Deep clean the exterior of a washer and dryer - PEP BB Nest.straw.ExteriorWasher

Yesterday morning my daughter come out to find me in the living room. "Mom, one of the cats pooped on the floor in front of the litter box" I walk into the utility room and sure enough, fresh poop in a nice little pile in the middle of the floor. After I got it cleaned up I decided that the whole floor in there needed to be cleaned. Moved all the cat boxes out, swept/mopped, then realized I was pulling lots of litter bits from under the washer and dryer. Pulled the machines out, swept/mopped again. Realized the machines were filthy. Started to move all the stuff from them, and realized I needed to reorganize all the shelves. Gave away a bunch of stuff we don't need anymore, cleaned out the dryer vent and hose, and scrubbed down both machines. I used a vinegar and water mix and hand towels. Moved the machines back into place, re-homed all the cleaning supplies, moved the cat boxes back in and realized I needed to sweep the entry-way (which then led to having to vacuum the nearest carpet, which led to replacing the band on the vacuum, and while i was replacing the band realizing the intake vent cover was disgusting and deep-cleaning that too).
This is why I hate cleaning, my ADHD brain just can't stop finding more stuff for me to do!
On the upside, our laundry room looks cleaner than it has since we moved in....

I’m going to post this in two parts. This is part one which is a the BB post and covers the machines themselves. Part two is all the extra work in the vicinity.

On the machines I used a damp cloth, a drying cloth and a little bit of baking soda.

The washing machine looks like it was used by the landlord as a painting table - I did my best to remove them, but they’re cemented on and I’m not going to use anything icky to get ride of them.

Here’s the bonus stuff - part 2.

It shows cleaning methods, brushing out, scrubbing and hand washing the floor and cabinet area, reattaching the air duct and cleaning the soap tray.

Cleaned both the washing machine (that was there a long while) and a 'new to us but just bough second hand' dryer. The dryer just needed a little bit of cleaning some dirt and dust away (except for the exhaust duct but that is a different BB) but the washing machine sure needed more because of it being build in and the sides not seeing much light of day.

All the cleaning was done using a cloth with some hot water and soap and a broom for behind the washing machine.

Since this BB requires a lot of pictures I combined them to keep an overview of the actions required.

I cleaned the washer & dryer, including pulling them out to sweep and wipe the wall it was against. It is hard to keep them clean when they're in the garage! I used a microfiber cloth and castile soap in warm water. I also used a toothbrush for nooks and crannies (not pictured).

I got the outsides of the washer and dryer cleaned up today. I paired this with cleaning out the exhaust pipe of the dryer. It was a big job altogether. Maybe next time I’ll just do one at a time

I used warm water and rags to clean. I also did some sweeping to get rid of all the dust the laundry room has accumulated.

Not sure how many pictures I need to show that I cleaned each surface (that is 8 sides between the front/back/sides of both the washer and dryer, so do I need 8 pictures?) so if I need more let me know. My dog peed on the bed so I had to wash a lot of bedding yesterday and since my washer and dryer are not perfectly level, the dryer hose came off so I thought this would be the perfect chance to clean the exterior of both the washer and dryer since I needed to get back there anyway.

Here's the dirty washer and dryer. Notice the washer has migrated forward due to it not being level.


The tops are gross. I finally cleared off all the clutter so I can wipe these down.


Wiping the tops with a wet rag and vinegar.


Vacuuming out the trays that these are sitting on top of. We have previously had issues with water leaking and had to replace a moldy floorboard underneath these so the trays are essential.


First I pulled the dryer out. Noomi is wondering what I am doing instead of playing with her.


The back was dusty so i dusted it before wiping it down.


Here I'm wiping one of the sides.


Here I'm wiping the back.


Re-connecting the hose. Lots of ducting tape and some plumber's tape.



Leveling the feet.


Wiping the back of the washer.


After everything is put back and clean.