Cleaning Your Home After COVID-19

If you want to know how to clean your home after COVID-19, this post will tell you everything you need to know.  In addition, we will discuss the everyday steps and protective measures you should take following coronavirus pandemic and to prevent a future outbreak.  At the end of the post, we will go into detail on how to clean your home and sanitize belongings properly if someone in your house is sick.

COVID-19 Changed The Way We Do Every Day Housekeeping

COVID-19 has changed the way we maintain our homes.  Although this epidemic overtook our world, we can walk away with some important lessons in safely maintaining our home environment and/or workspace.

As we know, the coronavirus is a terrible and tough virus that can live anywhere from hours to days on different surfaces.  Infection happens through contamination from the respiratory droplets of infected individuals.

These respiratory droplets can travel through the air and also last on surfaces.  It is important to understand the contamination and spread of the disease in order to be aware and take all protective measures.

You Must Clean And Disinfect Areas And Surfaces

Cleaning and disinfecting surfaces and objects properly is the key to preventing the spread of COVID-19.  Here, we have outlined some important ways to protect yourself and others as read from the CDC website.

How To Clean Your Home After COVID-19

• Be sure to wear gloves during the cleaning process in order to protect yourself from contamination.
• Clean all surfaces thoroughly using warm water and soap. Be sure to complete the process with a strong disinfectant.
• Routinely and thoroughly cleanse all high-touch surface areas. This is important to reduce the spread of the virus.  High-touch surface areas include: door knobs, tables, drawers and drawer handles, cell phones, computer keyboards and surfaces, wall areas, doors, counter tops, windows and more.

DID YOU KNOW: Using soap and water for cleaning is very important part of dealing with coronavirus.  Soap and warm water reduces the number of germs, cleans away dirt and debris, and reduces impurities that collect and build up from the disease.  Disinfecting, on the other hand, kills germs and virus and is crucial to properly cleansing areas.

 

How To Disinfect Properly

• It’s crucial to use the right disinfectant that will protect and kill SARS-CoV-2. Such EPA-registered household disinfectants are frequently used by professional cleaning services.  You can read more about what to look for as far ingredients and products here.
• Be sure to follow all directions found on the label of your cleaning product to ensure you are using it safely and killing all germs. Read this article on safe and effective disinfectant use here.
• Most products have a few similar recommendations for use, which you will have to confirm by reading instructions on the product label. Some of these common recommendations include:
  • Leaving the surface wet for a designated number of minutes or amount of time
  • Wearing gloves
  • Having proper ventilation
  • Using product safely to prevent any accidental poisoning

It’s crucial to read over the label including all warnings to safely and effectively use the disinfectant.

• Wear rubber or disposable gloves while applying disinfectant to prevent burning or irritating your skin
• Be sure to use the product safely in a well ventilated area
• Use the proper amount as indicated on the label
• When diluting the product or disinfectant, be sure to use room temperature water
• Do not mix disinfectants together as this could be hazardous or could counteract the product’s effectiveness
• Carefully label products and other cleaning or diluting solutions
• Keep out of reach of children and store at room temperature away from your pets and kids

 

Be aware, these disinfectants are highly hazardous and toxic.  Avoid ingesting and all contact other than what is required for use.  Keep away from children and pets and read labels to be aware of the potential hazards and how to stay safe from them.

 

The thing you can do is hire a professional commercial cleaning service or a house cleaning service to come in and disinfect your home or office.  If you need to disinfect an office or corporate space, you should enlist the help of office cleaning services in addition to looking at this checklist to make sure you are doing everything you need to.

 

Household Bleach Disinfectant DIY

Diluted household bleach solutions may also be used if appropriate for the surface.

In certain cases, a diluted bleach solution made at home can also be used.  You will want to be sure that using bleach on the surface is ok before you use it.  Certain surfaces can get stained from bleach, but a diluted house-hold bleach solution may be appropriate for certain surfaces such as:

• Countertops
• Glass
• Tile

In addition, you can read this article here for instructions on sanitizing surfaces with bleach.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind for disinfecting with bleach:

• Ensure that the type of bleach you are using has sodium hypochlorite concentration of five to six percentage.
• Ensure that they bleach is intended for sanitation and disinfection use
• Be sure that the product is not expired as it will not disinfect properly
• Be aware that not all bleaches are safe to use as disinfectants (particularly color safe bleaches and bleaches used particularly for whitening)

You (unexpired) household bleach should be an effective means of disinfecting against coronavirus when properly used and diluted.  Be sure to follow directions as on the label of the bleach product you use.  Use in an area with proper ventilation and ideally while wearing gloves.

Be aware that you should never combine your household bleach with other cleaners including ammonia.  Additionally, your bleach solution should be left to sit on the surface you are cleansing for at least 1 full minute.

How To Make Bleach Disinfectant Mix DIY

Combine five tablespoons of bleach per one gallon of H20 (room temperature)

If you are making a smaller amount:

Combine four teaspoons bleach per one quart H20 (room temperature)

*use your homemade bleach solution within 24 hours to properly clean and disinfect.

Cleaning Soft Surfaces And Upholstery

For soft surfaces such as carpeting, curtains and floor rugs and mats, you will need to take special steps to properly cleanse from coronavirus.

Here are a few tips for cleaning and laundering items:

• Use soap and warm water to clean carpets and other soft surfaces
• It is recommended to hire a professional carpet cleaning service as they will have the best means of cleaning and safely disinfecting contaminated carpets
• Vacuum your home to pick up dirt and debris that accumulates
• Clean with proper EPA approved cleansers
• Be sure to follow other floor cleaning, waxing and treatment processes

 

Cleaning And Sanitizing Electronics

Your electronics need to be cleaned and wiped down frequently as many of them have close contact with your body and face.  Here are some tips to cleaning and sanitizing electronics properly:

• Use a wipeable cover on electronics to safely protect them from COVID-19 and make cleaning easier
• Be sure to follow all manufacturers guidelines and instructions for properly cleansing and disinfecting

 

Cleaning Clothing, Linens, Bedding And More

Your laundry also needs to be properly washed and cleansed to protect from the transmission and spread of coronavirus. Here are some steps to do so.

• You can wash a sick person’s clothing with the clothing of someone who is not sick
• Use the warmest temperature water that is safe as per laundering instructions to fight germs
• Do not shake laundry as germs could spread
• Use gloves to handle the dirty laundry of a person who has COVID-19
• Sanitize laundry baskets properly with disinfectant

 

Other Tips For Staying Safe

• Wash hands often and as usual – especially after handling a sick person’s belongings. Additionally, you will want to wash hands after touching pets, using restroom or in any other situation where you may have been in contact with coronavirus
• Wash hands after wearing gloves and dispose of used gloves immediately
• Be careful to not touch your mouth, eyes, nose unless you wash your hands first
• Cleanse hands in warm, soapy water for twenty seconds
• You can also use hand sanitizer but it must contain at least 60% alcohol. Hand sanitizer is good to use in the event that you can’t wash your hands.  However, if your hands are dirty you should get to a sink and wash them as soon as possible.

For more information on safely using hand sanitizer, read this article here.

 

Properly Cleansing And Handling Home Sanitization When Someone Is Ill

 

Maintaining A Safe Bedroom And Bathroom Area

 

Be sure to have separate bedrooms and bathrooms in the event that someone is sick in your home.  We know that sometimes it is not possible, however this is very important.

• Keep sick person separated from the rest of the household to avoid cross contamination
• Hire heavy duty cleaning services to properly cleanse the home
• The person who is sick should stay separated from other people in the home (as much as possible)
• Wear gloves when handling and cleaning around the sick person. Only come in contact and do so when you have to.  You should avoid contact with the sick person as much as possible
• Whenever possible, you should give supplies to the sick person if they are able to clean up a little bit after themselves. This will reduce your own exposure and risk
• Line garbage cans with trash bags for the sick person and use gloves to remove garbage
• Wait as long as you can and avoid contact with sick person whenever possible to reduce your own exposure and risk

 

Conclusion

We hope this article has taught you some ways you can handle cleaning your home following COVID-19.  In addition, we hope you have learned some important tips for handling a household with someone sick in it.  Good luck cleaning your home after COVID-19 and we wish you all the best.