Each day you get home from work, you lose your coat and shoes, and plop down next to the TV in your comfy shag carpet. Before you are able to exhale the strain of the day, you move to a sneezing frenzy. Come to think of it, whenever your friends across the road come over for dinner, your friend joins you into a coughing fit while his wife looks confused at the both of you.
Why is this occurring?
Carpets are a virtual magnet for allergens such as mold spores, dust mites and bacteria. Allergens are antigens, typically proteins, that provoke allergic reactions such as coughing and coughing in people with hypersensitive immune systems. Allergies can be triggered by many things within your property, such as your carpeting, which might include a hundred times more contaminants than hard floors. The CRI (Carpet and Rug Institute) defends its own product, asserting that carpet fibers really trap allergy-causing particles like dust and pollen, and keep them from circulating in the atmosphere where you’re more likely to see them.
While this might be true for the people blessed with more tolerant immune systems, medical experts often advise people with severe allergies to eliminate their wall-to-wall carpeting. Allergens trapped in rugs are particularly troubling for families with little kids.
Children’s immune systems
These are more sensitive to dust particles such as those found in a rug, and they invest a whole lot of their time closer to the floor. Just about anything can find its way to your carpet’s welcoming cloth. Mold spores and dust mites are both significant sources of several of the most annoying allergens, along dirt, dust and pollen, tracked in from outside. For those who get a persistent cough, then you’re most likely no stranger to dust mites.
These microscopic arthropods might be the most frequent cause of annual allergies, at least according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. Also, your dog and cat, valuable as they are, can provoke allergies in almost 25 percent of the people. Besides man’s best friends and dust mites, mold spores can be another frequent cause of indoor allergies.
Remember
High humidity, spills that were not cleaned up and leaky ceilings can all contribute to mold increase. Even moist cleaning or shampooing of your carpeting can encourage the spread of mold and mildew if you don’t dry it completely. Whenever the source of the mold is disturbed, its spores are spread throughout the atmosphere. So, you’ve already established that your beautiful and comfy carpeting is making you sneeze.
What can you do, apart from eliminating it and starting over with hardwood flooring. Unfortunately, if you have severe allergies, this might be your best and only alternative. But do not worry. If you really insist on using a rug, here are a few more choices for you. If you still haven’t picked it out, do your allergies a favor by picking one with a short, tight weave as opposed to long, loose fibers. The shorter the carpet fibers and more tightly woven they are, the less inviting the carpeting is to allergens, and the easier it’ll be to clean.
Final note
Also, you can pick smaller machine-washable rugs or carpet tiles which can be washed in the hot water that is required to kill mites and other allergens. If you’re stuck with your existing rug, you can still take a few steps to ease the sneeze. You probably already know that vacuuming is a fantastic place to start. Beyond doing this on a regular basis, you also need to get it professionally cleaned with dry steam or cleaning cleaning every six months. Make sure it dries completely after, so the moisture will not attract mites and mould. Cleaning up any spills quickly will also help stop the development of mold. Another thing you can take to decrease carpet allergens is to ask your buddies to remove their shoes when entering your residence.
