Over days, months and years, your carpets attract and maintain a variety of unseen pollutants. What might look like a clean, stain-free carpet may be a breeding ground for contamination.
Have you heard of Sick Building Syndrome or SBS? The term, coined by The World Health Organization in the 1980s, refers to conditions affecting office workers attributed to unhealthy factors in their work environment. These same conditions, however, are frequently found in residential homes, causing symptoms from headaches and fatigue to allergies and serious respiratory problems.
Dr. Michael Berry, the EPA’s former Deputy Director of the Environmental Criteria and Assessment Office, points to dirty carpets as one of the main culprits of SBS.
“Most people clean carpets because they look bad,” he wrote. “Rarely does anyone acknowledge that their carpet needs to be cleaned to protect their health.”
He continues to write: “Carpets that are not cleaned and properly maintained can cause many health problems inside the building environment. It is estimated that patients allergic to biopollutants (fungi, mites, cockroaches, and bacteria) make 500,000 to 1,000,000 hospital visits each year.”
Want to hear another scary fact? According to the EPA today, your home’s indoor pollution may be worse than outdoor pollution!
However, the “fix” is an easy one. “The secret to a healthy indoor environment is in keeping it as clean as possible,” says Berry. “Every time we extract pollutants from carpets we enhance the quality of the indoor environment by reducing exposures and protecting health.”
Berry recommends regular vacuuming and carpet cleaning to improve air quality. However, the quality and technique of cleaning is essential. Vacuuming with an old, worn-out machine can do more harm than good, resulting in the further spreading of contaminants.
When it comes to soils, pollens, bacteria and fungus, Berry says vacuuming with a strong machine is highly effective. Other contaminants, such as chemicals, pesticides and viruses, require carpet cleaning with hot water extraction for effective removal.
Haven’t cleaned your carpets in months? Don’t panic.
If you do not own one already, start with the purchase a quality vacuum. Then, schedule a carpet cleaning. It’s an investment, but one that will reward your health, and that of your children and pets both immediately and in the long-term. Give a call to the carpet cleaning Myrtle Beach SC experts, at Beach Walk Cleaning Services.
