House cleaning in Berkeley, CA

Homes in Berkeley

By Census estimates, Berkeley has about 53,145 housing units, about 47,135 of them occupied,² for about 120,257 residents.²

Census estimates put Berkeley's median year built at about 1944;³ about 46 percent of its housing units went up in 1939 or earlier, and about 11 percent came in 2000 or later.³ Berkeley's occupied homes are about 56 percent rented, about 26,306, and about 44 percent owner-occupied, about 20,829.⁴ About 11 percent of Berkeley's housing units are studios and about 23 percent are one-bedrooms;⁵ two-bedroom homes are about 30 percent and three-bedroom homes about 21 percent.

Berkeley households and renters

Buildings of five or more units house about 61 percent of Berkeley's renter households, and about 13 percent have a detached house,⁶ Census estimates show. About 35 percent of Berkeley households are one person living alone,⁷ and the average household has about 2.27 people;⁷ someone under 18 is in about 19 percent of households⁷ and someone 65 or older in about 30 percent.⁷

Berkeley's carts

Berkeley's Municipal Code says garbage collection service is provided by the City, and owners of premises must use it.⁸ The code also bars any person owning a multiple-family dwelling or possessing a single-family dwelling from letting garbage, rubbish or waste collect and accumulate on the premises,⁸ except as the chapter provides.

The City of Berkeley says carts go at the curb by 7am on the weekly collection day,⁹ in the gutter in front of the curb or driveway, or on the parking strip when collection falls on street sweeping day. Berkeley cart lids must close completely, the City says.⁹

What goes in Berkeley's bins

The City of Berkeley says each household gets three bins: blue for recycling, green for compost and gray for trash.¹⁰ Berkeley's sorting guide says the green bin takes food scraps, food-soiled paper and yard trimmings,¹⁰ and the gray bin takes only things that cannot be composted or recycled, including lined paper food cartons.

Berkeley single-family homes and duplexes use split carts for recycling, StopWaste says:¹¹ paper and cardboard in the brown side, and metal, glass and plastics in the blue side. StopWaste's Berkeley guide lists paper towels and napkins, greasy pizza boxes and soiled paper egg cartons for the compost bin,¹¹ and empty aerosol cans, synthetic sponges, incandescent or halogen bulbs and non-working kitchen glassware for the landfill.¹¹

Moving in and out of a Berkeley rental

Berkeley's Municipal Code says the purpose of its rent chapter is to regulate residential rent increases and to protect tenants from unwarranted rent increases and arbitrary, discriminatory or retaliatory evictions.¹²

The City of Berkeley says property owners are responsible for establishing waste collection services for their tenants, and that tenants must have equally convenient access to recycling, compost and trash.¹³ Property owners are to educate tenants about proper sorting annually, no later than two weeks after move-in and at least two weeks before move-out, the City says.¹³

Requests to start, change or stop waste service at a Berkeley rental come from the property owner and cannot come directly from a tenant unless authorized, the City says.¹³ The City of Berkeley says property owners at multi-family buildings are responsible for having carts out by 7am on service day and should also ensure they are removed within 24 hours of pickup.¹³

Bulky waste in Berkeley

StopWaste says the City of Berkeley offers one bulky waste pickup per calendar year for single-family homes and multi-unit residential buildings of up to four units, for the property owner, on Wednesdays only.¹¹

Household hazardous waste in Berkeley

The City of Berkeley says never to put household hazardous waste in the trash, a sink or a drain, or leave it out around a home or on the street,¹⁴ and counts household batteries, fluorescent lamps, cleaners and sprays among common types. Berkeley's Municipal Code also bars hazardous waste and liquid garbage from garbage containers.⁸

Alameda County Health's household hazardous waste service lets a resident deliver hazardous waste generated in the care and maintenance of their home,¹⁵ including paints, electronics, lamps, batteries and products for the care and cleaning of a home, garden or vehicle.

Storm drains in Berkeley

Berkeley's Municipal Code makes it unlawful to discharge any matter except stormwater into the storm drain system,¹⁶ except as the chapter expressly exempts, and the code also bars leaving refuse, rubbish or garbage on any street, alley, sidewalk or storm drain, or on any lot, so that it might become a pollutant entering the storm drain system.¹⁶ The City of Berkeley says water entering the storm drains empties directly into the bay without any treatment, through pipelines separate from the sewer lines, and that no materials should be dumped into storm drains.¹⁷

Tap water in Berkeley

East Bay Municipal Utility District says the range of its water is 1 to 7 grains per gallon of hardness,¹⁸ per its water quality FAQ. During high demand, maintenance or other operational needs, some East Bay Municipal Utility District areas may be served from a different treatment plant drawing from a different source reservoir,¹⁹ its 2025 report says.

Berkeley's weather and air monitor

The Berkeley station's 1991-2020 normals from NOAA come to 26.12 inches of precipitation a year, with 45.3 days recording at least 0.10 inches.²⁰ Those normals also give 6.4 days a year at or above 90 degrees, with a normal annual high of 68.2 and a normal annual low of 48.7.²⁰ A near-road air monitoring site at Berkeley Aquatic Park sits within 50 meters east of Interstate 80, the Bay Area Air District says in its 2024 network plan.²¹

House cleaning in Berkeley

• Apartment cleaning
• Move-out cleaning
• One-time cleaning
• Maid service
• Deep cleaning
• Post-construction cleaning