I have allergies. 
Carpets are so disgusting
and hard to clean. 
​
​I'm going to rip Up my 
​carpet And put in laminate.

There has been much talk about how disgusting and unclean carpets are.  Some people with allergies simply rip them up and install a hard surface, ie laminate, hard wood or tile.  They don't realize they are removing the largest air filter in their home.

Dustmite particles, bacteria, dust, hairs, and all that other stuff and allergens are going to exist anyway.  You can see these floating around in the air in a beam of sunlight.  Many particles are submicron in size, not visible to the eye.  When the air is calm these will settle to whatever floor surface is present. 

The challenge is to prevent these particles from getting scattered back up into the air we breathe. 

On a hard surface the smallest disturbance of air will scatter them. This doesn't happen with carpet.

Carpet acts like an air filter. The millions of finer than hair fibres trap those sub micron particles preventing them from getting back up into the air.  So if you have minor allergies the US EPA has determined that carpet can actually keep the air you breathe cleaner than a hard surface.

Check this out! Swedish schools were complaining about allergies.  The carpeting was blamed so it was decided to rip it ALL out.  So they did.  They started replacing all the carpet in schools with a hard surface.  And guess what!  The complaints of allergies went.......UP!  That's right, they increased.  The carpet wasn't the problem. Here's the story.

Hard Surface or
​carpet?

Read the articles below
Carpets And Allergic Reactions
Pros And Cons
Carpets In Schools/Swedish Study

The Answer!

Don't Replace It! Clean It!
Find a cleaning company you can trust.
​​
Ask questions, get a referral, check with the BBB or your local Chamber of Commerce.
​Be willing to pay a little more to get a better job. You can't expect someone to give you excellent work at cheap prices.

Depending on your environment, you may need to clean consistently at least once a year, if not more often.

​Invest in a good vacuum. Your cleaner will show you how best to use it and maintain it.

With a little simple effort you can enjoy ALL the benefits of carpet and still breathe easy.

The PROBLEM is carpet is
rarely maintained properly,
for ​several reasons I can see:

One:  Misinformation. People are told to wait as long as possible before cleaning the carpets and that steam cleaning will damage carpet or cause mold.  In short, it doesn't, IF it is done properly!! Would you wait 4 yrs before washing your kitchen floor??

Two: Most people do not own a decent, well maintained vacuum, or they fail to take the proper time necessary to use it.  Just about any good vacuum, if maintained, will do the job. Don't rush, just vacuum at a moderate pace.  Remember, if you work up a sweat vacuuming... you need to slow down.  Vacuuming is NOT an aerobic exercise.

Three:  Most people think ALL carpet cleaners are the same so then it stands to reason to hire the cheapest.  Unfortunately, this is far from the truth, you WILL GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.  Ask around; get a referral, check out the company you are thinking of hiring.  

Four: Not all professional cleaners are "Professionals".  I hate to say it but just because you hired a "professional" does not mean they are really "cleaning" your carpet.  There are a LOT of companies whose sole goal is to make $.  They make the carpet LOOK CLEAN ENOUGH to make you THINK its clean.  You're "happy",you pay them, they are happy, but you are left with half clean carpet.  "What is Clean?"

The challenge is you cannot SEE the difference, so ignorance is bliss, until your allergies start up.  

OR you hire this cheap cleaner; they come in, up sell you for extra money, clean so fast you wonder if they actually did anything, you pay them just to get rid of them and the carpet doesn't even look clean. 

Then you think; I just had the carpets "professionally" cleaned!!  Lets rip them up and put in a hard surface so that we can "clean" them. 

The answer is My Best Cleaning.  By giving the carpet a thorough dry vacuuming it removes the maximum amount of dry particulates from the carpet. These are often the ones responsible for allergies, ie dust, dander, hairs, etc. Its then pretreated, scrubbed and given a thorough wash and rinse. This isn't a fast "in and out" process. It takes time and costs more than the Val Pak or 40% Off radio offers, but it will leave your carpets and upholstery as clean as possible.