water on anything. More water doesn’t mean cleaner, it just means longer drying time and potential damage.

Keep kids and pets out during the heavy-duty cleaning days. The dust is bad for their lungs, too, and pets will walk through your wet floors and track dirt everywhere. Ask me how I know.

Change your air conditioner filters after you’re completely done. They sell them at hardware shops for RM20-40, depending on size. Clean filters make a huge difference in air quality.

Wrapping Up

Post-renovation cleaning is tedious and dusty and kind of gross, but it’s definitely doable on a budget. You don’t need special products or equipment. Just time, elbow grease, and a willingness to go through a lot of microfiber cloths.

The sense of satisfaction when you finally finish and your renovated space is actually clean and livable is genuinely great. You put in the work to make your home nice, might as well put in a bit more to make it sparkle.

That said, there’s zero judgment if you look at the state of your post-reno house and decide to call in professionals. Everyone has different circumstances, budgets, and tolerance for cleaning dust out of places dust shouldn’t even be able to reach. Do what works for you.

---