Healthy Home Tips: Cleaning Can Make Things Worse

Children play hard and get dirty, so their bodies and clothing need to be washed often. It’s also important to keep the house clean, especially the floors, where toddlers crawl and children play. Careful cleaning should reduce odors, dirt and dust, but unfortunately, the opposite is sometimes the case. For example, a conventional vacuum cleaner may spew out allergens in its exhaust, and a sponge or mop contaminated with bacterial growth can make the broom closet or surfaces you wipe stink. (image of magnified bacteria digesting skin scale on a stinky sponge - (c) J. May 2008)

Here are some tips to help you clean without “dirtying” the air.

1. Keep sponges and mops clean. Clean mop heads and sponges regularly by soaking them in a mild ammonia solution (one part ammonia to ten parts water). Sponges can also be run through a dishwasher, along with your dirty dishes.

2. Clean a smelly surface. If you wiped a counter or table with a stinky sponge, you can get rid of the smell by wiping the surface with a solution of one tablespoon of ammonia or one teaspoon of baking soda in a cup of water. (First test a spot to be sure the solution won’t damage the finish.)

3. Rags are good. Rags seem old-fashioned, but they are easily washed and dried after use.

4. Never mix ammonia and bleach. This creates chloramine – a toxic gas.

5. Use a HEPA vacuum cleaner. HEPA stands for “high efficiency particulate arrestance” and describes the filters in these machines. A HEPA filter prevents fine dust from getting into the vacuum’s exhaust air.

6. Central vacuum systems are OK too, as long as they exhaust to the exterior and not into your basement or garage.

7. Your vacuum cleaner rules. If you hire someone to clean your house, insist the person use your vacuum and not their own. Otherwise, allergens from someone else’s house may find their way into yours.

8. Bagless vacuums can be trouble. When you empty a bagless vacuum cleaner, where does some of that dust go? Into the house air, your hair and onto your clothing. If you already own a bagless vacuum cleaner, empty it outdoors.

9. Fragrances don’t fix the problem. Don’t depend on plug-in fragrance emitters or scented air sprays. They just cover up the problem, plus they introduce chemicals into your indoor air that can be irritating, particularly to children with asthma. It’s always better to remove whatever is causing the unpleasant smell.

10. Some air purifiers foul the air. Ionizing air purifiers produce ozone, a gas that may smell like fresh, outdoor air, but ozone can be irritating to breathe. Keep the surfaces in your house clean, rather than try to “clean the air.” Even if the air purifier doesn’t produce ozone, it can never clean the air of all irritants and allergens, as long as the sources of these contaminants remain in your home.

Healthy Home Tips: Cleaning Can Make Things Worse
©2008 J. May