What we do not do, and who to call instead.
We turn down twelve kinds of work: heavy mould remediation, deep mineral scale, grout whitening, mouldy caulk, roof moss, exterior pressure washing, hoarding, biohazard, pest droppings, chimneys, carpet steam extraction and anything needing a registered disinfectant we do not carry. Each one below says why, and names the trade that does it.
Nobody enjoys reading a page about what a company cannot help with. We publish it anyway, because the alternative is you finding out on the day, after you have taken time off work and moved the furniture.
A cleaning company and a remediation company are different trades with different insurance, different equipment and different training. Most of what follows is not a limit of natural products. It is a limit of what a cleaning crew should be doing at all, and a fair number of companies take these jobs anyway. If you are comparing quotes and someone has cheerfully agreed to all of this, that is worth a second thought rather than a booking.
The things we say no to.
Each one gives the honest reason and the kind of trade that handles it. We take no referral fee from anyone, which is why this names trades and not businesses.
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Heavy mould remediation
We clean surface mould on a hard, non-porous surface with detergent and water, which is what Health Canada and CCOHS recommend. Past roughly one square metre, or once it is inside drywall, insulation, carpet or subfloor, it stops being a cleaning job: it needs containment, HEPA negative air, respirators, and somebody to find the moisture that caused it, because cleaning mould without fixing the water is just scheduling it to come back.
Who to call: A mould remediation or restoration contractor. CCOHS says areas larger than about three square metres should be handled by trained professionals.
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Deep mineral scale and hard-water etching
Citric acid clears a light scale film, and on Abbotsford, Mission and well-water properties we use it constantly. Years of built-up scale on shower glass is a different problem, and some of that glass is not dirty at all: the minerals have etched into the surface permanently and no product on earth will remove it. We would rather tell you that than charge you to scrub something that cannot come off.
Who to call: A glass restoration specialist for polishing, or a plumber and a water treatment company for the cause rather than the symptom.
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Grout whitening and deep grout stain removal
We clean grout, and oxygen bleach with a brush and patience lifts most of what is on the surface. What we will not do is promise a colour. Old grout absorbs stain into the body of the material, and getting it back to white often needs steam equipment we do not carry, or re-grouting, which is tiling work.
Who to call: A tile and grout restoration company for steam and sealing, or a tiler if it needs re-grouting.
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Replacing mouldy silicone caulk
Once mould is growing inside the caulk rather than on it, no surface cleaner of any chemistry reaches it. Not ours, not bleach, not anything. The only real fix is to cut the bead out and lay a new one, and that is a small trade job rather than a cleaning task.
Who to call: A tiler, bathroom fitter or a competent handyman. It is an hour of work and it is worth doing properly.
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Roof and siding moss removal
This region grows moss faster than almost anywhere in Canada, so we get asked often. It is a pressure-washing and soft-wash trade with its own ladders, equipment, insurance and rules about where the runoff goes. Doing it badly costs you a roof.
Who to call: A roof cleaning or soft-wash company. Ask them how they handle runoff before you book.
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Exterior pressure washing
Same trade as the roof moss and the same reasoning. Driveways, siding, patios and fences need equipment we do not own and a runoff plan we are not set up to make. We clean the inside of the house well enough that the outside is somebody else’s specialty.
Who to call: A pressure washing company. Several operate across Abbotsford, Langley and Surrey.
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Hoarding cleanup
These jobs are as much about the person as the property, and doing them well needs training in how to work alongside someone while their belongings are sorted, plus disposal logistics and often pest and biohazard handling in the same visit. Sending a regular cleaning crew into that situation helps nobody.
Who to call: A specialist hoarding or extreme cleaning company. Several in the Lower Mainland hold the certification for it.
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Biohazard, trauma and crime scene cleaning
Bodily fluids, needles and decomposition are regulated work requiring specific certification, personal protective equipment, and licensed disposal of what comes out of the property. Our insurance does not cover it and our training does not extend to it.
Who to call: A certified biohazard and trauma cleaning company. At least one operator in Chilliwack holds this certification.
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Pest droppings, especially rodents
Dried rodent droppings and nesting material should not be swept or vacuumed with an ordinary machine, because that is exactly how the dust goes airborne. And cleaning it is the second job anyway: while the animals are still getting in, the mess comes back within weeks.
Who to call: A pest control company first, to find and seal the entry points. Then a remediation crew for the droppings and insulation.
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Chimney sweeping
Wood heat is common across Chilliwack, Mission and the rural parts of the Valley, so this comes up. A chimney needs inspecting as well as sweeping, and a missed crack or a creosote build-up is a house fire rather than a dirty hearth. We clean the fireplace surround and leave the flue alone.
Who to call: A WETT certified chimney sweep, who can inspect as well as clean.
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Carpet steam extraction, unless we have quoted it
Vacuuming and spot treatment are part of a normal clean. Hot water extraction is a different service with truck-mounted or large portable equipment, and doing it with an undersized machine leaves carpet wet for days, which in a damp valley climate is how you create a mould problem while trying to solve a stain.
Who to call: A carpet cleaning company. Several serve Abbotsford, Langley and Maple Ridge with proper extraction equipment.
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Anything needing a registered disinfectant we do not carry
This is the one that costs us work, and we would still rather say it. Our disinfecting is done with hydrogen peroxide based products. If your situation calls for a specific product with a Health Canada DIN or NPN that is not on our list, for example after a confirmed infectious outbreak in a clinic or a daycare, we will tell you that we do not have it rather than substituting something and calling it disinfection. Vinegar is not a disinfectant, and neither is anything sold on the claim of being natural alone.
Who to call: A commercial cleaning company that carries the registered product, or your regulator, who can usually name the required class.
Where is the line on mould?
Roughly one square metre, and whether the material is porous. Below that, on a hard surface such as tile, glass, a painted wall or a window frame, it is a cleaning job and we do it with detergent and water. Above it, or once the mould is in drywall, insulation, carpet or subfloor, it is remediation and needs a different trade.
That threshold is not ours. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety describes small patches, on the order of a square metre or less, as something an occupant can clean with ordinary household methods, and says areas larger than about three square metres should be handled by trained professionals with containment and respiratory protection. The gap between those two numbers is the judgement call, and we make it conservatively.
The other half of the answer surprises people. We do not use chlorine bleach on mould, and that is not a natural-products preference, it is the actual federal guidance. CCOHS advises against chemical disinfectants such as chlorine bleach for remedial purposes, and Health Canada tells homeowners to clean mould with water and dish detergent. Health Canada also warns that mixing bleach with other household cleaners produces toxic gases. Bleach lightens the colour of mould on a porous surface without removing what is growing inside it, which is why a bleached patch so often returns.
One thing worth saying regardless of who you hire: cleaning mould without finding the water that fed it is scheduling its return. In a region with as many rainy days as this one, and with a lot of basement suites in Abbotsford and Surrey, the moisture source is usually the real job.
If you want the longer version of how we clean without bleach, ammonia or quats, read what we actually use and why.
Most of what worries people, we do handle.
Surface mould on hard surfaces. Light hard-water scale, with citric acid and repeat passes. Baked-on oven grease, which takes longer without a caustic spray and which we price for honestly instead of rushing. Fine drywall dust after a renovation, removed by HEPA vacuum and damp microfibre rather than pushed around. Pet hair, in as many passes as it takes. Soap film in soft-water Surrey and Maple Ridge homes, which is a different bathroom problem from the scale in Abbotsford and Mission.
If you are not sure which side of the line your job falls on, describe it to us and we will tell you straight. It costs you nothing and it saves us both a wasted visit.
What people ask after reading this.
Do you clean mould at all?
Yes, the kind most homes actually have. Surface mould on a hard, non-porous surface such as tile, glass, a painted wall or a window frame gets cleaned with detergent and water, which is what Health Canada and CCOHS both recommend, rather than with bleach. What we decline is remediation: larger areas, or mould that has gone into porous material like drywall, insulation, carpet or subfloor.
Why do you not use bleach on mould? Everyone says to.
Because the federal guidance says the opposite. CCOHS states that using chemical disinfectants such as chlorine bleach for remedial purposes is not recommended, and Health Canada advises cleaning mould with water and dish detergent. Bleach also produces toxic gases when it meets other household cleaners, including ammonia and acids. This is one of the few places where the natural approach and the official approach happen to be the same approach.
You turned my job down. Can you still tell me who to call?
Yes, and we would rather you asked. Every entry on this page names the trade that does the work. If you tell us what you are dealing with we will point you at the right kind of company, and we are not taking a referral fee from anybody, which is why this page names trades rather than businesses.
Is this list because natural products cannot handle these jobs?
Almost none of it, no. Mould is the clearest example: the reason we decline heavy remediation is that it is a containment and moisture-diagnosis trade, not that our products are too gentle, and the official guidance actually tells you not to reach for bleach. Roof moss, chimneys, biohazard and carpet extraction are all equipment and licensing questions. The two entries that are genuinely about chemistry are deep mineral scale and grout whitening, and we say so plainly rather than burying it.
What if you find one of these once you are already in the house?
We stop, we show you, and we tell you what we think it is. Then we clean everything around it and take that part off the quote. You will not get an invoice with a line on it for work we could not properly do, and you will not find out three weeks later that the patch behind the toilet was never touched.
Tell us what you are dealing with.
Including the parts you think we might refuse. If it is not our job we will say so and tell you whose it is.
Get a quote
We reply the same working day. Or call (819) 743-5953.