The bathroom is the highest-risk room in any aged care setting, and the order it is cleaned in matters as much as the products used. Clean top to bottom, toilet last, floor after that, and leave it dry.
Why the bathroom comes first in the risk assessment
It is wet, it is high-touch, it has hard surfaces, and it is where people are least steady on their feet. Everything below follows from those four facts.
The order of work
| Step | What is done | Why here |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Ventilate | Open the window or run the exhaust | Moisture and product vapour need somewhere to go |
| 2. High surfaces | Shelves, cabinet tops, exhaust cover | Dust falls downward — do it before the surfaces below |
| 3. Apply product, wait | Shower, basin, toilet sprayed and left | Dwell time runs while other work continues |
| 4. Mirror and glass | Cleaned while product dwells | Uses the waiting time productively |
| 5. Shower and basin | Agitated and rinsed | Cleanest fixtures before the dirtiest |
| 6. Grab rails and touch points | Rails, handles, switches, flush button | Contact surfaces get specific attention |
| 7. Toilet | Bowl, seat, cistern, base and behind | Last fixture, with its own dedicated cloths |
| 8. Floor | Vacuumed or swept, then mopped to the door | Everything that fell during the clean is now picked up |
| 9. Dry | Floor dried, not left to air dry | A wet floor is the single biggest hazard we could leave behind |
Fittings a domestic clean usually skips
- Grab rails, including the underside where hands actually grip
- The base of the toilet and the floor immediately behind it
- Shower chair or stool, if there is one
- Exhaust fan cover, where it can be reached safely
- The bottom edge and track of the shower screen
- Non-slip mat, lifted and cleaned underneath
- Door handle and light switch on both sides of the door
Leaving it dry
This is the part we will not compromise on. A bathroom floor that is still wet when we leave is a hazard we created. Floors get dried, mats go back flat, and anything moved goes back exactly where it was.
Nothing gets rearranged
Toiletries, mobility aids and mats go back precisely where they were. A helpful reorganisation is not helpful at all when someone navigates the room partly from memory.
We are cleaners, not carers
3 Piglets Cleaning is a cleaning business. We clean the home and keep it comfortable and easy to move around in. We do not provide personal care, nursing, medication support or any form of medical assistance, and nothing on this page should be read as health advice.
We provide aged care cleaning across Melbourne's eastern suburbs from our base in Croydon. If you would like to talk it through, get in touch — there is no pressure either way.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the toilet get cleaned last?
So nothing from it touches the fixtures cleaned before it. It also gets its own dedicated cloths that never leave the area.
Do you clean shower chairs and mobility aids?
We clean shower chairs, stools and rails as part of the bathroom. Personal mobility equipment we clean only if asked, and we put it back exactly where it was.
How long should a bathroom take?
Longer than most people expect if the grout, rails and screen track are actually being done. A wipe-over is quick; a proper bathroom clean is not.
3 Piglets Cleaning
We are a Croydon-based cleaning company serving Melbourne's eastern and south-eastern suburbs. Our technicians are police-checked and fully insured, and those working with NDIS participants and older clients hold NDIS Worker Screening Clearances. More about us.
