I read an article from the Associated Press wire servicethis past Sunday that has had me steamed. In fact, I needed a few days to calm down enough to be able to writeabout it.

Seems the new hot trend in interior decorating is a returnto carpeting.  Especially in thebedroom.  Now, I realize that interiordecorating is much like fashion and there are trends that come and go.  Also, like fashion if you wait long enough,what was old will be new again.  In thecase of carpeting, it is a real shame, because there are definite healthbenefits to living with hard surface floors.

The trend towards hard surface floors began in the early1990’s.  As people began to rip out thecarpeting and install hard floors the usually noticed a couple of things.  First, they discovered that their house hadmuch more dust than usual.  This isbecause many times the carpet was removed and the hard floor installed whilethe forced heating or air conditioning systems were running.  This allowed all the dust from under thecarpeting as well as the debris from the floor installation to be drawn intothe duct work and circulated over and over again.  The result was a visible increase in dust inthe house.  The second thing people noticedwas despite the additional dust they may have they were sneezing, wheezing,coughing, and sniffling less. 

This is because carpet fibers are the perfect environment totrap dust mites, dust mite feces, pollens, mold spores, animal allergens,cockroach parts, and other components of household allergen.  You can spend money on carpet cleaning, butyou can’t clean carpet. Don’t let anyone selling carpet cleaning services tryto convince you otherwise.  Just imagineif you took your favorite sweater or flannel shirt and threw it on the floorand walked on it for six months.  After 6months, you would probably think it was looking a little dirty.  So in order to clean it you would throw somehot soapy water on it and then vacuum the water up.  Do you honestly think that carpet would beclean?  Come on now, be honest withyourself, you know it wouldn’t be.  Wellthat is what happens when you have carpet in your house and then try to cleanit.

If you have allergies, asthma or other health concerns(whether respiratory or not) I implore you to buck this decorating trend.  Hard surface floors do not capture allergensthe way carpets and rugs do and when you clean a hard surface floor it isclean.

When I clean my tile floors with my Vapamore steam cleaner,you can absolutely feel the difference with your bare feet.  The soil and allergens have beenremoved.  And because there is noresidue, they stay clean longer.

When I spray a few squirts of AllerDust Dusting Aide on thekitchen towel that I attached to an old Swifter head and run it over my woodfloors, all the dust and dirt is captured. You can see and feel the clean.  You just can’t get that with carpeting.

If you can’t buck the trend or if you live in a rented spacewith carpeting that you cannot remove, don’t despair.  It is possible to minimize the allergens inthe carpet by the use of denaturing agents. More about that next time.

Til next time!

Cheryl Krause