St. Louis has one of the oldest housing stocks in the country. Here is how to keep brick flats, Victorian townhouses and 1920s bungalows clean without harming what makes them worth keeping.
In most American cities a house from 1939 counts as old. In the City of St. Louis it is ordinary: Census estimates put about 58 percent of the city's homes at 1939 or earlier, and about 86 percent were built before 1980. Whole neighborhoods of red brick, from Soulard and Benton Park to Shaw and Tower Grove East, were standing before anyone alive today was born.
Those homes reward careful cleaning and punish the wrong products. This guide covers the materials you will find in them, the lead paint question, and the routine that keeps an old St. Louis house looking cared for.
The City of St. Louis has 18 local historic districts, among them Lafayette Square, Soulard, Benton Park, Central West End, Shaw, Fox Park and Tower Grove East. Beyond those districts, older brick housing runs through most of the city. About 43 percent of city housing units are single family detached homes and about 26 percent are in buildings of two to four units, which is why the two-family and four-family flat is such a familiar St. Louis shape.
The suburbs have their own old cores. About 38 percent of University City homes were built in 1939 or earlier, Florissant's Old Town holds the city's historic district, and Belleville, founded in 1814, has about 26 percent of its homes from before 1940.
The City of St. Louis Building Division notes that many homes built before 1978 contain lead-based paint. The risk comes from dust and chips, and the places that make them are friction and impact surfaces: window sills and sashes, door jambs, stair treads and porch rails.
Cleaning can help or hurt. Damp wiping and damp mopping pick up fine dust; dry sweeping, dry dusting of sills and any sanding or scraping spread it. A careful cleaner wipes painted window sills with a damp cloth, rinses the cloth often, and points out paint that is chipping or peeling instead of trying to fix it. If young children or a pregnant woman live in a city home, the Building Division offers a free lead inspection.
Plaster walls take a damp cloth well but not soaking or scrubbing, which can soften old finishes or lift wallpaper glue. Spot clean scuffs gently and stop if paint comes off on the cloth.
Original woodwork in these houses is often shellac or varnish over oak, walnut or pine. A soft dry cloth or a barely damp one is enough for most dusting; strong degreasers and ammonia cloud old finishes. Floors are the same story. Old hardwood should be swept or vacuumed first and then damp mopped with a well wrung mop, because standing water works into worn finish and old seams.
Steam and hot water radiators are common in older St. Louis homes, and their fins collect dust that turns to a burnt smell when the heat comes on. A long, thin brush and a vacuum get between the fins; the wall behind and the floor below need a wipe too. Painted radiators get the same damp, gentle treatment as painted trim.
Tall baseboards, picture rail, plate rail, transoms over doors and deep window casings all hold dust at heights a quick tidy never reaches. That is why a first deep clean matters so much in these houses, and why a recurring plan includes reachable baseboards and blind slats at every visit.
Many older bathrooms have small hex or penny tile on the floor and subway tile on the walls, sometimes with clawfoot tubs and pedestal sinks. The grout lines are the problem: there are a lot of them, and they hold soap film and minerals. City water averages 129 parts per million of hardness, so chalky deposits build up on old fixtures quickly.
Use a mild, pH neutral cleaner and a soft brush on grout, and avoid strong acids on old porcelain and marble, which can etch. The hard water guide covers mineral film in more detail.
The questions St. Louis homeowners ask most often about this topic, answered plainly.
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