How to keep a Lansing home in shape through winter: around 50 inches of snow, salt and sand on entry floors, dust in a closed house and the local sidewalk rules.
Winter is the longest cleaning season Lansing has. Snow averages 50.2 inches a year at the airport, and about 142 days a year reach a low at or below freezing. On about 53 of those days the high never gets above freezing either. A home spends months with its windows shut and a stream of wet boots coming through the door.
This guide deals with the problems that follow from that, and it starts where the mess starts, at the door and on the sidewalk.
Normal snowfall is 14.3 inches in January, 12.9 in February, 11.3 in December and 5.9 in March. The airport averages about 15 days a year with an inch or more of new snow and about 66 days with at least an inch on the ground, while the average January temperature is 23.9 degrees. About 8 nights a year fall below zero.
The freeze dates frame the whole thing. The median first fall freeze is October 13 and the median last spring freeze is May 1. Your home's cold season, in other words, covers more than half of the year, and that is the time frame your routine needs to be built around.
Snow itself is mostly water. The trouble comes from what it carries, including salt, sand and gritty slush that gets ground into a finish with every step. Salt leaves a white haze on hardwood and tile, and sand acts like sandpaper on a soft floor. About 51 percent of Lansing homes were built before 1960, and an old wood floor has less finish to spare.
The defense is layered. Use a coarse mat outside the door, an absorbent one inside and a boot tray that catches the melt. Sweep or vacuum the entry daily during heavy stretches. Clean salt film with warm water and a damp cloth, then dry the floor. Never leave a wet mat on hardwood for days at a time.
Clearing a walk means using something on it, and local rules make that a regular job. East Lansing's snow ordinance makes owners, landlords and renters clear adjacent sidewalks: snow that falls before noon by midnight the same day, and snow after noon by midnight the next day. Its ordinance says ice should be cleared, or salt, sand or another abrasive applied, within half a day of forming.
Meridian Township requires property owners to clear adjacent sidewalks of snow and ice within a day after a snowfall ends, and it does not salt its 90-mile pathway system. Whatever a home puts on its own walk, and whatever a walker picks up along the way, ends up on the entry floor. Where a choice exists, use the smallest amount of salt that does the job.
Once a house is shut up and the furnace is running, dust has nowhere to go. It circulates, then settles on fan blades, vent covers, blinds and the tops of door frames. Damp dusting captures it, where a dry duster mainly moves it around. Change your furnace filter on its schedule, and keep supply vents clear of furniture.
Those are exactly the places that a One-Time Deep Clean covers, so midwinter or late winter is a sensible moment for one. A Recurring House Clean through the snowy months handles the ongoing part, and the recurring cleaning guide compares the frequencies.
Windows can gather condensation on the coldest nights, so wipe the sills and tracks dry when it shows. Where that moisture keeps coming back, look to ventilation. A cleaner can wipe a surface, but mold or water damage remediation is a separate trade and not part of any house cleaning.
Inside the house, February is the driest month at 1.71 inches of precipitation, and mean dew points sit around 18 to 19 degrees in January and February, so the indoor air can feel very dry. Static makes dust and pet hair cling to fabric and blinds. A bit of extra attention on upholstery and on the lower blinds keeps that from building up.
The seasonal cleaning calendar shows how winter connects to the rest of the year.
The questions Lansing homeowners ask most often about this topic, answered plainly.
TotalCare Cleaning will service Lansing 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.
