How to Disinfect Your Home From Top to Bottom
Knowing how to disinfect your home properly will do more than cleaning alone. It will help keep you and your loved ones healthy. Explore our step-by-step spring cleaning checklist to keep your home looking spotless year-round.
The Kitchen
Let us show you how to disinfect your home room-by-room, starting with the kitchen.
Start by disinfecting high-use surfaces like handles, buttons and tabletops daily with an EPA-approved disinfectant, like Clorox bleach or Lysol. It is best to wear thick latex gloves to protect your skin from possible irritation when handling these chemicals. With any product you use, make sure to follow the directions on the label. Surfaces need to stay visibly wet for a few minutes to ensure the surface is completely germ-free.
Many disinfectants are toxic at high concentrations, so if you plan to clean a surface where you prepare food, make sure to rinse the surface after disinfecting. There are some food-safe sanitizing products on the market can safely clean these surfaces at lower concentration levels.
Presoaked disinfectant wipes are a convenient way to clean kitchens; just make sure to grab a new wipe if you notice them drying out.
The Bathrooms
Disinfect hard surfaces like shower tile, toilets and countertops daily with a disinfectant room spray or wipe. To clean and disinfect the inside of your toilet bowl, use a commercial toilet bowl cleaner and a well-made toilet brush.
Do not forget to disinfect soft surfaces like bathmats and towels, too. Spraying bathmats with a disinfectant spray will help keep them fresh. Ideally, it is best to replace towels and washcloths daily. Running towels in a commercial washing machine on the hottest setting should help disinfect these items.
The Living Room
Clean hard surfaces like tabletops, light switches, doorknobs and more with soap and water any time they are soiled. After cleaning, you can use a disinfectant on these surfaces to keep them extra safe.
When cleaning furniture, you can wash any dirty spots you find with soap and water. You can use a disinfectant on these surfaces as well. Again, make sure to follow the instructions on the label to ensure you do not damage the furniture’s fabric.
Disinfectant wipes are great to use on tv remotes, video game controllers and keyboards (unless otherwise noted by the appliance manufacturer). For touchscreens on devices like tablets and smartphones, you can use 70% isopropyl alcohol.
The Bedrooms
To disinfect your home’s bedroom, start by running your sheets, pillowcases and blankets in the washer once a week. For other soft surfaces like mattresses, drapes or rugs, you can either clean them with soap and water or use a disinfectant room spray, like Lysol, on them. Make sure to follow the directions on the can for fabrics and upholstery. It is also essential to vacuum carpets at least twice a week.
For bedroom appliances like TVs and remote controls, you can clean them using a disinfectant spray or wipe.
Understanding how to disinfect your home will keep your home shinier than ever. Reducing clutter is another way! You can explore Perry Homes’ gallery of homes to get some ideas to keep everything in order.