When was the last time you went up into the attic to clear it out? Most people spend years putting boxes and suitcases full of their things into their last space and never really going back through it again. It usually gets ignored for a massive period of time because it receives the least traffic. Clearing the attic of clutter can make a huge change to the storage in your home.
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It’s a case of store it and forget it! It might be the great storage location you’re looking for, but eventually you do need to go up there and sort things out. Years can pass without you even glancing inside to see the condition of some of your stuff, and if you’re looking to move properties or you just want to have a sort out, it may be worth having a look. The problem is that now your attic is overrun by your boxes and suitcases and you now have to go through everything. These tips below can help you to clean out and organize the attic without it making for a very stressful day.
Start by taking everything out
You need to make sure you suit up and have the bug spray at the ready just in case, but going up into the attic and bringing everything downstairs is your first port of call. All of the items need to be organized properly, to take it straight through outside to a dry area so that your house doesn’t get covered in dust or broken down cardboard. If you take everything outside when clearing the attic, you can see what you have to work with.
Start with dusting
After you’ve taken everything out of the attic, it should be an empty space and that means putting on a mask to avoid inhaling any dust and walking around to inspect the whole area. Go through the window frames and beams, walls, baseboards behind the door and all of the nooks and crannies to dust everything. You can’t organize a space if it’s full of dust!
Bring in the cleaning equipment
The vacuum cleaner, the mop and broom are going to get their debut now. Clearing the attic of all of the rubbish, any broken-down card, any cobwebs is a good thing. All of these things need to be cleared out and dust it down. The final cleaning step is to use a map to get rid of any of the dirt, and that includes the walls.
Start going through the boxes
While you’re waiting for the attic to air out for a while, you need to go through the boxes and see what’s available for you to actually use and what has been disintegrated by time. After you cleaned out the attic it can help to know what you’re going to be putting back up there.
Double check
Before you put things back in, check for mold, moisture and check your insulation. You need to make sure that your insulation is completely intact before you start restocking everything in there. The last thing that you want is to have insulation that is pummeled down by age and time and is not actually keeping your house warm.