With winter in our midst, the chance of you (or someone you know) contracting the flu or a nasty cold increases greatly. If someone does get the flu, your house becomes a breeding ground for bad bacteria and germs that go hand-in-hand with sickness. These extra bacteria in your home not only mean that there is the chance that someone else in the family could get sick as well, but that the recovery time may increase unless your home is properly disinfected.
If you or someone else becomes sick, here are a few simple cleaning tricks that can be performed which will help to decrease your recovery time and might even prevent you getting sick in the future.
Cleaning and disinfecting is crucial due to the fact that certain harmful bacteria and germs can live on porous surfaces for an estimated 8-12 hours, while they can survive between 24-48 hours on non-porous surfaces, such as kitchen bench tops and door handles.
Before you can begin to disinfect your home or rid it of the bad bacteria that is associated with colds and flu, you first need to thoroughly clean your home.
Dirt and grime actually hamper disinfectants from reaching the bacteria as they work as a sort of shield, protecting the bacteria from the disinfectant. Therefore all surfaces, especially those that have been in direct contact with the sick person, should be thoroughly wiped down with a clean cloth and all carpets and hard floors should be vacuumed. Door handles should also be paid particular attention to as both healthy and non-healthy people will be touching these on a daily basis. Did you know door handles are often found to be one of the most bacteria-covered places in the home – even beating the toilet seat for first place?
If your children are sick their toys should also be cleaned. Wipe down plastic toys with soapy water and put soft toys, such as teddies, in the washing machine on a gentle cycle, or hand wash them.
After cleaning all hard surfaces, then it’s time to disinfect them. Make sure you that you disinfect door handles, telephones and computer keyboards as these can be hotspots where bacteria like to settle.
By thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting your home and office, you can greatly decrease the recovery time, meaning that you can get on with more important things and not let the flu slow you down.
And if all that sounds a bit exhausting – just call us. We’ll have it done in a jiffy so you can get on with enjoying life.