End of Tenancy Cleaning in Hornchurch

A detached chalet bungalow on a residential street between Hornchurch and Elm Park — a 10-minute walk from Elm Park District Line station. Ground floor: entrance hall, lounge, kitchen-diner, one bedroom, and a bathroom. First floor (in the roof space): two bedrooms with sloped ceilings, a shower room, and Velux windows front and back. Plus an attached garage and a 70ft rear garden. The couple — a paramedic and a nursery manager — had rented for 2.5 years at £1,750/month. Managed by Balgores (Hornchurch lettings office).

We parked on the driveway — the van right outside the front door. All equipment straight in. No permits, no carrying gear up stairs from the street. This is the Hornchurch advantage.

The kitchen-diner was a decent-sized room at the rear with French doors to the garden. A Rangemaster range cooker — wider than a standard oven, two cavities plus a separate grill. We dismantled the door glass (inner pane removed — grease between the panes after 2.5 years of proper family cooking), sprayed each cavity with professional oven degreaser, and left it to work for 20 minutes while we started on the hob. Gas burner caps lifted, each one degreased individually, the cast iron pan supports soaked in the sink with alkaline solution. The grill tray had baked-on marinade — 15 minutes of paste degreaser. Total Rangemaster time: 65 minutes. The kitchen ceiling was textured (light stipple, not severe Artex) with a visible grease film above the cooking zone — dry-brushed with a soft brush, embedded grease documented.

The French door tracks had 2.5 years of garden debris — grit, small leaves, and a couple of snail shells. Cleared with the crevice vacuum attachment, then wiped. The kitchen floor (tile) mopped including under the kickboards and around the fridge-freezer.

The ground-floor bathroom had heavy limescale at ~295 ppm. The shower-over-bath had a glass screen that was cloudy white from 2.5 years of hard water. We applied phosphoric acid descaler and left it for 12 minutes before scrubbing — one application wasn't enough, so we did a second round. After the second application the screen came up clear. The taps were a standard mixer — descaled and polished until the chrome reflected without distortion. The bath waterline ring took concentrated descaler and a non-scratch pad. Toilet cleaned inside the rim with torch-check for hidden scale.

Upstairs: two bedrooms in the roof space, each with sloped ceilings and a Velux window. The front bedroom's Velux had mould growing along the rubber seal — the condensation from the temperature difference between the roof space and outside. We applied anti-mould spray with a 10-minute dwell, then wiped the seal clean and treated the frame. The glass was cleaned inside. Working under the sloped ceiling meant kneeling to reach the lower wall sections — the standard extension brush was too long, so we switched to a shorter tool for the eaves. The rear bedroom Velux was in better condition — just dusty, no mould.

The first-floor shower room was compact — a corner shower cubicle with a hinged glass door. Same descaling process: phosphoric acid, 10-minute dwell, scrub, rinse. The limescale was lighter up here because the shower room was used less than the main bathroom.

The garage — attached, accessed from the hallway. Concrete floor swept with a stiff broom, then dry-mopped for residual dust. The shelving against the back wall was wiped. A small oil stain near the garage door — we applied alkaline degreaser and scrubbed. The stain lightened but a shadow remained (it was old). Documented. The electric garage door was wiped on the inside face.

The garden — 70ft, mostly lawn with a concrete patio at the house end. Patio swept, the garden furniture (a plastic table and chairs) wiped down, the fence line checked (one panel loose — noted for the landlord, not our issue).

Balgores inspected the following day. They focused on the Rangemaster (both cavities, grill tray, door glass — passed), the shower screen (clear after double application), the Velux mould (treated), and the garage oil stain (documented, accepted). The textured ceiling grease was accepted as a material limitation. Deposit returned within 8 days.