Aktau's climate adds three constant tasks to cleaning: wind carries dust and sand onto windowsills, balconies and curtains, humid air off the Caspian leaves a cloudy film on glass, and hard water quickly coats faucets and tile with limescale. So windows here are worth washing more often, textiles need regular cleaning, and cleaning is best planned by season.
- Sand is an abrasive: remove it first with a vacuum or a dry brush and only then wash the surface, or you will scratch glass and glossy finishes.
- Wash windows on the outside at least in spring and fall in Aktau, and on the windy side and near the sea in midsummer as well.
- In a windy city, sheer curtains act as a filter: wash them every 2–3 months and clean drapes every six months.
- Wash the mesh air conditioner filters every 2–3 weeks in summer. You can do it yourself, without taking the unit apart.
- Hard water and dry heat speed up limescale buildup: drops dry fast and leave lime behind, so it is better to wipe faucets and glass dry.
Why does dust come back so fast in Aktau?
Mangystau is a dry, windy land. There are many open spaces and construction sites between the microdistricts, and the wind lifts fine sand and dust from them. Dry air does not hold the dust down, so it easily gets into an apartment through partly open windows, gaps in the frames and the balcony.
Most sand collects on windowsills and in the frame grooves, on the balcony, by the front door, in sheer curtains and in the pile of rugs near windows. This is not ordinary household dust: sand grains are harder than glass and varnish, so they have to be removed in the right order.
- Start dry: a vacuum with a crevice tool for frame grooves and windowsills, a soft brush for the balcony.
- Then go damp: a microfiber cloth lightly dampened in a solution with a drop of detergent.
- Finish with a dry cloth so no dirty streaks are left on the windowsill.
If you wipe sand right away with a wet cloth, it turns into dirty slurry, and glass and glossy surfaces get micro-scratches. On windy days keep windows closed and air out the apartment when the wind dies down. A stiff-bristle mat by the front door catches a noticeable share of the sand brought in on shoes.
A vacuum cleaner in this mode works at its limit: fine sand quickly clogs the filter and the container. Clean the filter once a month and the container or bag after every big cleaning, or the suction power drops noticeably.
How often should you wash windows in Aktau?
Windows in our city take a double hit. Outside, dust and sand settle on the glass, and humid sea air and rare rains turn them into a cloudy film and streaks. Here are the guidelines:
- inside: every 1–2 months, easy to combine with a deep cleaning;
- outside: at least twice a year, in spring and fall;
- on the windy side, near the sea and on lower floors: in midsummer as well;
- window screens: with every window wash. Take them off and rinse them in the shower, otherwise the first wind will blow the dust out of the screen back onto clean glass.
Do not forget the drain holes at the bottom of a plastic frame: sand clogs them, and water stands in the profile after rain. Clear them with a toothpick or a thin brush and pour a little water through. Sand also gets into the window hardware: the sashes start to close stiffly and squeak. Once a year, after the fall washing, clean the mechanisms with a small brush and put a drop of silicone lubricant or machine oil on the moving parts.
We covered the streak-free washing technique in the article how to wash windows without streaks, and for windows at height and panoramic glazing on the outside, it is safer to hire rope access workers from 600 ₸/m². Regular windows can be booked as window washing from 1,500 ₸
How often should you wash curtains and clean other textiles?
When windows are open, sheer curtains act as a filter: dust settles on them that would otherwise get into the room. So window textiles get dirty faster in Aktau, and their grayish tint is often just a layer of dust.
| Textiles | How often |
|---|---|
| Sheer curtains, voile, organza | Wash every 2–3 months, more often in summer with windows open |
| Drapes, blackout, jacquard | Vacuum every 2–3 weeks, clean every six months |
| Roman and roller shades | Vacuum every 2–3 weeks, deep clean once a year |
| Rugs near windows and the balcony | Vacuum 2 times a week, professional cleaning once a year |
Heavy drapes, blackout curtains and curtains on rods under the ceiling are not always easy to take down and wash at home. In that case curtain cleaning without taking them down helps, using steam and extraction right on the rod: sheer curtains from 600 ₸/m², drapes from 800 ₸/m², Roman and roller shades from 1,000 ₸/m², minimum order 10,000 ₸.
How do you clean air conditioner filters without taking the unit apart?
In summer, air conditioners in Aktau run almost nonstop, and on windy days they draw in a lot of dust. A clogged filter weakens the airflow, makes the unit work under overload and gives off an unpleasant smell. You can clean the mesh filters of the indoor unit yourself:
- Turn off the air conditioner and unplug it.
- Lift the front panel of the indoor unit and take out the mesh filters (there are usually two).
- Vacuum the mesh on the dusty side, then rinse it with warm, not hot, water, running the stream from the back side, so the dust comes out instead of packing deeper. A drop of dish soap will remove greasy buildup.
- Dry the filters in the shade at room temperature, not in the sun, on a radiator or with a hair dryer, so the plastic does not warp.
- Wipe the housing and the louvers with a damp cloth, put the dry filters back and close the panel.
In season, do this every 2–3 weeks. Do not go further than the filters: the heat exchanger, fan and drain are cleaned by an air conditioner service technician. It is time to call one if a damp smell remains after cleaning the filters, water drips from the unit or the cold airflow has noticeably weakened.
Hard water and heat: why limescale appears faster
Mangystau has hard water, and in the heat, drops on a faucet, a glass shower screen and tile dry within minutes and leave limescale spots. If you do not wipe them off, over time the spots merge into a white crust that you then have to dissolve. How to remove such buildup with citric acid and vinegar is described in detail in the article about hard water in Aktau. Here we cover only what is related to climate:
- do not wash windows with tap water in the heat in direct sun: the water evaporates before you can pull it off with a squeegee, and white spots are left on the glass;
- after a shower, squeegee the water off the glass and wipe the faucet dry: it takes less than a minute;
- for the final pass over mirrors and glass, use a microfiber cloth lightly dampened with filtered water.
Seasonal cleaning plan for Aktau
So that the climate does not turn cleaning into an endless fight with dust, spread the big tasks across the seasons:
| Season | What to do |
|---|---|
| Spring | Wash windows on both sides and the window screens, clear the frame drains, wash sheer curtains, sort out and wash the balcony, clean air conditioner filters before the heat |
| Summer | Wet cleaning once a week, windowsills after every windy day, air conditioner filters every 2–3 weeks, outside window washing on the windy side |
| Fall | Deep cleaning after the dusty season, window washing before the cold weather, rug and upholstery cleaning to remove the summer sand that settled in them, curtain washing |
| Winter | Short airing in calm hours, wipe condensation from glass and window jambs, check corners and jambs for dark mold spots, keep the entrance mat clean |
If dark spots on the window jambs do appear, it is most likely mold: it is not washed off but treated with fungicides, and there is a separate mold removal service for that. You can do the rest yourself, and a seasonal deep cleaning with inside window washing is convenient to hand to a crew: we clean the stove, refrigerator and microwave in it for free.