any of us have been cooped up at home the last couple of months due to COVID-19 and constantly wondering when things will get back to normal? Unfortunately, the answer to that question is still unknown.
But what can we do to keep our homes as germ and pathogen-free as possible during an outbreak of disease like the COVID-19 Corona virus? If someone in your home is sick, it’s important to not just clean, but to disinfect surfaces and your floors are no exception.
While you might not consider the floor a frequent touch point, it is important to keep these high traffic areas as clean as possible, especially if someone has walked through your home with shoes or if you have pets who might be carrying in dirt, germs, and bacteria from outside. From cleaning to disinfecting, Super Mario Carpet Cleaning is here to share some tips to help you keep your floors clean and safe.
Cleaning Tips for Hard Flooring– Laminate, Vinyl, Hardwood, Tile & Grout
Laminate & Vinyl Flooring - Daily use of a microfiber mop or Swiffer is a great way to keep your hard surface floors clean. You can vacuum with a soft-bristled floor brush attachment to clean up even more dirt, dust, and debris. Depending on the type of flooring in your home, you’ll want to be careful with any kind of mopping- laminate floors can be damaged by moisture so opt for damp mopping with those instead. If you have vinyl flooring, you can mop with either a store-bought cleaner or a solution of apple cider vinegar and warm water. Routine cleaning here will help to prevent the spread of bacteria and viruses.
Hardwood Floor Cleaning - Disinfecting hardwood floors is a little trickier—remember that keeping water and moisture away is key to ensure your floors last so you don’t want to use the vinegar solution here. The best option is to use a damp mop with a cleaner made specifically to disinfect hardwood floors. After damp mopping, dry the surface with a clean, soft, dry towel to remove any lingering moisture.
Tile & Grout Floor Cleaning – even though ceramic and porcelain tile are considered hard flooring they are porous allowing for dirt and other debris to get trapped in the pores which can get extremely tough to remove with using just off-the shelf cleaning products. In order to clean and sanitize the tile floors successfully they should be cleaned by a professional using the rotary jet extraction cleaning, which can be described as specialized pressure cleaning with a powerful vacuum. The tile and grout are steam cleaned at 1000psi while the water that heats up to 230F is extracted continuously. The water temperature during this process is extremely important as WHO points out, temperatures of 140°F to 150°F are enough to kill most viruses and pathogens.
Cleaning Tips for Soft Flooring– Carpets & Area Rugs
Area Rugs - Depending on the amount of traffic, daily or weekly vacuuming is recommended. Go slowly while vacuuming to make sure you’re thoroughly picking up all the dust and debris—slow passes with your vacuum can pick up more ground-in dirt than fast passes. A lot of dust and debris tend to hide underneath or behind furniture, so if you can, move or lift your furniture to vacuum more thoroughly. If you’re cleaning the entire room, it’s smart to vacuum both before and after dusting- once before to pick up existing dust and once again after to pick up any that has made it’s way to the rug after your other cleaning efforts.
Carpets – According to microbiologist Dr. Philip Tierno of NYU Langone Medical Center, carpet can contain a shocking 200,000 bacteria per square inch. That’s more than your toilet seat! While most of these germs are harmless, others, including E. coli, salmonella, and staphylococcus, can cause digestive upset, skin infections, respiratory illness (COVID-19), or allergic reactions. The most effective way to get rid of these germs and pathogens is to have your carpet professionally clean by the truck mounted Hot Water Extraction method. During this process, hot water and cleaning agents are injected into the fibers of a carpet at high pressure and all lifted soil is be removed by a powerful vacuum. In addition to having your carpet professionally cleaned, you should also make sure to vacuum it on daily basis especially if you have pets in the home. Furthermore, it would be ideal not to walk around with your shoes as 40% of shoes carry Listeria monocytogenes. These are definitely not the things that should be traipsed through living rooms!
Conclusion
Frequent and thorough cleaning is important right now to keep your home safe and healthy from the spread of COVID-19 and other sicknesses. This also includes the floors in your home. Daily use of a microfiber mop or Swiffer is a great way to keep your hard surface floors clean. Routine vacuuming will help in picking up even more dirt, dust and debris. For your soft flooring such as carpet, routine vacuuming is also a must! But in order to pick up that scary array of gross organisms and debris you’d rather not think about, your carpets should definitely be professionally cleaned. The requested method of cleaning should always be the hot water extraction or steam cleaning.