Dust Allergy from Your Carpet – What You Should Know
Carpets can enhance the beauty of any home and make a strong style statement. The only drawback with carpet is that it attracts a lot of dust and other dirt. The result is the possibility that you may suffer from a dust allergy from your carpet. Along with dust there are other chemicals which are present in the carpet which can also cause allergy symptoms. Although there is no completely allergen free carpet, you can look for a label from The Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) which maintains a certain standard on chemical emissions from carpets.
To fight carpet allergy symptoms, carpet cleaning on a regular basis is the only solution. The frequency of cleaning will also depend on the severity of your allergy and the reactions it causes. The common practice is to use a vacuum cleaner with a strong suction at least on alternate days on all carpets and rugs in your household.
Dust gets trapped in the fibers of the carpet and will also sink down to the lowest layers with repeated walking. This forms a perfect environment for dust mites to thrive and they can build colonies within a very short time in your carpet. In such cases ordinary vacuuming will not be effective and you will have to call in the professionals. Dust mites can be reduced only with steam cleaners and so a professional allergies carpet cleaning job will be required every three months if the traffic on the carpet is heavy and you have pets and children in the house. Deep cleaning will ensure an almost dust free carpet.
Dust is not the only cause allergic reaction to carpet as mentioned earlier. There are certain chemicals which go into the manufacture of them and these chemicals are volatile and continue to escape in the air, acting as an irritant. The main culprit is reported to be the chemical 4-phenylcyclohexene. Carpet allergy symptoms include skin rash, coughing, feeling of tiredness, and irritation to the respiratory tract.
If you are installing new carpets, then it would be best that carpet allergy sufferers in your family avoid the room, or better still, the house for a few days. Another way to reduce the symptoms of allergic reaction to carpet is to ask the retailer to air the carpet for a few days at his shop so that the trapped fumes escape. You also need to make sure that the room where you are installing the carpet is well ventilated and there is proper circulation of air.
If you have installed carpets in your apartment and are not able to get professional steam cleaning done, the next best alternative alleviate dust allergy carpet is to use certain powders which will neutralize dust mites, the culprit of many allergies. These powders are usually moist and you will need to sweep them with a broom into the carpet. The powder is then left for a couple of hours and will absorb the dust and soil from the carpet. You then later vacuum all of the powder up.
