Ants, geckos and humidity: keeping a Samui villa clean between visits

On Koh Samui, a locked villa is still exposed to the climate. Humidity gets into cupboards and fabrics, ants soon find anything edible, geckos leave droppings on walls and floors, red dust and salt settle on every surface, and unused drains start to smell. None of this is a disaster if it is caught early, but all of it adds up to a big job if nobody looks in for three months.

The cheapest approach is simple: prepare the house properly before you leave, have it aired and wiped down on a schedule while you are away, and get a photo report each time, so you see problems while they are still small.

Humidity and the musty smell

With the windows shut and the AC off, humid air stays trapped in the house. Within a few weeks, wardrobes and drawers smell damp, leather shoes and bags grow a white or green bloom, wooden furniture can swell and stick, and towels and linen left in cupboards take on a musty smell. In the rainy season, roughly October to December, all this happens faster. Our rainy season guide covers mould in detail.

Ants

Ants are the first visitors to an empty house. An open packet of sugar, a sticky jar, a few crumbs in the toaster or a pet bowl is all it takes. They also come for water, so a dripping tap or a damp sink will draw them in. Once a trail is established, they keep coming back to the same place.

Geckos

Geckos are harmless, they eat insects, and on Samui every house has them. In a closed villa, though, nobody cleans up after them. Their droppings collect on floors, window sills, the tops of curtains and behind furniture, and they mark pale walls if left for weeks. You cannot keep geckos out completely, but closed insect screens and fewer insects around the lights mean fewer of them indoors.

Dust, salt and insects

Red dust from the roads and sand from the garden blow in under the doors. Near the sea, salt settles on glass, metal fittings and stainless steel. Dead insects pile up under lights and on window sills, and they in turn attract ants.

Drains and toilets

The water in the U-bends of sinks, showers and floor drains slowly evaporates, and once it has gone, sewer smells rise into the bathroom. A toilet that has not been flushed for weeks develops a ring that is hard to shift.

If you are leaving for several months, a final deep clean is worth it. The house is shut up clean, with no grease or crumbs for the ants and no limescale left to harden.

What a visit to a closed villa should include

• opening windows and doors to air the house during the visit, and closing everything afterwards;
• running every tap and shower and flushing every toilet, so the drains stay sealed;
• dusting, vacuuming and mopping, including gecko droppings on floors and sills;
• wiping down kitchen and bathroom surfaces;
• checking corners, cupboards and the area around the sink for ant trails;
• after heavy rain, looking for leaks and damp under sinks and below windows;
• a photo report of every room, and of anything you should know about.

A regular clean covers the cleaning. Airing, running the taps and anything else you want checked go into the written notes for your home, so whoever comes does the same things every time. Tell us what you want looked at, and we will add it to the notes.

We clean up after ants and geckos: trails, crumbs, droppings and dead insects. In a tropical house, removing whatever attracts them is most of the battle. If we find a large nest, termite trails, a lot of cockroaches or signs of rats, we photograph it and let you know, so you can call a pest control company. We do not spray or treat infestations, and we will not pretend that a cleaning visit can replace that.

The same goes for damp. We remove surface mould from silicone, grout and tiles. Mould that keeps coming back because of a leak or moisture inside a wall needs a repair, and we point it out in the photo report wherever we see it.

• After two to six weeks away, with visits: a regular clean the day before you arrive is usually enough.
• After several months, or with no visits: book a deep clean. Limescale, damp cupboards, dust on top of the wardrobes and gecko marks need the full deep clean, not a regular one.
• Arriving with guests or family: ask for the beds to be made up with your linen and the inside of the fridge cleaned (300 ฿ with a regular clean, included in a deep clean).

Not sure which you need? Our guide to deep vs regular cleaning has a simple test.

A regular clean of a 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom villa costs 2,160 ฿ per visit on a two-week schedule, or 2,280 ฿ on a monthly one. A deep clean of the same villa before you come back costs 5,000 ฿. For a 1-bedroom condo, a regular clean starts at 1,000 ฿.

The price is the same in all areas of the island, with no travel fee. Cancelling or moving a visit is free, which helps if your plans change. Just tell us as early as you can. Check the price for your home:

While you are away, the photo report is your eyes. After every visit you get photos of each room on WhatsApp, along with anything we noticed: a stain on the ceiling, an ant trail, a leak under the sink. Every clean is checked against the checklist and the photos, and if we missed something on the checklist, tell us within 24 hours and we will come back and put it right free of charge. You deal with us in English, Russian or Thai, and pay after each visit in cash or by bank transfer. Read more about how we control quality.