15 Steps for Cleaning ACTINOS using the Enhanced Housekeeping method
Introduction to Enhanced Housekeeping©
This method instructs how to clean without creating dust-borne occupant exposures! And how to clean really really good! SAFELY. And, EFFECTIVELY.
Whether the actinos are from skin or soil. THIS method WILL work.
There are NO expensive proprietary magic potions! I label and sell NOTHING.
You NEVER need to over-pay for something because the label includes the word “Actino”…
Based on the Enhanced Housekeeping© techniques that I’ve been recommending for over 18 years!
There is no magic ingredient. But there is a LOT of snake oil.
Avoid the products that use marketing hype.
Avoid the stuff designed “for actinos”.
There is no such special stuff. Why? It’s chemistry.
I will try to take you through the basics of Enhance Housekeeping©. These are the things I teach the professional remediators of water damaged buildings. It is what I teach professionals who clean homes and offices for patients with environmentally acquired illnesses of many sorts. Sometimes this is called “deep cleaning”, sometimes “bio-cleaning”, sometimes, “remediation”. The name does NOT matter. What matters most if how to do it. And just about ANYONE can do this! Which means, you do NOT need to pay high-priced “remediators” to do an barely adequate job. You can learn how to do this - or a family member, or friend, or your favorite professional housekeeping service!
Of course there are many more details that I teach. But we need to start somewhere. Hopefully this “somewhere” will let you breath a little easier and sleep a little better. Now let’s take a quick look at the basics of cleaning actino bacteria, actino biofilms, and actino debris like human skin cells.
The point here is that “cleaning” is something we all do but few of us do it good enough to make the house “safer”. There are a lot of reasons to remove as much dirt and dust as possible. And, there are a lot of reasons to clean better than you ever have. I realize that cleaning better than ever is very difficult. It is stressful. It brings anxiety and worry with it - “Did I do it good enough?”. My advice is this:
One step up at a time. If you vacuum your bedroom once a week and it takes you 10 mins, next week you’ll spend 20 minutes! If you use a simple duster, next time why not use a good microfiber cloth with a better cleaning product. “ENHANCE” what you think is regular housekeeping and you’ll be taking one step toward a healthier safer home. Let’s get started and talk about some Enhance Housekeeping© “better” practices!
1. Hot water and soap is the basic. If nothing else is available, or if all else fails! Seriously though. I’m not joking. This is necessary for cleaning. Don’t be afraid of water or damp methods. You won’t ever clean something and have it remain wet nearly long enough to “feed actino bacteria”, or even enough to grow mold.
Yes, I know! Some people are saying scary things about water. BUT, think about this - people mop their kitchen floor all the time. They literally will use an entire gallon with that stinky ol’ mop. And it NEVER grows anything - not bacteria, not mold. Ok, so now you have it. It’s ok to clean with water - hopefully, hot water!
This should be obvious. But it is not. Cleaning dirt and dust, including ACTINOS takes a bit of chemistry, and formulation. There are safe ones out there. And there are many that are not so safe for people with CIRS or many other easily responsive illnesses and symptoms. Choose carefully. Don’t fall for marketing hype. Some “natural” sounding products are not. A lot of products, across the spectrum of price, contain the EXACT SAME INGREDIENTS. A few products, you get what you pay for.
Some are priced competitively and work really well and do not have bad unsafe ingredients - THESE are the ones you want to find!
You need one with actual surfactants and detergents (the ingredients that make a cleaner a cleaning product that works to remove the dirt and pieces of ACTINO bacteria growth and cells and filaments and spores.)
We avoid scented products. No Fragrance is always best - this is no open for discussion. Fragrance is an odorous VOC - Actually, fragrance is a complex mixture of many VOCs. And we are working hard at eliminating all VOC’s from our homes and offices.
This means,
Period. None.
While they sound “pure”, essential oils have dozens of chemicals that WILL off-gas. These are volatile molecules called VOC’s. You know about these. You buy paints and fabrics and carpets that are labelled “No VOC” - for a reason. VOC’s can be bad - very bad for those with CIRS.
A list of the VOCs for any essential oil - thyme, lavender, rose - WILL be a long list of complex molecules. This means, they evaporate into the air! Some of the VOC’s are odorous - these give the plant the special fragrance. Some are NON-odorous - these just make people react badly.
Detergent and surfactant are the key ingredients. The pH is also important – acidic or alkaline? Remember, if you're cleaning the kitchen or room with grease, oils, fire soot (it’s oily), you need to use Alkaline cleaning products. Not vinegar or citric acid.
The acid-based cleaners are for bath and shower where we need to remove soap and hard water buildup. We have some favorite commercial brands – but we always STAY AWAY from: essential oils, fragrances, scents, “quats” (these are common – AND chemical names like quaternary ammonium chloride, and usually very long chemical formulas listed in the “active ingredient” list. Including FANTASTIK brand. This has nothing special for ACTINOS - period.
This is based on a HUGE mistake made by the Shoemaker group that errantly thought two things:
They thought that “ammonia” would deactivate or denature toxins including mycotoxins (from old). They were horribly wrong. The ammonia will actually in some cases for some mycotoxins, create WORSE mycotoxins, or other reactive molecules. This is bad for you!
They also thought “ammonia” was the same as the “ammonium” ingredient in “Fantastik” (and about 150 OTHER household all purpose cleaners!). I don’t know why they made this mistake about VERY BASIC CHEMISTRY. But they did. Quaternary Ammonium compounds (aka “Quats”) are VERY irritating and if the dose of exposure (duration and concentration) is high enough, can cause other illnesses symptoms. Most are upper respiratory irritation - this means MORE inflammation for you!
We like commercial low toxic and non-toxic brands. And we do NOT buy anything that claims to be specifically “for ACTINOS” – why? Because those are almost always disinfectant ingredients - and we don’t want to add MORE chemicals that damage cells, including our own – so we don’t try to kill ACTINOS! We remove them. With soap. Detergents. Vacuums. Wipes. No chemical treatments.
4. Have a wide variety of available good tools like different types of microfiber cloths, different types of brushes and scrubbies, have more than one good vac with good brush attachments.
5. Have lots of light - from all angles! Learn and know how to look for dirt and mold growth! Most people have no clue where and how dirt and dust actually hide in the home. They know the obvious “fuzzy stuff” is dirt - but they dont realize that the stuff includes cells of ACTINO bacteria (and lots of other icky stuff like insect parts, and mold spores, and pollen). BUT, they don’t know how much effort it takes to find it AND remove it - aka “clean”.
6. Be willing to spend time in the beginning to practice a few methods to see what cleans best and quickest - FOR YOU. Mix it up. You never know what might work better than the last method you tried.
7. Use both dry wiping and wet wiping depending on the type of dirt and substrate material.
8. Three Rounds: clean every object more than once to get “really” clean (I have a 3x rule)! This is the only way you, or anyone, will really really learn to properly and effectively LEARN to clean. MOST people do NOT realize how much dirt and dust they leave behind when they do housekeeping chores. Doing it three times WILL help you learn. Sooner, or later, you will get good enough to be confident enough that you might need to clean only TWICE.
Good luck… here is why you do it THREE TIMES:
1st time gets the big obvious dirt.
2nd time gets the stuff in the nooks and crannies.
3rd time is for removing the “invisible” stuff. Plus it gets the residue from prior cleaning, and forces the worker, the person doing the cleaning, to look very closely at the surfaces.
9. Be prepared for static. Static makes dirt stick to the surfaces. This means you might need to re-clean, or get it wet, or use a different type of cleaning cloth. Experiment. You’ll find something that removes the sticky dust.
10. Paying attention to detail is paramount.
Wait, did I say that already?
12. Implement quality control by someone who is not part of the cleaning labor – have them do the evaluation of how well you did, do this for the differentt methods and between diff’t attempts (rounds of cleaning).
Make sure it comes from all angles. Yes I did just say it again. In fact, I said it three times! Remind you of anything else you need to do three times?
And yes I said that again too! Can’t say it enough. It’s the number one reason people fail the cleaning and remediation – no attention to the details.
15. And, lots and lots of THE SECRET ingredient:
Elbow Grease
(now available for FREE, here: Everything-you-already-have-and-Nothing-you-need.com).
NOW you’re doing it the Enhanced Housekeeping© Way!
Good luck - and please let me know how your doing!
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