How ULV Fogging Disinfection Works and What to Do After

Most of the preparation falls to you, and it has a direct effect on how well the job goes. Clear away anything edible left in the open: bread on the worktop, the fruit bowl, spice jars, anything with the lid off. Put washed plates, glasses and cutlery back in a cupboard or cover them. The same goes for baby bottles, dummies and any toy that ends up in a child's mouth.

Switch off and unplug computers, printers, audio equipment and servers, and cover ventilation grilles where you can. Move cats, dogs and birds out of the space for the duration — birds are far more sensitive to aerosols than people, and putting the cage on the balcony is not enough. On an aquarium, switch off the air pump and filter and cover the tank; a running pump pushes the fog straight into the water. Air conditioning and mechanical ventilation are turned off, and windows stay shut throughout the application.

We start in the room furthest from the exit and work back towards the door, so nobody walks through treated space again. The machine runs at a flow rate matched to the volume of the room, with the nozzle pointed upwards, close to ceiling height. The fog spreads over horizontal surfaces as it descends; the operator does not try to wet each surface individually. Whoever is applying wears a mask, goggles and gloves, and no one else stays in the space.

Duration depends on the size of the place — in an average flat the fogging itself rarely runs beyond half an hour. The real time is spent afterwards, in the closed contact period and the airing. Once the fog is out, high-touch points get their own surface treatment: handles, sockets and switches, taps, keyboards and phones. In nurseries and offices we record which areas were treated and when, which is exactly what the application report is for.

Disinfectants work on contact time. Once the fog has been dispersed the space stays shut, usually for 30 to 45 minutes, so the droplets can settle and remain on the surfaces. During that window the door stays closed, the air conditioning stays off and nobody cracks a window open. Open it early and the fog is simply pushed outside before it has done anything.

When the contact period is over, ventilate for one to two hours. A cross draught works best: open windows on opposite sides and leave the internal doors open as well. After that the space is ready for normal use; if there is a baby, an elderly person or anyone with a respiratory sensitivity at home, another hour of airing is a sensible margin. The products leave no residue, but we still suggest wiping kitchen worktops, the dining table and children's toys with clean water.

The most frequent one is treating disinfection as a substitute for cleaning. Dust, grease and organic soil sit between the disinfectant and the surface and cut its effect sharply, which is why the order is always clean first, disinfect second. Fogging a dirty kitchen makes the job look done without doing it. The second mistake is raising the dose on the assumption that more must be better — excess product leaves a tacky film and simply lengthens the airing time.

If you are attempting anything yourself, one warning matters more than the rest: never mix products. Bleach combined with an acidic descaler or an ammonia-based cleaner releases gases that are dangerous to breathe in a closed room. Another common error is wiping surfaces down straight after fogging; a surface wiped before the contact time is up has effectively not been treated. And do not read the absence of smell as an absence of effect — most of these products are odourless, and a sharp smell is no measure of how well one works.

The interval depends on how heavily the space is used. Nurseries, schools and dormitories, where a crowd shares the same surfaces, are better served by a scheduled programme, tightened during illness season. In an office, an application done outside working hours has all night to air out before anyone arrives. In cafés and restaurants, kitchen surfaces are always rinsed after fogging and service ware is kept covered.

Derin Temizlik has been doing this work since 2021 in central Çanakkale, Kepez and districts such as Biga, Gelibolu, Ezine and Ayvacık, always in the same order: we walk the space and note its volume and its problem points, we give you the preparation list before the application, and we hand over a written report of what was treated where. If you would like a disinfection plan drawn up for your home or workplace, just get in touch.