Read below on the subject from January Newsletter at Home Care Services web site.
Dispatches were asked for a response but never answered.
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Channel 4 Dispatches Programme and what they failed to mention.
If you followed the above programme recently concerning allergies then you might be forgiven for believing that having carpets in the home is the route of all evil as the 'team' recommended that they be replaced with hard floors or wood to prevent house dust mite build up.
Much of the information is out dated and in some cases completely wrong.Removal of your only source of filter to trap and hold the the allergens for you to vacuum will result in increased levels of allergy not reduced as was implied.
'Replace the carpet with hard floor ie laminate,wood or tiles and you will see a drop in house dust mite'
Just how can this be true,how can any dust particles and hence dust mite and their droppings possibly be trapped on a smooth floor ? The answer is of course they can't.The dust is continually on the move as you open a door or window the vacuum created lifts the dust into the air as does walking into a room, sitting down,getting up, any motion causes the dust to move and rise only to settle elsewhere on your clothes,the furniture,curtains or even worse in your bedding.
Anyone who has laminated flooring will know how the dust collects around the edge of a room, under the chairs or bed, you are forever trying to sweep it up which in its self creates more movement.
Carpets will filter and trap dust & soil particles holding them in place for you to vacuum.If you have a decent vacuum with a HEPA filter you can remove large quantities of dust mite on a daily basis, its all about proper indoor management and getting your carpets cleaned on a regular basis ie annually.
If you only vacuum once a week then of course dust will build up in the carpet, it must be done daily.Just imagine what a laminated floor would look like if you did not bother to vacuum it or sweep for a week or more.
The German Asthma and Allergy Foundation recently carried out their own intensive research in to the problem measuring the fine dust particles in indoor air.
The results of the work was quite revealing in that average fine dust content of air was 62.5mg/m3 over smooth flooring ie wood and tiles but only 30.4mg/m3 over carpeted floors.
It is worth reminding those that need reminding that the World Health Organisation recommended limit is 50mg/m3, properly managed carpet is way below these levels, yet hard floors way above.Something borne out by the Swedish experiment which found that over a fifteen year period as carpet usage fell by 70%, there was a 300% rise in the incidence of allergic reactions within the home and office.A 100% rise every 5 years,frightening statistics that goes some way in explaining the explosion in airborne allergic reactions.
Unfortunately Dispatches failed to mention any of this and all attempts to put a balanced view across from the carpet industry fell on death ears as it did not meet the agenda for the programme.
So before you decide to rip out your expensive carpets consider this first:
1: Buy yourself a decent vacuum with a HEPA filter option, its much cheaper than a new wood floor
2: Vacuum daily not weekly to keep allergen levels down
3: Use all the tools supplied and vacuum around the edges of the room,the curtains and the sofas and chairs at least once a week.
4:Have your carpets professionally cleaned at least once every 18 months, upholstery once every year and curtains once every 2-3 years.This along with your daily house management will prevent house dust mite build up and keep allergens at bay or at least the effects reduced.
5: Get your mattress cleaned and treated for dust and bed bug droppings at least once a year, preferably twice.This is where you spend a third of your time and yet is the most neglected of all areas when it comes to personal hygiene.
6: If all the above seems like a lot of work and you would rather just have a hard floor down 'and be done with it' then bear this in mind; Soft surfaces are less expensive and less time consuming to maintain than hard surfaces, according to A Life-Cycle Cost Analysis for Floor Coverings, published by the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC), March 2002. Cleaning carpet instead of hard surfaces can reduce material costs by 49% and labour costs by 64%.In other words a hard floor will be take more of your time and money to keep clean and healthy simply by not being able to trap allergens and soil.A lot more of your time will be taken up cleaning and trying to improve indoor air quality, the opposite to what to were trying to achieve.Ask around at work, at the school gates in the pub, you will be amazed at how many of your friends and family have removed laminated type flooring and gone back to carpets for this very reason.
If you follow the basic rules 1-5 you can enjoy years of healthy, comfortable,warm carpeted living.For more in depth information on carpet & health and general carpet information visit The Carpet Foundation.