A practical guide to the indoor mess that Denver hailstorms, summer downpours and late spring snowstorms leave behind, and how to sort what a cleaning can fix from what needs a repair first.
Hail is the storm Denver talks about. A few minutes of it can strip a tree, shred a garden and pound screens flat, and the cleanup inside the house starts the moment someone walks in with ice and leaf bits on their shoes.
This guide covers what Denver's storm season actually looks like, the order to clean in afterward, and the limits of what a house cleaning is for.
National Weather Service normals for Denver International Airport put the wettest months in May, at 2.16 inches, and July, at 2.14 inches, compared with under 0.40 inches in December and January. Warm season thunderstorms are also the ones that can carry hail.
The benchmark is May 8, 2017. That afternoon, hail up to 2.50 inches fell in Denver, and the storm caused about 2.3 billion dollars in insured losses, which makes it Colorado's most expensive insured catastrophe. Most hail days are far smaller, but the same pattern repeats: ice, shredded leaves and grit everywhere, then mud as it melts.
Walk the house before anyone starts cleaning. Look for cracked or broken windows, torn screens, water stains on ceilings and wet spots under skylights or along exterior walls. Photograph anything you find for your insurer.
Broken glass, roof leaks, soaked drywall and wet carpet are repair work, not cleaning. A cleaning visit does not repair water damage or deal with mold, so get a contractor or restoration company in first. Once the repairs are done, a cleaning gets the rooms back to normal.
Start at the edges of the house and work inward. Clear packed leaves and ice from window wells, door thresholds and the garage floor first, because that is what gets tracked inside next. Rinse window screens if they are intact and wipe window tracks, which fill with shredded leaves and grit after hail.
Then move to the entries. Swap wet mats for dry ones, wipe the lower walls where slush splashed, and dry-mop wood floors before the grit dries on. Vacuum carpet once it is dry. Leave the kitchen and baths for last, since they are usually fine unless water came in.
A cleaning visit covers the inside of the home, and cleaners do not carry branches, yard waste or debris away. Each community handles storm debris differently.
In Denver, compost carts accept yard debris, and any Solid Waste customer can request one at no extra cost. Large items are collected every nine weeks on the regular trash day. Greenwood Village picks up large items and branches by appointment, which is useful after a storm strips the trees.
Storm season in Denver does not begin in summer. The March 13 to 14, 2021 blizzard dropped 27.1 inches at Denver's official site, and the National Weather Service logged 30.5 inches just north of Highlands Ranch and 28.4 inches near Parker. Heavy, wet spring snow breaks branches and brings the same mix of wet entries and muddy floors as a hail day, only for longer.
Snow that falls heavy and wet is followed quickly by melt. Chinook winds along the Front Range can push temperatures up 25 to 35 degrees in a short time, so plan for the mud a day or two after the storm, not only during it. The winter cleaning guide has more on setting up entries.
A scheduled visit may need to shift a day if roads are covered in ice or a storm is passing through. Afterward, a visit that focuses on floors, entries, sills and window tracks is usually all a home needs. If you are on a Recurring House Clean, mention the storm when the visit is confirmed so the cleaner starts with the entries. The seasonal calendar shows when Denver's stormy weeks usually fall.
The questions Denver homeowners ask most often about this topic, answered plainly.
TotalCare Cleaning will service Denver and surrounding areas with background-checked cleaners and is insured up to $1 million. Re-clean guarantee: if we missed something, tell us by the end of the next day and we come back to fix it. Beyond Clean. TotalCare.
