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Looking to Conquer Household Fungus? Nature has the Power!

This week, we’re looking at Fungus, Anti-Fungals, and sharing some of our favourite natural methods for controlling fungus in your home, office or retail space while you’re in between visits from our Green Clean Team!

What Is Fungus Anyway?

Fungus is found in every ecosystem and nearly every environment found on Earth. From forest floor, to ‘athlete’s foot’, fungi exist around us in their billions – like bacteria, offering both blessings and curses.
Firstly, the good: Fungi are responsible for keeping the Earth’s ecosystems as we know them in check. Ever taken a walk through a local green space and marvelled at the way a fallen tree seems to merge back into the ground, it sprang out of decades earlier? You’ve got Fungus to thank for most of that – it’s the centrepiece of a forest’s great clean up crew, and the sustained health of our planet depends upon it!
Examples of fungi we’d call ‘good’ include the common, delicious mushroom varieties that grace plates the world over, as well as the potent medicinal variety used in traditional Chinese medicine and beyond.

From the Good to the Bad!

Yet, like bacteria, the good deeds of the good guys are often clouded out by the nasty business of their troublesome family members!
The bad fungi are responsible for many illnesses and conditions, such as athletes foot – but that’s a minor inconvenience compared to the nasty health effects caused by certain household molds (a form of fungus), which creates toxic air conditions for families (often while remaining hidden behind walls or panelling!)

Nature Has the Answer!

While the most dangerous of these molds require the care and careful removal of professionals, the good news is that many undesirable household fungi – from those on counters to shower tiles – can be controlled and eliminated through regular application of planet-friendly, natural cleaners. In fact, our Green Clean Team uses a variety of them in every home or business we visit!

Let Nature Do the Heavy Lifting

At Ecosparkle, we believe that clean isn’t clean unless it’s planet friendly! That’s why we carefully select the highest quality natural, plant-based biodegradable cleaners we can find – from trusted brands committed to the next generation!
While you’re in-between visits from our Green Clean Team, we recommend using cleaners with at least one of the following natural anti-fungal agents to help minimize the presence of potentially harmful Fungi and Mold in your living or working spaces!

Natural Anti-Fungal Cleaning Ingredients:

Vinegar (Acetic Acid. 5%)

A common favourite for many household cleaning needs, common white vinegar makes a great all-purpose anti-fungal!
Citrus Oils: Orange oil and Lemon Oil are favourites in natural cleaners, and for good reason. Beyond providing anti-bacterial effects, they’re also great anti-fungals!

Tea Tree Oil:

Another common favourite to many natural cleaning solutions, Tea Tree Oil provides great anti-fungal activity!

Thyme Oil:

Many essential oils offer powerful cleaning capabilities, and perhaps none moreso than Thyme Oil. It possesses a powerful, broad anti-fungal activity – and is available in multiple cleanser solutions from companies like Seventh Generation, Biovert, Clean Well and more!

Discover the Ecosparkle Shine!

That about rounds up this week’s look into Fungus, Antifungals and some great natural anti-fungal cleaning agents that we recommend for use in your home, office or retail space.

Remember, we’ve got 5 years of experience finding the perfect natural, eco-friendly antibacterial solutions for our customers. We have been voted ‘Best Cleaning Company’ 5 years in a row in the ‘Era Banner Reader’s Choice Survey’!

Schedule a free quote with our Green Clean Team today, and learn how affordable natural and organic cleaning can be for your family – backed by our 100% satisfaction guarantee!

Check out these references for more info!

Antifungal activity of thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) essential oil and thymol against moulds from damp dwellings. Antifungal activity of thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) essential oil and thymol against moulds from damp dwellings.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17209812

Tea Tree Oil
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_tree_oil

Vinegar Cleaning Tips
http://www.heinzvinegar.com/products-cleaning-vinegar.aspx

Antifungal activity of lemon (Citrus lemon L.), mandarin (Citrus reticulata L.), grapefruit (Citrus paradisi L.) and orange (Citrus sinensis L.) essential oils M. Viuda-Martos, Y. Ruiz-Navajas, J. Fernández-López, , J. Pérez-Álvarez Dpto. Tecnología Agroalimentaria, Escuela Politécnica Superior de Orihuela (Universidad Miguel Hernández), Ctra Beniel, km 3.2, E-03312 Orihuela (Alicante), Spain