The laundry room cleans everything in the house and almost never gets cleaned itself. I had not cleaned mine in years. Not the walls, not the top of the machines, not behind them, not the lint trap housing, and not the floor drain. I assumed machines that run with water and soap were cleaning themselves in the process. They are not, and mine made that clear the first time I looked behind the dryer.
Most households wipe the outside of the machines occasionally and clear the lint trap before each dryer load. That is where it stops. The rest accumulates: detergent drips down the side of the washer, dust and lint pile up behind and beneath the machines, lint builds up inside the dryer vent duct, mold grows in the rubber gasket of a front-load washer, and mineral scale builds up inside both machines from hard water and detergent residue. A thorough laundry room clean takes about an hour and should happen two or three times a year.
Start With the Washing Machine
If you have a front-load washer, pull back the rubber door gasket and check the folds inside. There is almost certainly mold or mildew in there. This is where the musty smell in laundry comes from, not from the clothes themselves. Wipe the gasket thoroughly with a cloth dampened with white vinegar or diluted bleach, getting into every fold. Then run a cleaning cycle with a washing machine cleaner tablet or two cups of white vinegar poured into the drum. Most machines have a designated cleaning cycle; if yours does not, a hot empty cycle with the cleaner does the same job.
For top-load washers, residue builds inside the drum and around the agitator post. Run a hot cleaning cycle with two cups of white vinegar, then a second cycle with half a cup of baking soda. Wipe out the detergent and fabric softener dispensers, which build up a sticky residue that slows dispensing and develops mold over time.
Pair this with the steps from the laundry routine guide to keep machines cleaner between deep cleans. The musty towel problem usually starts with the washing machine gasket, so this clean addresses both issues at once.
The Dryer Vent
The dryer vent is the most important thing to clean in this room and the one most people have never touched. Pull the dryer away from the wall, disconnect the flexible duct from the back, and vacuum out whatever is inside. The U.S. Fire Administration estimates dryers cause about 2,900 house fires per year and the leading cause is lint buildup in the vent duct. If your duct run is long or has multiple bends, a dryer vent cleaning kit with a flexible brush that attaches to a drill costs about $15 and clears the full run.
Also clean the lint trap housing on the dryer itself, not just the screen. Pull out the screen and use a vacuum attachment to reach deeper into the housing channel. Lint collects past the screen in the housing and this is the buildup that causes drying times to increase and the machine to overheat. A good stiff brush, like this one, handles the housing cleaning when a vacuum attachment cannot reach.
The Room Itself
Pull both machines away from the wall and clean behind and underneath them. The floor in that space is usually one of the dustiest spots in the house, collecting lint, coins, and whatever else has fallen over months or years. Vacuum first, then damp mop.
Wipe down the walls, especially the corners where lint drifts and sticks. Wipe the top of the machines and any shelving. Use a damp cloth on machine exteriors; harsh cleaners damage the finish and markings on controls over time.
If your laundry room has a floor drain, clear it. These drains collect lint and detergent residue and a slow drain means water backing up when the washer drains. Pour a kettle of hot water down it, follow with half a cup of baking soda and a cup of white vinegar, let it fizz ten minutes, then flush with more hot water.
After the Clean
Once the room is clean, spend fifteen minutes organizing what you use. Clear the machines of anything stored on top. Consolidate detergents and throw out nearly empty bottles. The laundry room organization approach covers making this space more functional long-term. A clean and organized room stays cleaner longer because there are fewer surfaces and corners where things collect.
Combine this clean with the bathroom deep clean and the whole-home reset approach for a full house refresh. The seasonal cleaning schedule is where this task lives going forward to make sure it does not get skipped for another few years. The 30-minute night reset keeps daily upkeep going between these deeper sessions.
The Cleaning Order That Changes Everything
If cleaning feels harder than it should, it’s probably because no one ever showed you a real order of operations. When You Were Never Taught to Clean is $11.99 and walks through the exact sequence Sarah uses: what to tackle first, what to leave until later, and how to finish a room completely instead of cycling through the same surfaces indefinitely. Instant download on Gumroad.
