Carpeting, most of us have it somewhere in our homes, but it seems that without proper care we may be putting our health and the health of our loved ones at risk. According to an article by Bill Phillips and the Editors of Men’s Health titled “The 5 Germiest Places in a Bachelor Pad” carpet made the list, here’s what they had to say about it.
“Tierno’s (Philip Tierno Jr., Ph.D., a microbiologist and immunologist at New York University Langone Medical Center and the author of The Secret Life of Germs) research indicates that your carpet probably contains about 200,000 bacteria per square inch, making it 4,000 times dirtier than your toilet seat. "Rugs are botanical and zoological parks," says Tierno, who adds that hundreds of thousands of different types of species live there. These invasions occur because the average person sheds about 1.5 million skin cells every hour; these skin cells hit the rug and serve as food for germs. Add in food particles, pollen, and pet dander, and you have a gratis buffet, he says. And since a vacuum cleaner's suction and rotating beater brush don't usually reach the bottom of the carpet, you're bound to have communities of E. coli, salmonella, staphylococcus, and other bacteria down there. Every time you walk or roll around on your carpet, you disrupt the bacteria, bringing some closer to the surface, Gerba says. (Charles Gerba, Ph.D., a professor of environmental microbiology at the University of Arizona and one of the country’s foremost experts on germs)”
“Your cleanup: Hire a company to do a deep steam-cleaning at least once a year, and consider covering high-traffic areas with machine-washable area rugs.”
This is sound advice and most all carpet manufacturers require routine professional cleaning as a condition of their warranty.
We also recommend that customers use an upgraded stain block carpet cushion (commonly called carpet pad) as this keeps any spills from being absorbed by the cushion or pad, the cushion will not hold the spill like a dirty sponge thus not allowing germs to incubate under the carpet.
Be sure to check out the carpet care tips in the Resource Guide section of our web site.
