In an effort to keep ourselves and our families healthy, we’re all a little more aware of hygiene at home nowadays. Here, a home-cleaning expert reveals how to ensure your next professional clean is as hygienic as can be. We also present some new hygiene-enhancing products for the home that have impressed us recently.
“The pandemic has had a significant impact on how people perceive cleanliness and hygiene, which has led to a rise in demand for professional cleaning companies such as ours,” says Michael Girowal, founder of Green Clean Australia. “We have seen a 50 percent rise in demand for our domestic cleaning since the outbreak of Covid.”
How to ensure a hygienic, professional clean
Girowal says:
- Social distance. Ideally, you should stay out of your house when it is being professionally cleaned. If that’s not practical, move to another room.
- Cleaners should have all appropriate PPE (personal protective equipment), including gloves, masks and shoe covers.
- They should also be double-vaccinated and practice good hand hygiene.
Does your home need a deep clean? Find a professional cleaner near you on Houzz
- Your cleaners should have a good understanding of proper cleaning and disinfection and how to avoid cross-contamination. We recommend using colour-coded cloths and mops to clean different parts of home (red for the bathroom, green for the kitchen, blue for general wiping), using freshly laundered and sanitised cloths and mop heads in each home, and that all equipment, including the vacuum cleaner, is sanitised after each job.
- We give customers the option to purchase their own set of premium microfibre cloths and mops, which are used exclusively for their home.
- Ask your cleaner to disinfect key touch points, including door handles, light switches, benchtops, telephones, keyboards, and your computer mouse.
- To properly disinfect touch points, the area should first be cleaned with a spray-and-wipe cleaner, then sanitiser should be applied and an appropriate time left before it is wiped down.
- Ask your cleaner to pay extra attention to dusting your home.
- Make sure the cleaning products you or your cleaner uses are certified to sanitise and disinfect. If having a healthy home is important to you or if anyone in your household suffers from allergies or respiratory issues, seek out antibacterial-certified green cleaners that will give your home a thorough, hygienic clean without the harsh chemicals.
- Avoid cash and pay your cleaner online. At Green Clean, we have a client portal that enables clients to login, view upcoming appointments and pay invoices in order to provide that extra layer of protection.
Browse more images of beautiful bedrooms on Houzz
You’ll also find a vast range of new hygiene-enhanced products for the home on the market that will help keep your home healthy.
“The pandemic has heightened our focus on hygiene. Products that deliver integrated hygiene and make mundane tasks such as cleaning easier are being welcomed with open arms by customers,” says Daniela Santilli, bathrooms and kitchens merchandising leader at Reece Bathrooms.
Smart toilets are also gaining traction, she says. The Roca In-Wash Inspira smart toilet range (from AU$3,739) replicates a bidet, but with retractable nozzles that wash and dry to refresh. It self-cleans after use.
Or, you might opt for a rimless toilet, which is easier to clean than a standard pan as there are fewer recesses for dirt and grime to hide.
Alternatively, choose a toilet with an anti-stain and anti-bacterial coating, such as a Laufen Pro A toilet with Clean Coat Technology (from AU$694).
Touchless taps
If you live in a busy home and you constantly have to contend with grubby fingerprints and germs on your kitchen tap, why not consider a touchless tap? The Memo Sia Sensor sink mixer at Reece has special sensors that allow you to activate the tap with a simple wave of the hand.
Home steam cleaners
Steam cleaners are no longer the domain of professionals; you can now give your home a top-to-toe clean without any nasty chemicals with products such as Karcher’s SC5 EasyFix Premium steam cleaner (AU$1,069). This clever, multi-functional cleaner can be used to clean hard floors, bathroom and kitchen surfaces (even tough jobs like the oven), refresh carpets, and steam-clean upholstery.
The powerful steam function kills 99.99 percent of all common household bacteria in a way that’s completely non-toxic, and dirt is washed away with hot water.
Antibacterial finishes
We all know that surfaces around the home can harbour germs. Luckily, specially formulated coatings have been developed to repel them from key touch points, such as your kitchen bench. When you specify Artedomus’ Maximum porcelain panels or Fiandre porcelain tiles for rooms such as your kitchen or bathroom, you can now pay a little extra and have them treated with an antibacterial and antiviral coating to give a hygiene boost to these much-used areas of your home.
The Active 2.0 coating is invisible, permanent and non-toxic, and costs from AU$22 per square metre (excluding the cost of the surfaces). You can even use these treated panels on the exterior of your home to increase the lifespan of your cladding and reduce the need for cleaning.
“Active 2.0 actually kills virus particles and bacteria, even cleansing the air around it,” says Phil Brenton, managing director at Artedomus. “The added kicker is its self-cleaning hydrophilic properties, which mean there is little or no need for detergents or scrubbing, even on building facades.”
Dust busters
Concerned you might be missing dust when you vacuum? The new Dyson V15 Detect cordless vacuum cleaner (from AU$1,399) could be the answer. It captures 99.99 percent of dust particles down to 0.3 microns, and will automatically boost suction power (when in Auto mode) when it detects an increased concentration of dust on your floor.
Special laser-detection technology allows it to identify and highlight any hidden or overlooked dust spots so you don’t miss a thing.
You can then see the exact size and number of particles collected on the vacuum’s LCD screen.
Bacteria begone
It’s not just the busy areas and touch points around the home that can harbour germs, but the products we use when we’re out and about too. LG’s new TONE FP9 wireless noise-cancelling earbuds will automatically self-sanitise every time you recharge them. The recharging case features powerful UV-C light that kills 99.9 percent of bacteria during the charging process in around five minutes.
Your turn
Have you become more hygiene-conscious in the past two years? Tell us in the Comments below, like this story, save the images, and join the conversation.
More
Want more cleaning advice? Don’t miss this story 12 Steps to a Deep Bathroom Clean That Lasts
