What’s In My Carpet?

You don’t want to know. Carpets are full of all kinds of infectious particles (dead and living) that can cause a variety of health problems. Read below about the most common “carpet criminals” — if you dare.

Mold

Yikes! When moisture gets trapped in your carpet and hangs out there for long periods of time, mold begins to sprout. This can lead to health problems like coughing, sneezing, wheezing, sinus infections, bloody noses, headaches, and even decreased brain function. Carpet mold can only be handled by professional carpet restoration experts — not the local hobbyist with a van and a vacuum.

Dust Mites

Uh oh! Dust mites are tiny bugs that live inside soft, porous fibers in your carpets or furniture, and they cause similars health problems to mold. Expect coughing, post nasal drip, itchy eyes, headaches, and even rashes when dealing with dust mites. Professional carpet cleaners are public enemy number one for dust mites — they use high-powered carpet cleaners and vacuums to remove dust mites for good.

Dust

Eek! Up to 40 pounds of dust can build up in your carpets every single year. But what is dust, anyway? Ultimately, it’s a combination of dead skin from your bare feet, pet dander, pollen, bacteria, bits of paint, and tons of other small particles that cling together and make themselves at home in your carpet. If you took 40 pounds of dust and stuck it all together, it would almost fill up your bathtub!

Dust is a big issue for your carpet and your health, and your vacuum just isn’t powerful enough to get it all out. Professional carpet cleaning companies will extract large amounts of dust using high-tech extraction methods like dry extraction, rotational shampooing, hot water extraction, and foam extraction.