7 Disinfecting Mistakes You’re Probably Making

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone is aware that disinfecting their surroundings along with maintaining personal hygiene is crucial. However, even with a lot of information being available on how to disinfect your home, there are still several mistakes you may be making unknowingly. Disinfecting is an important activity you need to perform to remove illness-causing bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other pathogens from surfaces or objects. When you make errors while performing this activity, your household members fall sick repeatedly, and indoor air quality is compromised. To get your house or apartment sanitised and disinfected properly, you can take the assistance of professional cleaners who offer house cleaning and end of lease cleaning services in Darwin. Additionally, see if you are making the disinfecting mistakes outlined below to mend your ways and make your home germ-free.

1. Disinfecting Without Cleaning

To remove dangerous germs and pathogens from any surface or object, cleaning before disinfecting is crucial. It helps remove physical contaminants like dust particles, debris, dirt, and grime. When you disinfect before cleaning, these pollutants can shield illness-causing microbes and prevent the product from working effectively. Therefore, you have a surface/object that is neither clean nor disinfected.

2. Using Disinfectant as a Cleaner

Often people assume cleaning and disinfecting are similar activities, but they are very different and should be performed in the correct order to get optimum results. Therefore, if you are using a disinfectant as a cleaner, then stop because you are neither sanitising the area nor killing the germs on it. Cleaners are formulated to remove contaminants from surfaces/objects, whereas disinfectants remove illness-causing pathogens. Always clean, then disinfect to get effective results and keep your home neat and germ-free at all times. Even professional end of lease cleaners in Darwin use this technique to ensure every surface/object they tend to is sanitised completely.

3. Not Giving Products Enough Dwell Time

Every disinfectant needs time to kill germs present on a surface or fixture, which is why sanitation remains incomplete when it is wiped or washed before a product’s dwell time is over. Most disinfectants need 5-10 minutes to work, but you should always read the label to double-check how long a product takes to kill germs. What to do if a product dries before its dwell time is over? Reapply it, as the goal is to keep a surface/object saturated with the disinfectant until the necessary time it requires for killing dangerous microbes passes.

4. Using a Single Wipe to Sanitise Multiple Areas

Disinfecting wipes are excellent for removing germs immediately from a small surface or object when you don’t have a disinfecting solution and other tools on hand. However, one wipe should not be used to sanitise various surfaces or a large area since the solution is insufficient. Disinfecting wipes are suitable when you want to quickly disinfect a fixture, gadget, appliance, high point of contact, or a small surface. The biggest drawbacks of using a single wipe to sanitise multiple areas are:

• Neither of the surfaces/objects you wipe is disinfected adequately
• Rather than removing bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other pathogens, you aid in their spread.

5. Not Checking Expiration Dates of Products

Every disinfectant has an expiration date, and using a product past this date is counterproductive because germs are not removed, and you dirty the surface with it. Therefore, always check the expiry details on the label of disinfectants before using them. Some products may mention a best before date, which means the product is the most effective before that date and afterwards will not kill germs as effectively.

6. Neglecting to Wash Hands Before and After Disinfecting

The majority of illness-causing germs are transferred from one area to another through contact. Therefore, if you are not washing your hands before and after disinfecting, you increase the risk of cross-contamination. Professional end of lease cleaners in Darwin ensure optimum personal hygiene while cleaning to prevent the introduction of germs in a clean surrounding. Thus, make sure you wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and water before you start cleaning and disinfecting and rewash them after completing the activities.

7. Mixing Two or More Disinfecting Solutions

Never mix disinfecting solutions as they can react and release toxic fumes into your surroundings, causing severe health problems and polluting the environment. Often, people unknowingly mix disinfecting solutions and experience severe cough, headaches, skin rashes and much more. What’s more, this mistake can be deadly as inhalation of excessive fumes can make you require emergency medical attention. Therefore, never mix white vinegar, bleach, ammonia, hydrogen peroxide or other disinfectants.

Conclusion

Disinfecting your home is crucial to keep it sanitary and germ-free at all times. You may do the activity regularly, but you may be making the mistakes mentioned above. These mistakes can make your house dirtier as you may spread illness-causing pathogens rather than killing them. Thus, ensure whether you need to disinfect your home for end of lease cleaning in Darwin or regular sanitation, you don’t make these errors.