Salt is always better with its pal pepper. And a PB&J is just not the same without the J. So why just clean? The new best duo out there is cleaning AND disinfecting.
Hospitals, restaurants, and grocery stores have always been held to tight sanitizing and disinfecting protocols. Can we institute those protocols at home? You’re darn right we can. You just need to know the facts:
Cleaning and disinfecting – is there a difference?
There is! The differences aren’t monumental, but they are meaningful. Knowing what they are can help you know how what to use to keep your family and pets safe at home.
Cleaning will take grease, grime, and dirt off surfaces or objects. It may leave germs and those are what can make us sick.
Disinfecting will eliminate germs on surfaces or objects. It uses just the right chemicals that are formulated to kill pathogens. It won’t clean, but if you clean first and then disinfect, you can reduce infections spreading in your home.
At the end of the day, you probably clean every day to keep grime and dirt at a minimum anyway. Disinfecting is different – it’s a treatment that should be performed once a week or at the very least once a month to kill pathogens, viruses, germs, and bacteria.
What kind of disinfectant should I use in my home?
It’s important that you use a disinfectant that’s on the EPA’s “List N” because that means it’s approved for use against SARS-CoV-2 – the causal agent of Covid-19. It should also be able to kill 99.99% of the variety of fungi, viruses, and pathogenic bacteria out there. That list should include E. coli and H1N1 Swine Flu at the very least. You also want to use a disinfectant defined by the EPA as “practically non-toxic and not an irritant” for the good of your family and pets.
What rooms could benefit from disinfecting?
Everyone thinks of the bathroom when they consider disinfecting. And of course, you want to do that. The best thing you can do is take a cloth with the disinfectant at full strength and wipe down the most touched areas like the toilet handle and sink, among others. But that’s not all you need to do. Misting the entire area using the correct strength of the product will get to all the other places that are harder to reach.
You will also want to disinfect the kitchen. Think about how many times you turn on the sink or pull open the fridge. Now multiply that by how many people live in your home. But counters and areas you put food on need to be disinfected with a product that is rated category D2 by NSF International as “no rinse required on food contact surfaces.” That way, you can use the disinfectant in the kitchen without having to wash or rinse the area after you apply it.
Think beyond the obvious kitchen and bathroom, though. Bedrooms, the living room, the garage, the nursery – they can all be disinfected as long as the product you use is mild on fabrics, hard surfaces, and skin.
It’s a lot of information. Cleaning is easy, but with all the information out there, it sounds like disinfecting may be something you get done by a professional. A cleaning company will do just that – clean. But Waltham® UltiClean™ can do the disinfecting you need while using a product that hits all the points mentioned above. If you don’t think a pest control company can perform a disinfectant service, think about the fact that the disinfectant product they use is regulated by the same agency that regulates pesticides and The Department of Homeland Security named pest control an essential business during the recent health crisis. The technicians at Waltham Pest Services know how to use the products and can safely and effectively disinfect your home today.
Keeping your family and your pets healthy is the most important thing – not just now. Always. So, give Waltham Pest Services a call today and have your home disinfected. Peace of mind is really just a call away.