6 Dirty Secrets About Your Carpet

Walking on fresh, clean, plush carpet is a nostalgic feeling. It’s the reason we spend time and money on the floors in our home. It’s the #1 filter in your house; capturing pollen, fungi, bacteria, chemicals, and smoke residue. It insulates during temperature changes and muffles noise in your home. But carpet has a dirty side that needs to be acknowledged. Flooring First wants to help you be informed.

Here are 6 Dirty Secrets About Your Carpet.

1) Bugs

Bugs are everywhere and of course they want to come into your home. There is a feast available from food bits. A carpeted home has a larger variety of bugs that hunker down in its fibres and household vacuums can’t reach them. Regular professional cleaning is needed to send those sneaky little insects packing.

2) Skin

We shed, it’s a fact of life. Not just our hair collects around the house, skin flakes are sloughed off all day long. Approximately 1.5 million flakes on average per person are released into the air each day. They collect in your carpet and upholstery fibers. Multiply that by the number of people living in your home… Then multiply that by just 7 days… you have a staggering accumulation. Vacuuming helps to reduce this, but regular professional cleaning can reduce that number exponentially.

3) Pollen

Allergies are an issue all over the state and the wind kicks up pollen and dust. Pollen gets attached to clothes, pet, shoes and is brought into the house and transferred to your carpet, drapes, upholstery, etc. Open windows and doors allow even more pollen into your home. Pollen can trigger the symptoms of asthma sufferers, as well as those with eczema and rhinitis and can cause hay fever in others. Keeping this pollen under control is important and regular professional cleaning offers a Healthy Home Allergy option perfect for your specific needs.

4) Excrement

It’s a dirty word and it’s a dirty problem. Pets are a leading cause residue left on your carpet. But, you don’t even have to own a dog or let your kitty use a litter box to have excrement tracked into your home. Anytime you walk through the park, on a city sidewalk, in a street curb puddle, you’re tracking traces of animal’s droppings and other residue onto your carpets. Over time it can cause stains, germs and bacteria, and an odor. Regular steam cleaning eliminates all those problems.

5) Germs

Germs are everywhere and we have hand sanitizers galore, but how does your carpet fare? According to Microbiologist Dr. Philip Tierno from NYU Langone Medical Center, over 200,000 bacteria per square inch live in your carpet. Most are relatively harmless, but e. coli, salmonella and others can live in your carpet. With regular professional cleaning, bacteria and germs don’t stand a chance.

6) Dirt

Dirt, soil, sand, grit, (whatever you want to call it) gets into your carpet and upholstery. Shoes, pets, clothes, open doors and windows bring dirt into your home. It settles into the fibers and can stain and increase the presence of bacteria. Coarse and gritty soil, like sand, grinds away at your carpet’s fibres and starts to deteriorate the stability and beauty. Scheduling regular professional cleaning every 6 months helps reduce dirt and residue. The clean left behind will keep your carpet beautiful, functional, and soft for much longer.