House cleaning in Commerce City, CO

Cleaning a home in Commerce City

Commerce City is two towns in one. The original grid near the river is small postwar houses on tight lots, with detached garages off the alley, low ceilings and narrow rooms. Northeast of that, whole subdivisions of two-story houses sit on ground that was prairie not long ago, with young trees, thin yards and open fields still blowing dirt across the fences. A refinery and rail yards sit along the west side.

The two halves ask for different hands. In the old houses it is painted trim, radiator or register grilles and windows that open by sash, all of it done by hand in rooms too small for a cart. In the new ones it is height and square footage: stairways, a two-story entry, tall banisters and a bank of windows whose frames still hold building dust.