How Quarantine Can Affect Your House

With well over 90% of the U.S. population under shelter-at-place requirements (as of April 10, 2020), most of us are sitting at home with cabin fever. Mass quarantine and anxiety can affect the interior of your house. Here are some ways quarantine can affect your house, and tips on how to prevent them.

Excessive Cleaning

It’s very tempting to clean everything and then clean it again. And again. If you have a sick person in the house you should be doing just that. People may be frenzy-cleaning due to a combination of genuine concerns about hygiene and the fact that some find cleaning therapeutic. This can end up wearing down your house and belongings. A few things to consider:

1. Ordinary detergent at an ordinary temperature is just fine. Don’t ruin your clothes by boiling them or using too much detergent.
2. Using too much cleaning product can make you sick. To make things worse, it can give you similar symptoms to COVID. This is probably not the time to be using products you aren’t familiar with, unless you have no other options. Cleaning products in general are also bad for your lungs.
3. Cleaning your carpet too much can cause all kinds of problems, and might lower the quality of your carpet.

You absolutely should clean, but try not to overdo it.

Bored Pets

You aren’t taking the dog for that long trip to the dog park every day, and the dog isn’t happy about it. They respond by chewing up your furniture.

Although dog parks are closed, walking the dog is considered an essential activity. Wear out yourself and your dog by doing a few circles around the block. Also, make sure to provide your dog with extra toys to overcome any boredom, especially if you don’t have a large yard for them to play in.

Cats are less likely to have their routine changed, but may pick up on everyone else’s stress and start acting out. Keep your pets occupied and active.

Bored Kids

Your kids have cabin fever too. The strident cry of “I’m bored!” is likely to be heard, and if they don’t get enough entertainment they are likely to make their own.

Depending on the age of your kids, you may be homeschooling them, and that can be a challenge in itself. To keep your kids from chasing each other around the house, remember that exercise outside is allowed as long as you stay away from others. There are many lists of activities you and your kids can do, either together or separately. Activities that involve creating or building things can give you all a sense of control and mitigate those quarantine-related mental health issues.

You can also reduce the damage by temporarily removing and hiding breakable items until the crisis is over, especially if your children are younger. It can be hard to explain to a five-year-old that running repeatedly past the nice vase in the hall is a bad idea.

Mold

Keeping your house closed up might feel like the right thing to do with so little information about this virus. But this can cause sick building syndrome, stale air, and mold growth.

Make sure to open your windows. If the front windows are within six feet of the street, then open upper and rear windows instead. Open the doors to your yard. Air out your house and things may feel a bit less constricted.

Quarantine can take a toll on you, and it can also take a toll on your home. Take steps to make sure that your house is not damaged by stir-crazy family members, bored animals, or excessive cleaning. For Atlanta mortgage information, contact Atlantic Home Mortgage today.