Spring Cleaning: To Bleach or not to Bleach?

In general, bleach isn’t needed for regular cleaning at home. A combination of regular cleaning with soap and water and washing hands six or more times per day with soap (and a good 30 seconds of scrubbing) will do a great job of preventing the spread of illness. Sanitizing, decreases the number of germs on a surface and helps to prevent illness. Sanitizing can be done occasionally in the kitchen and common areas with a bleach solution. Disinfecting, or killing germs, is only necessary when someone in your household has a highly contagious illness and when a mess includes blood, urine, feces, or vomit.

When using any household cleaning product, read the label completely before use. Most products that contain bleach will instruct you to clean a surface with soap and water before applying and let the surface air dry. These steps are necessary for the product to be effective. Be sure to follow the safety precautions included on the label to reduce risks of harmful exposures.

When using plain bleach for cleaning, there are four important steps. If you’re not using bleach correctly you won’t get the sanitizing or disinfection results that you want (and paid for!) and you are needlessly exposing yourself and your household to a hazardous substance.

1.  Identify bleach concentration

·  Find the percentage of sodium hypochlorate. The concentration has become stronger over the years. Choose 8.25% or lower if available. Avoid scented and splash-less bleach. Scented bleach has added chemicals that can make the bleach more allergenic. Splash-less bleach is a thicker consistency, but a lower percentage of sodium hypochlorate – it’s not strong enough to sanitize and disinfect. 

2. Mix

·  Mix a small amount on the day you plan to use it. Pour the correct ratio of cool water first and then add the bleach.

Never mix bleach with other cleaning products, disinfectants, or ammonia. Mixing these may release poisonous gases into the air.

3. Clean

·  Clean surfaces with soap and water and rinse. It’s important to remove visible dirt and grime before using a bleach solution.

4. Sanitize or Disinfect

Choose a sanitizing solution for kitchens and toys children might put in their mouths and disinfecting solution for surfaces that can be contaminated with human waste like in bathrooms and diaper changing surfaces. To prevent foodborne illness, use soap and water to clean kitchen surfaces and follow food safety guidelines.

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   Wet the entire surface with the bleach solution and let air dry. If the area is needed sooner, wait at least two minutes before wiping dry.

You can find a bottle of bleach and bleach-containing cleaning products in most homes. For many people, it’s not really clean unless there is bleach involved. Green cleaning methods work great for most messes, bleach is useful for the next time you have to clean up a mess that includes blood, urine, feces, or vomit. Sorry to end this blog post with the word “vomit”.