How To Sanitize and Disinfect Your Furniture This Flu Season

Although the flu season is inevitable, you aren’t completely powerless when it comes to keeping it at bay. There are several things you can do to ward off the chances of getting infected. Deep cleaning, disinfecting and sanitizing our home furniture is one way of ensuring a healthy-influenza free home. Before we dive into the details, let’s examine what flu is, and how to prevent ourselves and our loved ones from catching it. 

What Causes Flu?

Flu is a respiratory illness caused by the influenza virus. It is contagious and can affect any person at any age. Its symptoms are characterized by body pain, incessant sneezing, cough, fever, and nausea or dizziness. People generally get better within one to two weeks.  Individuals can get a flu vaccine a year to reduce the chances of getting infected. When the flu lasts for more than two weeks and symptoms are persistent, it is best to check with medical professionals immediately.

How Do We Catch A Flu?

It is spread through tiny droplets from an infected person. Usually, droplets can spread when infected individuals cough or sneeze. It is important to keep your distance from people who have the flu to prevent yourself from getting it. Sometimes, a person can catch the flu by touching surfaces of furniture such as sofas, tables, chairs, and kitchen tops that have the influenza virus in it.  This is why it is crucial to have your home furniture disinfected and sanitized on a regular basis.

Clean Your Home

As we transition into a new season, we are more at risk of getting infected. The changes in temperature make our immune system vulnerable to illnesses. To protect your family from catching this seasonal illness, here are some tips to help you flu-proof your home.

Upholstered Furniture

Although cleaning cloth-covered furniture may be intimidating to tackle, it’s surprisingly the easiest to clean. Making a spray solution of water, disinfectant, and fabric conditioner can be a great way to disinfect your upholstery. It is best to choose fabric-safe disinfectant to prevent your furniture from damage. 

Before spraying it with disinfectant, make sure to remove any solid debris by vacuuming, or using a small brush.  If you have store-bought disinfectant spray specifically for upholstered furniture, don’t forget to check the instructions. 

Table Tops And Kitchen Counters

Tables, as well as kitchen counters, can come in different sizes, and materials.  These could be made from granite, laminated wood, marble, stainless steel, and soapstone. Therefore, cleaning treatment also varies. It is best to opt for an all-purpose cleaning agent to wipe off the dirt, stain, virus, bacteria, and germs on its surfaces.

Chairs And Stools

A solution of mild soap and water can be effective enough to clean chairs. Using a microfiber cloth, you can wipe the chairs and let them dry completely. Upholstered chairs can be cleaned in a similar way, just ensure that it is wiped dry. 

Beds And Mattresses

When you clean your mattress, remove everything from the duvet,  pillows, bedsheets, right down to the coverlets or bedspread. Wash the sheets accordingly and air out your pillows. A simple trick is to sprinkle baking soda all over your mattress using a sift. Leave it out for about an hour. After this, you can start to vacuum and remove the baking soda. You can then put new and clean mattress sheets back again. 

Wardrobe

Wardrobes are perhaps one of those pieces of furniture that are taken for granted when it comes to cleaning. Over time, these can accumulate dust and become musty, affecting your clothes. Wipe the inside surfaces of your wardrobe with a cloth and disinfectant solution. You can then put your clothes back after cleaning.

Cabinets/Cupboards

It is important to keep kitchen cabinets or any other cupboard of your house dry, clean, and tidy. Not only can some bacteria thrive in damp, moist surfaces but it can also even be a breeding ground for house pests. Disinfecting and sanitizing your cabinets with a solution of warm water and vinegar can be effective.

Points To Remember

Do not use sponges 

When wiping surfaces, it is not advisable to use sponges. Instead, paper towels or microfiber cloths are best. Sponges can increase the chance of spreading bacteria, germs, or viruses.

Invest In Baking Soda

Also known as sodium bicarbonate, baking soda’s neutralizing quality makes it very effective in removing dirt, grease, and grime on surfaces. It also deodorizes unwanted smell.

Bleach Kills Viruses

Bleach can be added in small quantities to a bucket of water to create a simple disinfectant. It kills the influenza virus and other bacteria and germs that can cause various diseases and infections. 

Ensure To Regularly Do The Laundry

Viruses can cling to clothes, so it is important to not let your laundry accumulate and wash them as soon as possible. The same goes for the fabric that you use when cleaning your furniture.

Isolate An infected Family Member

If a family member gets infected with the flu, isolating them will be the best way to contain the virus and keep it from spreading.  The flu can be treated with proper home care and prescription. When taking care of your family member, wash your hands regularly and disinfect the surfaces in and around the room. 

Educate Your Family

Teach your family with good hygiene habits and educate them about what flu is and how to prevent it. Keeping your family informed is important. 

Keep Your Family Extra-Safe

While you can perform these cleaning measures to make your home flu-proof, deep cleaning services can provide deep vacuuming and sanitization to the furniture at your home. This will eliminate any viruses and germs, bacteria, and microorganisms that can cause health problems. 

Mattresses can be home to dust mites that feed on your dead skin cells, which we shed naturally every day. To have a pathogen-free home, regular mattress sanitization is important. 

This usually involves three simple steps.  

First, the mattress will be deep vacuumed using an industrial-quality vacuum that is 11x stronger than regular ones. This will eliminate any foreign particles that are left sitting on the surface of the mattress. These particles are solid wastes that are left accumulating in its (mattress) layers. Doing this can extend the life of your mattress and decreases its wear and tear.

 After this, it is placed under UV light to kill the bacteria, virus, dust mites and its eggs. In fact, 10 mins of exposure to UV light is equivalent to 48 hours of being under the sun. UV also destroys any DNA of microorganisms that are harmful to the body.

Finally, overheated dry steam is used to eliminate any remaining traces of microorganisms. This can also be used to sanitize upholstery and curtains. Using thermal shock, this kills any remaining trace of bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens in your mattress.

Conclusion

A clean home can not only keep your family from infectious diseases, but it can help in creating a safe environment your children can live in. It can improve the quality of life of your family, relieve individuals of asthma and allergies, better breathing, and improve the immune system.

Ideally, a thorough household cleaning can be done every three months. However, dusting and regular surface cleaning and tidying up general clutter should be done every day.

A flu-proof household starts with your family’s health and immune system. Drink plenty of water and eat food rich in vitamins and minerals such as fruits and vegetables to help strengthen your immune system. This will make it easier for your body to fight off any infection.

 Remember to disinfect and sanitize your home regularly and put your family’s health as a priority.  At this time of the year, it pays to invest in your family’s well being to live a happy, and healthy life.  If you wish to get the extra treatment of sanitization for your home, talk to us at Adams Care today.