Tips to Disinfect Your Home- Common Area Checklist

Now more than ever it is important to disinfect common areas in your home. With Coronavirus aka Covid-19 affecting us all, sanitizing and disinfecting is crucial to many. Disinfecting common areas is important for all our health and safety, especially the elderly and immune compromised. A surface area (like a countertop) can look clean, but can still contain illness-causing bacteria for several hours and even days. Cleaning and disinfecting surfaces in your home can help diminish the community spread of germs and harmful bacteria, which is great for us all. Here are some common areas you can disinfect in your home.

Common Home Areas To Disinfect

Kitchen

Kitchen tables, light fixtures, cabinets, sink handles, counter tops, refrigerator handles and appliances have common handles and/or control panels that are touched each time they are used or opened. Besides disinfecting for Covid-19 (Coronavirus), bacteria like salmonella, listeria, E. coli, mold, and yeast can be live on these surfaces as well.  All of these surfaces should be cleaned multiple times daily, especially after food preparation. You can wipe these areas down with wipe such as Clorox Disinfecting Wipes

Living Room

Soft surfaces like pillows and upholstered furniture, carpets, rugs, hard surfaces, coffee tables and end tables can be full of germs and bacteria. In addition, play area tables, light switches, remote controls, video game controls, and doorknobs can have them as well due to our hands touching them constantly.

Electronics

Phones, tablets, laptops, keyboards, video game consoles and their controllers harbor plenty of bacteria, make sure to clean these often. You can use disinfectant wipes. Viruses and germs can live on these surfaces for hours or even days. Make sure they kill germs and be super careful not to submerge them with so much that they damage the electronic itself.  As always you can refer to manuals on how to properly clean these items, but know they need to be cleaned since many people touch them.

Bathrooms

Hard surfaces such as showers, toilets including the bowl, counters and floors can be a big breeding ground for bacteria since this room is most exposed to bodily fluids. Change out hand towels daily and change out bath mats regularly. Furthermore, make sure you are changing out toothbrushes regularly, especially if a person is sick. This will prevent bacteria from spreading to other toothbrushes as well.

Bedrooms

Soft surfaces such as bed linens, pillows. throw pillows, pillow cases and clothing can breed harmful bacteria as well, especially if someone is sick. In addition, clothes you have put on and been outside in such as any outerwear, gloves, hats and sunglasses that may have been exposed to community germs.

Kids bedrooms can be playgrounds for harmful viruses and bacteria as well. Stuffed animals, cribs, beds, toys, play tables and dressers should be cleaned as well.

In addition, you can disinfect your mattress with a spray like Seventh Generation Disinfectant Spray.

General Home

Entrance areas such as front door and back door, door knobs, any keypads, AC temperature controls, corridors and stair cases, garage door openers, door knobs, security locks and buttons can be a potential risk for harmful bacteria.

In addition, choose a high quality air filter for your AC unit that is designed to filter out bacteria.

 

If you cannot find cleaners….

Bleach

If you cannot find cleaners but have bleach, you can use 5 tablespoons (1/3 cup) of bleach in one gallon of water. You can also use 4 teaspoons of bleach in one quart of water. Be careful because it can discolor fabrics and other items.

Hydrogen Peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide is not as strong as bleach. It is advised to not dilute it, use it straight. Hydrogen peroxide decomposes into water and oxygen.

Alcohol

Rubbing alcohol products that are at least 70 percent alcohol will kill the Coronavirus with less potential for damage than bleach. When using rubbing alcohol, don’t dilute it. Consumer Reports says rubbing alcohol is safe surfaces, but can discolor some plastics, so use with caution.

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