The Dirtiest Surfaces in Your Home

There are definitely places in our homes that we know collect germs and need constant care and attention in order to keep our homes clean and healthy to inhabit. Fact is that there are some germ prone areas in our homes that get overlooked. Below we have compiled a list of the dirtiest most germ prone zones in the common household. Are you cleaning them all?

Knob, Pulls, and Switches 

These are the surfaces that come in contact with all the human hands in your house. There is a reason that every health care company and professional urge us to wash our hands frequently during cold and full season and at times of new sickness outbreak, because hands are germ carriers. The knobs, switches, pulls and handles in your home come in contact with these germs as they are used by our hands. Especially your faucets.

Keep Them Clean: Wipe these surfaces down at least twice a week especially if there is sickness going around. Some people like to use antibacterial wipes or a quick spray of something like Lysol. For a greener route vinegar is a natural disinfectant or you can use a microfiber cloth like the ones you can purchase from Norwex.

Office desk and electronics

This probably comes as no surprise but there are many tiny little cracks and crannies for dirt,dust and bacteria to call their home in your electronic devices. Especially in that computer keyboard. (Another place frequently touched by hands)

Keep Them Clean: Air dust keyboards and wipe down electronic items with wipes made for this purpose.

Kitchen Sink

You clean many things in your good ol’ trusty sink, but don’t think because you clean things in the sink that the sink itself is in fact always clean. There are many forms of waste that come in contact with your sink including food scraps. The NSF says that 45% of household sinks they tested contained dangerous coliform bacteria.

Keep It Clean: Wash your sink out once a week with a disinfectant soap. Don’t forget about drain covers. Use one teaspoon of bleach and water in your garbage disposal to keep those germs at bay.

Sponges

Sponges are labyrinths of dark porous holes and because they are always moist it is the perfect home to breed bacteria.

Keep It Clean: Microwave daily or throw into the dishwasher.

Toothbrushes

It is not just an old wives tale that flushing the toilet spews germs all over your bathroom. Unfortunately your damp toothbrush is a magnet for the nasty things that come out of that uncovered toilet bowl. Just yuck! Not to mention all the stuff they come in contact with in your mouth.

Keep Them Clean: Make a house rule that toilet lids must go down before a flush. (There is a reason they are there). Toothbrushes should also be cleaned regularly by placing in the utensil rack of the dishwasher if you do not have a sonic brush with its own cleaner. Don’t forget to replace toothbrushes or replaceable heads with new ones every three to six months.

Bathtubs and Hot Tubs

A study testing water samples from tubs revealed that every tub tested showed mild to dangerous bacteria growth and nearly every tub had fecal matter.

Keep Them Clean: Wipe down the tub with bleach and don’t forget to clean hot tub pipes/jet tubing.

Towels

After we bathe and grab for that soft fluffy towel we are not only wiping of water but dead skin cells and bacteria. A damp porous towel full of dead skin cells is an excellent breeding ground for staph.

Keep Them Clean: If you like to use your towel more than once make sure you are hanging them on the rack flattened out so they get completely dry ( don’t dry yourself off with a previously used wet towel) Throw towels in the washer once a week.

Bath Mats

Thick and fluffy catching moisture from post bathed bodies and germs hanging out on the bath room floor where it lives. There is no question why this is a bacteria powerhouse

Keep Them Clean: Drop in laundry weekly on the highest temp and use color safe bleach. If it is rubber backed line dry.

Pillows

These soft surfaces are bacteria collectors, from facial skin to your breath, to what’s living in your mattress and sheets they come in contact with a lot of bacteria.

Keep Them Clean: Launder with bedding weekly and buy all new pillows every few years. You can boost your war on bacteria breeding with an anti-allergen cover as well.

Carpet

This probably comes as no shocker to many. Carpets act as the largest filtration device in your home. Not only that but they absorb spills and retain dirt and soil tracked in on feet. There could be a large number of things hanging out in your carpet including norovirus and salmonella.

Keep it Clean: Correctly vacuum the floors at a minimum of once a week. Have your carpets deep cleaned professionally at least every year more often if you have pets, small children, family  members fighting chronic illness, or allergy sufferers.

How many of these surfaces have you forgotten about in your home? Don’t worry you are not alone, but one thing is for sure you will not want to leave these surfaces alone in your home any longer. Happy Cleaning!

For the best carpet deep cleaning with a dedication to customer service give All Kleen carpet cleaning a call or make an appointment online today.