Should you clean, disinfect, or sanitize your home? If you're not sure what the differences are between these common household activities, take a look at the questions to ask before you schedule a home cleaning service.
What Is Home Cleaning?
Your clean home sparkles and shines. But what does it really mean to "clean" an interior residential space? As a broad or general term, home cleaning includes:
- Hard surface debris removal. Dust, grime, and gunk can build up on hard surfaces. A professional cleaning service will use detergent, soap, chemical cleansers, sponges, or cloths/towels to physically remove surface debris.
- Soft surface debris removal. Hard surfaces aren't the only area that requires home cleaning. Dust and debris may build up on carpets, area rugs, bed linens, curtains, upholstered furniture, and other soft surfaces. The home cleaner may wipe down or vacuum these surfaces.
- Germ removal. Along with dust and daily buildup, surface cleaning also physically removes some microorganisms. This doesn't mean cleaning kills germs. Instead, this process wipes or moves some germs away or off of the surface.
- Mark or stain removal. When a home cleaner scrubs the surface of a table, wall, or another area, they may remove more than just dust and dirt. Home cleaning also includes the removal of noticeable marks (such as your child's stray crayon drawing on a wall) and stains.
- Odor removal. Regular home cleaning can also remove the odd odors your pet or everyday life cause.
Even though cleaning can reduce dust, debris, stains, and some germs, it isn't the same activity as disinfection or sanitization. To keep your family safe and healthy, you may need to dig deeper into the differences between home cleaning, disinfection, and sanitization. The more you know, the better able you are to decide which services match your home's needs.
What Is Disinfection?
You want a clean home that does more than sparkle and shine. Even though the aesthetic aspects of home cleaning are important to you and your family, germ removal is also essential. If you're not sure which service (or services) to schedule, disinfection:
- Kills germs. If you have concerns about viral or bacterial particles in your home, disinfection can reduce the risks of infection. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), while disinfection kills germs it won't always remove them from surfaces.
- Won't necessarily clean your home. Disinfection is a way to reduce or eliminate the number of live microorganisms in your home. Even though it kills at the microscopic level, it won't necessarily remove grime, buildup, or stains.
- Requires chemicals. An EPA-registered disinfectant can help to disinfect your home's surfaces. Homemade products and cloths/towels won't disinfect your home.
Along with the right types of products, disinfection may require the chemical to sit on a surface for a specific amount of time. A professional cleaning contractor should know which EPA-registered products to use and how long the disinfection process should take.
What Is Sanitization?
Disinfection and sanitization are two words often used interchangeably. Even though both activities can reduce the spread of disease in your home, sanitization:
- Includes germ reduction. Unlike disinfection (which kills all the germs on a surface), sanitization focuses on microorganism reduction. This means the cleaner will decrease the number of viral or bacterial particles on a home surface but won't necessarily eliminate them completely.
- Is a gentler process. Germ reduction may not require harsh chemicals. Even though this process goes beyond wiping dust or debris away, it is often seen as gentle in comparison to full disinfection.
- Is an activity to consider for low-germs surfaces. You'll want to disinfect bathroom surfaces or anything contaminated by microorganisms. But you can discuss the possibilities of sanitizing other types of surfaces.
While sanitization can help to reduce germs, if someone in your home is or was recently sick, talk to your cleaning contractor about the benefits of disinfection.
Do you need help cleaning your home? Contact NorthStar Cleaning & Property Services for more information.
