Archived Article-June, 2008

Dispelling the myths about carpet.

Waking up to the warmth of carpet beneath your feet is even better when you know that what's covering your floor is also helping you to breathe easier.  Carpet keeps the air that you breathe cleaner by trapping dust particles and other allergens until they are vacuumed away.  In fact, a number of studies show that with regular use and cleaning, carpet allows significantly fewer particles into the air than smooth flooring like hardwood or tile.

A major international survey of nearly 20,000 people in 18 countries was conducted in 2002 to investigate the association between asthma and a number of environmental factors.  The resulting report, published in the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology, showed that people who lived in homes with wall-to-wall carpet showed fewer symptoms of asthma & allergies than those without.  Another study, which surveyed environmental factors in the homes of 4,800 school-aged children in New Jersey, found that children whose bedrooms were carpeted were absent from school less often and were less prone to respiratory diseases such as asthma.

Overseas, a report published in 1992 in Sweden reported that the installation of carpet had dropped dramatically since the mid-1970s to only 2% of the country's total flooring market.  Yet, despite this reduction, the national rate of asthma and allergic reactions in the general public had increased significantly.

All this evidence points to the fact that carpet can improve the quality of more than just your floors - it can improve your way of life.  Whether you love your carpet because of the way it feels or the way it looks, you can breathe easy knowing that it can also make your home healthier.