Regardless of the amount of blood cleanup you’re doing, you might face a lot of challenges when cleaning it. If there has been a traumatic event and you need to clean a lot of blood, you might actually find it very overwhelming. However, there are some proven strategies to help you clean the smallest of blood stains. When there’s a lot of blood involved, you need to understand the realities associated with cleaning it up. You should also consider hiring a professional cleaner to help you do it.
Removing Smaller Blood Stains
When removing smaller blood stains, you need to consider the type of surface they are on. Use a sanitizing agent to wipe any fresh blood on a non-porous surface. To create a good sanitizing agent, you need:
- Bleach blended with water ( add 1 part bleach to 9 parts of water)
- Ammonia
- Disinfectant
The same goes if the blood is on a hard and non-porous surface. However, if the blood has dried up, you need something else entirely different than a cloth to avoid damaging the surface completely. If the blood is on a cloth, you can remove it by soaking it in cold water and add some ammonia and table salt. Add 2 tablespoons of salt or ammonia to every quart of water.
Note that, if the blood stain has already set or almost close it, you should start making a paste using cold water and meat tenderizer. The paste soaks into the fabric and you can leave it for about 15 minutes. Rinse off the paste after it has removed the large part of the stain. There are some considerations you need regarding safety even when you are dealing with a small amount of blood.
If you are cleaning a small amount of blood, you can use some safety gear or personal protective equipment such as:
- Disposable gloves
- Mask
- Goggles/glasses
- Smock/apron
Of course, if you’re cleaning up your own blood you don’t need this precautions.
Handling A Large Amount Of Blood
If there’s a lot of blood to clean up, maybe you need to hire a professional. Of course, you might be wondering how much is a lot of blood? A general rule of thumb is that if the blood is larger than a dinner plate, hiring a professional is what’s best. If it comes up that you need to clean a large amount of blood it might be because you’ve recently undergone a huge traumatic event. Some of the examples of a traumatic event that might force you to hire a professional cleaner include the following.
- Unattended death
- Suicide
- Fight/Assault
- Homicide
There are many reasons why you need to hire a professional to remove a large blood spill, one of the most important ones being safety. Note that, blood or any other bodily fluids might contain pathogens that might have hazardous properties. Let a professional clean it up if you don’t know how to do it safely.
Note that, if you’re not experienced in handling biohazardous materials, you need a professional who does. If you ignore that, you will expose yourself to serious risks such as infection or contamination, both of which have very serious consequences that might even be fatal. Of course, you might understand what you need to do to protect yourself when cleaning up a lot of blood but without proper chemicals and training, you might not do the job as thoroughly as required.
Without cleaning up the blood thoroughly, you can expose yourself or other people to these and more dangerous pathogens. Also, you might cause some considerable damage to your home. It might seep through the carpet, the walls and the floors causing very permanent damage to your home.
Also, don’t forget about your emotional health after going through a traumatic event. That’s why cleaning up using a professional is a good idea. You will take the time you need to recover while the professional handles it for you. Cleaning up the blood on your own isn’t a good idea for your emotional health. So you should let a professional handle it for you.
Remember, if you don’t do a thorough and comprehensive cleanup, everything about the traumatic event will always linger. If there’s a considerable lingering about it, you will not heal from the event altogether. So take your time to do your research and find the best professional cleaning crew there is to help you remove every drop of blood there might be. That way, you can process the trauma without going through the horrifying cleaning process on your own.