Cleaning

xTATTEREDx  · +FINE+  · *SUPERIOR*  · ≡EXCEPTIONAL≡  · ☼MASTERWORK☼

Cleaning
Skills used
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Tasks
Clean

v50.14 · v0.47.05 This article is about the current version of DF. Note that some content may still need to be updated. More Info · V

Cleaning is a type of labor used by dwarves in order to clean tiles. In order for dwarves to perform this task, it must be enabled inside the labor menu's Other Jobs tab. Cleaning is enabled by default in all dwarves.

Though dwarves clean interior and non-muddied subterranean floors, they will not clean outside, and can track blood, ichor, and various hostile extracts across floors. Dwarves do clean melted ice off the beautiful frozen (Inside) ground when ice melts in places where ice does melt. Rain will clean any tiles exposed to it (typically outdoors tiles,) and natural or generated mist will clean any creature passing through it and gradually wash the tile it is in.

Defining a meeting area might get the dwarves to clean that area more often. An effective way to get an area clean is to select a dwarf for the task, remove all their professions except Cleaning, and assign them to a small burrow designated around the area to be cleaned. Burrowing a dwarf with only Cleaning assigned will keep an area much cleaner than it would remain on its own.

Dwarves occasionally clean themselves, using any water source, and soap if available (see bug below.) They will do so even if they are restricted from the cleaning labor. Any blood and other substances will be washed to the floor to spread to other dwarves and animals; barefoot creatures, like animals, children, and many dwarves, can become afflicted with possibly poisonous substances washed off another's body, clothing or weapons. A grating beneath the dwarf will permit washed substances to drain.

Bugs

• There is currently a bug leading to spam of messages "cannot clean self" whenever soap is available; the only known workaround is to ensure that all of your soap is stored in chests in your hospital.
• Cleaning labor is not working^Bug:425

Cleaning Your Dwarves

A simple Dwarven Bathtub constructed out of microcline. For style points, construct the ramps out of soap.

Given the number of diseases carried by forgotten beasts and the risks of infection, and the new threat of evil weather in evil biomes, it's a good idea to try to keep your dwarves clean. This can be accomplished in a number of ways, such as by creating a waterfall in an area that your dwarves will walk through, or using complex mist generation schemes. Perhaps the simplest way of all, though, is to make a Dwarven Bathtub: just make a channel and fill it with 3/7 water via a pond zone, being careful to remove or deactivate the zone before it gets too full. If you do it outdoors in one of the warmer biomes, build a roof over it so that the water tiles become Inside to prevent evaporation. Be careful not to put these outside in any biome which freezes, because freezing water will kill anyone in the tub when it freezes over. They should be safe from freezing so long as all the tiles with water show up as Subterranean when you look at them. Because nobody would want that to happen! The warmer biomes don't have this worry.

One of these across each fortress entrance, each cavern entrance and the hospital entrance will go a long way towards keeping contamination under control. If you need to clean specific civilian dwarves, create a lever that does nothing at the end of a hallway on the far side of a Dwarven Bathtub, assign the lever to that dwarf (this part requires a Manager noble), and order the lever to be pulled. This also works to clean contaminated pets, if you find the pet owner and order them to pull the lever. Unowned animals, of course, can just be butchered or thrown into the tub (change your pond zone to a pit zone and drop them in). Military dwarves can simply be stationed on the other side of the tub.

However, it is worth noting that while a Dwarven Bathtub will remove and contain infectious contaminants, the contaminants themselves remain dangerous. Because of this, Dwarven Bathtubs set up without complex sealing, washing, and draining functions will keep the contagion inside them, infecting all dwarves who pass through them. A single "pile of forgotten beast extract", sitting inside a Dwarven Bathtub in a high traffic area, can easily infect your entire fort as each dwarf walks through it.

Combine a Dwarven Bathtub with a mister suspended above it to form a Dwarven Shower. The tub ensures that visitors are clean, while the mist destroys contaminants in the tub and gives happy thoughts.

V · T · E Labors
Mining	Mining
Woodworking	Carpentry • Crossbow-making • Wood cutting
Stoneworking	Masonry • Stone carving • Stonecutter • Stone engraving
Hunting/Related	Animal training • Animal care • Hunting • Trapping • Small animal dissection
Healthcare	Diagnosis • Surgery • Setting bones • Suturing • Dressing wounds • Feed patients/prisoners • Recovering wounded
Farming/Related	Butchery • Tanning • Farming (fields) • Dyeing • Gelding • Soap making • Wood burning • Potash making • Lye making • Milling • Brewing • Plant gathering • Plant processing • Cheese making • Milking • Shearing • Spinning • Cooking • Pressing • Beekeeping
Fishing/Related	Fishing • Fish cleaning • Fish dissection
Metalsmithing	Furnace operating • Weaponsmithing • Armoring • Blacksmithing • Metalcrafting
Jewelry	Gem cutting • Gem setting
Crafts	Leatherworking • Woodcrafting • Stonecrafting • Bone carving • Glassmaking • Weaving • Clothesmaking • Strand extraction • Pottery • Glazing • Wax working
Engineering	Siege engineering • Siege operating • Mechanics • Pump operating
Hauling	Stone hauling • Wood hauling • Item hauling • Burial • Food hauling • Refuse hauling • Furniture hauling • Animal hauling • Trade good hauling • Water hauling • Push/Haul vehicles
Other Jobs	Cleaning • Lever operation • Road building • Wall/Floor construction • Construction removal