How to deep clean your house
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Loading... - Jacobs Chantal
- 27 Feb 2023
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Your guide for keeping germs and viruses at bay.
It's that time of year where you're either ill, or it feels like everyone else around you is ill and you're trying to avoid it.
Some people love a good clean, while others can't stand it, but one thing's for certain: it beats being poorly in bed. Regular cleaning plays a vital role in limiting the spread of the common cold, the flu and Covid-19, so if you haven't deep cleaned your home in a while, it might be time to get out the disinfectant.
With expert advice and product reviews from the GHI, we've put together this expert, germ-busting guide to cleaning your home.
1. Clean, then disinfect
Use a two-step method – cleaning first, then disinfecting – to tackle surfaces such as kitchen counters, table tops and bathroom surfaces. To clean, either spray the surface with distilled white vinegar and then wipe down with a clean cloth or simply use a microfibre cloth with warm water. To disinfect, use a cleaning cloth dipped in detergent solution and wrung out fully.
If someone in your home has had Covid, Middlesex University immunologist Dr Darshna Yagnik has the following advice:
"The highly infectious mutant coronavirus can still be inactivated efficiently by regular disinfection, using products containing at least 70% alcohol, 0.5% hydrogen peroxide or bleach (diluted to 0.1% sodium hypochlorite) using cold water." That's around 50ml of thick household bleach diluted in just over 2 litres of water.
2. Make your disinfectant work harder!
How effective a disinfectant is at killing germs and viruses doesn’t just depend on its ingredients. The length of time it is left to work, known as ‘contact time’, also comes into play.
"This ‘contact time’ is needed to get the most out of your disinfectant," explains microbiologist and author of The Germ Code, Jason Tetro. "Use a product that claims to kill 99.9% of bacteria and viruses, and ensure you leave it to work on a hard surface for at least one minute but preferably three minutes."
3. Don’t overlook ‘high touch’ surfaces
It’s easy to remember to clean and disinfect obvious germ hotspots such as the toilet and kitchen surfaces. But other frequently touched surfaces in our homes need attention, too – think door and kettle handles, light switches and bannisters.
For obvious electrical safety reasons, you should never spray anything directly onto a light switch. Instead, make up a disinfectant solution in an old spray bottle and spray this lightly onto a microfibre cloth, then use this to wipe the switch and switch plate. Buff with a clean, soft cloth or a fine microfibre cloth for a satisfying shine.
4. Leave your shoes by the door
Shoes don’t just carry dirt into our homes – they also have the potential to introduce germs. For this reason, it’s best to make your home a ‘shoes-free’ zone and to clean hard floors regularly.
Start by vacuuming or sweeping hard floors to get rid of loose dirt then mop with a warm solution of disinfectant. Take care not to over-wet laminate flooring as this could cause it to warp. Read More…
