Why You Need to Sanitize Your Home or Business

Your home or business is likely where you spend the majority of your time. But all too often, we bring microscopic parts of the world into these places. These germs can enter our space on our hands, clothing, and even your phone.

Cleaning and sanitizing your home or workplace can help keep you, your family and employees safe from sickness and disease, including COVID-19. It’s important to regularly clean even if no one has been ill recently. However, sanitizing takes your cleaning to a new level.

Cleaning vs. Sanitizing

Cleaning refers to the regular tidying up and wiping down we do in our homes and businesses. The purpose is to remove any visible mess or dirt. This includes sweeping, mopping, dusting, etc.

Sanitizing focuses on reducing microorganisms in our homes and workspaces. There is a safe level of these bacteria and germs and sanitizing brings them down to this level. Products used to sanitize your home or workplace will target various bacteria, not just one.

Cleaning and sanitizing are used together to reduce the germs in your space and keep you and those around you healthy and safe. You start by cleaning areas like countertops and sanitize after you’re done cleaning. It’s important to do this in two steps, as trying to sanitize a dirty surface won’t work. You need to wipe them clean before you apply sanitizing products.

Benefits of Sanitizing

Sanitizing your home or workplace has a number of advantages, including:

Lowering your stress

Having your home or workspace properly cleaned and sanitized can help reduce your worry about getting sick. This is particularly true during the pandemic. Sanitizing your space can give you the peace of mind that your home or business is not overrun with microbes. You’ll feel relaxed when you open the door at the end of the day.

Reduce health problems

Sanitizing is an effective way to reduce health problems. It is one of the best preventative measures you can take. You’ll be able to lessen the likelihood of sicknesses like food poisoning, colds, and the flu.

Prevent pests

Keeping your home or business clean and sanitized reduces the likelihood you’ll have to deal with unwanted pests in your space. Mice, rats, raccoons, and other pests can be attracted based on subtle smells. Keeping your home or workplace sanitized reduces these smells and the chance that you’ll have unwelcome guests stop by.

Remove allergens

If anyone in your family or business has allergies, regularly sanitizing can help remove allergens in your space. Things like pet dander, dust mites, mould, mildew can be reduced through proper sanitization methods. It’s crucial to thoroughly clean items in your home or business where these allergens tend to hide, such as curtains, carpets, and upholsteries.

Better breathing

Removing allergens and other elements like mould and mildew is crucial for everyone. Even if those around you don’t suffer from allergies, sanitizing your space reduces these microbes that can cause respiratory irritation. In other words, sanitizing can help you breathe better.

Fix odours

Some bacteria and other microbes can cause a foul smell in your home or workplace. This can be quite embarrassing. They can be particularly noticeable during the springtime. Regular cleaning and sanitizing will help rid your home or business of these bad smells and the germs that cause them.

Exercise

Sanitizing your home or workspace can be a great workout, leading to a strong you and a cleaner home. All the reaching, cleaning, and stretching will leave you feeling good when you are done.

Tips for Sanitizing Your Home

Regularly tidying up your home or business is a good way to keep it clean. However, for those times when you want to take your cleaning a little further, here are some different ways you can sanitize your space:

Wipe down countertops, doorknobs, light switches, and other places where hands often touch, using hot water, an all-purpose cleaner, and a microfiber cloth. The cloth and mixture can lift and remove any microbes from these surfaces. Other surfaces you may want to sanitize include car door handles, desks, and railings.

Clean your laptops, tablets, phones and other electronics with an alcohol wipe that has at least 70 percent isopropyl alcohol. Don’t forget to clean remotes and keyboards too.

For kitchen areas, using a hot rinse cycle in your dishwasher or very hot soapy water is enough to sanitize your utensils, pots, pans, and other items.

If you have young children in the home, it’s important to wash their toys often. Using hot soapy water and scrubbing every nook and cranny of the toy is essential.

The bathroom is a key area to sanitize, be sure to get to all the different areas that people touch with their hands, like the flush handle.

Sanitize your cleaning tools also, like mops and sponges. You can do this by soaking them in a disinfectant or running them through a wash cycle with some bleach.

Clean carpets, rugs, and curtains with soap or water to remove dust and other contaminants.

If you’re not sure what type of cleaners to use, you can always create a mixture of bleach and water for effective sanitizing. However, if you are using bleach, you must follow the safety rules such as wearing gloves and not to breathe it in.

Looking for a more natural type of sanitizing agent? Consider using any of the following:

• Rubbing alcohol
• White vinegar
• Borax
• Hydrogen peroxide

While there are ways for you to sanitize your home or business, sometimes it is just easier to leave it to the professionals. Our team has the training and equipment needed to do a thorough job so you can be confident your sapce is clean and safe. Contact FIRESTONE Restoration to learn more about our sanitizing services for your home or business.