How sick is YOUR home?
Tony Whittam of HomeMaid Cleaning Services tells us just how closely linked our health is to our home environment and how cleaning our homes effectively and efficiently will help to reduce health issues and in turn relieve stress.
If you think back 25 years or so (for those of us who can still recall!) our homes have changed dramatically, we don't have chimneys, we have radiators, gone are the cold tiled floors replaced by wall to wall carpet, goodbye single glazed, metal framed windows and hello triple glazing! We have in effect made our homes an airtight box. This increases humidity and warmth, creating the perfect breeding ground for mould, dust mites and bacteria; this could directly contribute to more of us suffering from allergic reactions, such as asthma and perennial rhinitis. Each of the rooms in our homes represents a different potential hazard.
In the lounge, for example, we have lots of modern furniture, with varied textile finishes which while they look fantastic can harbour dust mites; leather settees are a much better option but remember to check what the stuffing is made of....you could be allergic to that too!!
Our beds and duvets are a haven for mites and potential allergies, at HomeMaid we encourage our customers to take advantage of our mattress cleaning service to help eradicate dust mites which live and reproduce in your mattress, once clean, the very best thing you can do is to use a guaranteed 'anti-dust mite cover over your mattress and pillows, these are available at an exclusive LRV 15% Discount! Just email HomeMaid for a price list. Remember to vacuum curtains and carpets weekly using HEPA filtered vacuums, as we do at HomeMaid, put your clothes away after laundering, keep pets out of bedrooms. Add plants such as the humble Spider plant to the rooms as they naturally reduce indoor air pollution.
In the Bathroom shower curtains can harbour mould spores so always wash them on a monthly basis, ideally use a glass partition. Always make sure the extractor fan is working and use it every time. Tidying the shelves doesn't just look good it also keeps dust to a minimum, use cupboards for storage where possible.
Obviously the Kitchen can be a major source of allergens & bacteria, from cross contamination with food to our pets bringing in unwanted visitors!! At HomeMaid we are very aware of these issues, which is why we colour code our cloths and use anti bacterial floor cleaning solution throughout.
There is one very good thing that you can do that will help immediately and that is OPEN THE WINDOWS, it reduces humidity (& odours!), not difficult but very effective.
So now your thinking 'Oh my goodness how can I combat all this', you can ease your stress and enlist a professional cleaning company like HomeMaid to do it all for you, or work out your own weekly plan to clean and reduce allergens in your home.
Orginal Article Published in April edition of Live Ribble Valley Magazine
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