How often should I disinfect high-touch surfaces at home?
Clean high-touch surfaces regularly, and sanitize or disinfect them on a routine too, more often the more they are touched; tables and counters may need cleaning daily. When someone at home is sick, disinfect the door handles, switches, faucets, toilet handle, remotes and counters once a day, and keep it up for five days after they are back to normal activities.
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By Kasra Taheri, Founder, LoclisPublished
Researched and drafted with AI, then checked claim by claim against the sources listed below before it was published. Prices and rules change; the dates beside each source say when it was last checked.
Step by step
Read when to stop and call a pro, further down this page, before you start.
Step 1: Make a touch list
Walk the house and list what hands touch most: door handles, light switches, faucet and toilet handles, appliance handles, remotes, phones, keyboards, counters and tables.
Step 2: Clean on a routine
Clean those surfaces with soap or detergent and water as part of regular housekeeping, and wipe the kitchen table and counters daily or more often.[1]
Step 3: Keep one disinfectant
Keep one EPA-registered disinfectant whose label covers your surfaces, rather than a cupboard of products you might mix by mistake.[6]
Step 4: Switch to daily when sick
When someone at home is ill, clean and then disinfect the touch list once a day until five days after they are back to normal activities.[2]
Step 5: Follow the contact time
Leave the disinfectant wet on the surface for the time the label gives, using more than one wipe on large surfaces if needed.[1]
Step 6: Use the right amount
Use the amount the label calls for; twice the amount does not do twice the job.[4]
Step 7: Handle electronics separately
Check each device maker's cleaning instructions for phones, tablets, remotes and keyboards before using any product on them.[1]
Step 8: Store it safely
Close the lid tightly and store disinfectants out of reach of children after each use.[6]
Clean high-touch surfaces regularly, and sanitize or disinfect them on a routine as well. Virginia Cooperative Extension counts both among the jobs every household should do regularly, and says how often depends on what the surface is made of and how much it is used or touched.[1] Tables and countertops may need cleaning daily, or even more often.[1] Day to day, the cleaning is the part not to skip: EPA's COVID-19 guidance was that "in most situations, cleaning is enough to reduce risk."[4] Step it up when someone in the house is sick: disinfect the door handles, light switches, faucets, toilet handle, remotes and counters once a day, and keep it up for five days after the person is back to normal activities.[2]
Cleaning and disinfecting are two different jobs
Cleaning takes dirt and organic matter off a surface with soap or detergent.[5] A sanitizer is made to kill bacteria, not viruses,[5] while a disinfectant kills both.[5] Sanitizers and disinfectants go on a surface that has already been cleaned.[1] Which of the two to use comes down to the germs you are after and how much the surface gets touched or used.[1]
Cleaning on its own does real work. During the COVID-19 pandemic, EPA said routine cleaning with soap and water lowers the risk of spreading the virus by taking germs and dirt off surfaces.[4]
The everyday routine
Virginia Cooperative Extension says high-touch surfaces like tables and countertops may need cleaning every day or even more often.[1] In practice, a routine often looks like this:
- Daily or after each use: the kitchen table, counters where food is made, and the sink.
- As part of your regular cleaning: door handles, light switches, faucet and toilet handles, the toilet seat, fridge and microwave handles and stair rails. A busy house with kids, pets or visitors usually needs them done more often than a quiet one.
- By the maker's instructions: phones, tablets, touchscreens, keyboards, remotes and game controllers. Check the manufacturer's instructions for each before you use a product on it.[1]
For the kitchen, read the label: a product labelled for food-contact surfaces can go on dishes, utensils and countertops.[1] How often to have your house cleaned covers the bigger housekeeping schedule.
When someone is sick
This is when daily disinfecting earns its place. EPA's pandemic guidance was to "use disinfectants on high-touch surfaces when you know or suspect someone around you is sick" with COVID-19.[4] For flu, the Virginia Department of Health's prevention list includes the line "Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces".[3] For the five days after a sick person returns to normal activities, the department's added precautions include cleaning and disinfecting high-touch surfaces every day.[2]
So a sensible schedule is once a day while the person is ill, and for five days after the person is back to work, school or their usual routine. Focus on the sick person's room, the bathroom they use, and the handles and switches between them. How to disinfect your house after the flu walks through a full pass.
Doing it so it works
A disinfectant only works if it stays on long enough. The label gives a contact time, and the surface needs to stay wet for all of it.[6] On a big counter that can take more than one wipe.
More is not better. Use disinfectants at the strength the label gives, and do not mix them with other chemicals unless the label says to.[4] In EPA's words, "Don't think that twice the amount will do twice the job."[4]
Think about who is breathing it. "Disinfectants can trigger an asthma attack,"[4] EPA warns. If someone at home has asthma, wipes or dampened towels put far less product into the air than sprays do.[7] Children should not be the ones applying disinfectants,[4] so this is an adult chore even when the kids help with the rest of the cleaning.
Stop and call a pro if
- No one at home is well enough to keep up with daily disinfecting during an illness, or the person who would do it has asthma.
- You find mold that keeps coming back on a surface you clean often; that is a moisture problem, explained in why a bathroom keeps getting moldy.
- There is blood, sewage or other heavy contamination to clean up. That is biohazard cleanup, not routine disinfecting.
Getting help
If you would rather hand the job to someone, read when a professional disinfecting service makes sense, browse disinfecting and sanitizing businesses, or read more cleaning answers. To get quotes, describe the job on Loclis.
Common questions
- Should I disinfect door handles every day?
- Not necessarily when everyone is healthy: keep them in your regular cleaning routine, more often the more they are touched. When someone at home is sick, disinfecting door handles and other touch points once a day is the Virginia Department of Health's advice, continued for five days after the person is back to normal activities.
- Is cleaning with soap and water really enough?
- Often, yes. Cleaning takes germs and dirt off surfaces, and EPA's advice during the COVID-19 pandemic was that in most situations cleaning is enough to reduce risk. Virginia Cooperative Extension still recommends sanitizing or disinfecting household surfaces regularly, and disinfecting daily is worth it when someone is ill.
- Can disinfecting too often be harmful?
- Using more product than the label calls for does not work better, and disinfectant fumes can trigger asthma. Use the label amount, ventilate the room, and choose wipes or dampened cloths over sprays when someone in the house has asthma. Children should not apply disinfectants.
- Do I need a sanitizer or a disinfectant for the kitchen?
- It depends on the germs you are after. EPA describes sanitizers as killing bacteria, not viruses, and disinfectants as killing both. For food-contact surfaces, use a product whose label says it can be used there, and rinse afterwards if the label says to.
- How do I disinfect my phone and remote?
- Check the device maker's cleaning instructions first. Put product on a cloth or use a wipe rather than spraying the device, and keep liquid out of openings.
Sources
- [1] How to Clean, Sanitize, and Disinfect Surfaces (FST-395NP), Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech. Checked October 26, 2026.
- [2] Precautions When Sick with a Respiratory Virus, Virginia Department of Health. Checked October 26, 2026.
- [3] Influenza (Flu) Fact Sheet, Virginia Department of Health. Checked October 26, 2026.
- [4] Cleaning and Disinfecting: Best Practices During the COVID-19 Pandemic, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Checked October 26, 2026.
- [5] What's the difference between products that disinfect, sanitize, and clean surfaces?, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Checked October 26, 2026.
- [6] Six Steps for Safe & Effective Disinfectant Use, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Checked October 26, 2026.
- [7] How can members of my household use disinfectants properly if a family member is asthmatic or has other chronic respiratory disease?, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Checked October 26, 2026.
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