5 Dirtiest Places in Your Home That Affect Health

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Some parts of a home are known to be especially dirty, and it’s important to give these areas extra attention when cleaning them to minimize the germs in your living space. These areas often get dirtier because they’re commonly overlooked, so it’s best to be more mindful of these areas to ensure a safer home environment. Here are five of the dirtiest places in your home that could affect your health.

Faucets

The faucets in your kitchen and bathrooms can attract a lot of germs. These germs, which can get onto hands when turning the handles on the faucets, can enter your body through any open skin wounds or when touching your mouth, nose or eyes. According to the Public Health and Safety Organization, the spout for your kitchen faucet and other faucets can be hotbeds for bacteria, which can contaminate your drinking water. It’s best to wipe the handles and spouts down regularly with disinfected wipes or some other type of antibacterial cleaner. Faucets also include aerators at the ends of their spouts, and these small screens should be removed and soaked in white vinegar every month or so to reduce bacterial growth on them.

Toilet Seats

One of the most obvious places for dirtiness in a home is a toilet seat. Urine and fecal matter that contain bacteria and other germs often get onto toilet seats. The average toilet seat has 50 bacteria per square inch. Dirt and dead skin cells from skin that come into contact with toilet seats when sitting on them can also make them unhygienic. Toilets, in general, should be cleaned approximately once every week. Many store-bought cleaning wipes work great for cleaning toilet seats. Baking soda paste can also work well as a safe disinfectant for toilet seats.

Air Ducts

The ducts that are used to channel hot or cold air throughout the home whenever the heater or air conditioner is turned on can contain harmful particles and pathogens that make the indoor air dirty. Mold can also sometimes grow inside these ducts, and the mold spores that are released into the air can cause respiratory problems and other allergic reactions. According to Climateworks who offer duct cleaning in Ottawa, trying to clean all your air ducts on your own can be a daunting task, and professionals can offer much better results since they have the specialized tools required. 

Behind and Under Appliances

Dust, dirt and lent buildups behind and under washers, dryers, refrigerators and other appliances in your home may be neglected because they usually go unseen. Even though these messes might not seem like a big deal, they could still allow particles to get into the air and diminish your home’s indoor air quality. These buildups of filth behind appliances can also attract more of the bugs and dust mites that further put your health at risk. To clean behind and under these appliances, you should first turn off the power to them before moving them away from walls to avoid electric shocks. It’s also best to empty items and other extra parts from these appliances so that they’re lighter and easier to move. A feather duster, broom and other cleaning supplies can then be used to sanitize the dirty areas.

Computer Keyboards

Many people are anxious to start typing on their keyboards as soon as they turn on their computers and forget about them after use. Along with dust and dirt, food particles and shedding skin can get onto keyboards and in between the keys and make these computer components highly unsanitary. It’s best to wipe down your keyboard and other parts of your computer and workstation at least once a week with wipes or other cleaners that are safe for electronics. To remove the debris that’s trapped in between your keyboard’s keys, try using an air can to emit blasts of air that can clean the filth out from hard-to-reach spaces. You should also make sure that your computer is powered down completely before cleaning the keyboard or any other components.

Your home can be a more sanitary place that’s safer for everyone by cleaning the dirtiest spaces. By cleaning the obvious areas along with the spaces that are sometimes overlooked, you can do a more thorough scrub down of your home. 

2 Comments

  1. Well. I have to go clean my house now. Lol.
    It’s so easy to forget to get to some of these to clean. Computer keyboard is definitely something I consistently forget.
    Thank you for sharing!

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