Preventive Measures to Help Keep Your Home Virus Free
We know that many homeowners in the San Francisco Bay Area are sheltering in place. Everyone is worried about the Coronavirus pandemic. According to the Center for Disease Control, the virus spreads principally through personal conduct. That’s why most states have issued stay at home orders and are pleading with their citizens to practice social distancing, to wash your hands frequently and not to touch your face.
Here are a few suggestions to help keep your home virus free:
Wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds when you come in from outside, before meals, before you begin preparing meals and after you sneeze or cough.
Equip every sink in your home with a bottle of liquid anti-bacterial soap and either paper towels or fresh hand towels and a hamper or wastebasket. Near every faucet, provide sanitizing wipes and disinfect your faucets, toilet flush levers, countertops and door handles every day.
Recognize the difference between cleaning and disinfecting. Cleaning removes dirt, grime and germs, helping to reduce or eliminate the number of germs on a surface. Disinfecting actually kills germs which helps to reduce the possibility of becoming infected after a surface is cleaned. Clean first, then disinfect. You can effectively clean most surfaces with soap and water. To disinfect properly, use an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved disinfectant or create your own by mixing 5 tablespoons of bleach with a gallon of water or use a rubbing alcohol that contains at least 70% alcohol. Be careful using bleach solutions on laminate and granite surfaces. Bleach can cause discoloration in laminate and can damage the seal on granite and other stone surfaces.
Focus on cleaning and disinfecting the surfaces that receive the most contact during the day. Door levers/knobs, light switches, kitchen appliance handles (refrigerator, oven, dishwasher), faucets, toilet tank levers, toilet seats, toilets, kitchen and bathroom cabinet hardware, bathroom fixtures, remote controls, tables, desks, video game controllers and sinks.
Try to place your personal items such as your phone, key ring, purse, etc. in the same place every day. Clean and disinfect these items daily, but exercise caution with touchscreens.
To get buy in from your kids, place the verse of a song on the mirror in the bathroom or kitchen that they can sing for 20 seconds or have a song on your phone that you can play while they wash their hands. Give your children the opportunity to buy different scented, sizes and colored soaps so they have some “skin in the game.”
If you use linen clothes hampers, wash those with your clothes. Use the hottest water possible that won’t damage your things. Don’t shake your dirty laundry in the air because doing so could spread the virus through the air. After placing items in your washing machine, wash your hands.
What’s most important is to be safe and take extra precautions until our entire community can return to normal daily life. If you would like additional guidance for cleaning the fixtures in your kitchen and bathrooms, please give us a call at 415.621.4292 or email us at contact@lutzplumbingonline.com.