On the outside, your carpet may seem immaculate. But have you ever wondered how things would look like through a magnifying lense?
More often than not, you will immediately discover that a whole new world is thriving right beneath your very feet without you even knowing!
Join Us As We Explore the Secret Life Deep Down Below
How often a carpet needs cleaning depends on use, material and its care instructions. A fixed professional-cleaning interval cannot guarantee the health of the household. Read NHS allergy advice.
To show you just what you’re up against, carpet cleaners in London created a neat infographic below depicting all the miniscule or downright invisible beasts that may inhabit your rug as we speak.
The infographic is an older illustration, not a test of your carpet. Its numerical claims should not be used to diagnose contamination or a health risk in your home; the text below gives practical care checks.
A detailed info can be found under the infographic.
A small empire ruled by bugs
Dust mites can be an allergy trigger, but their presence cannot be diagnosed simply because a room has carpet. Follow appropriate floor care and seek medical advice for persistent allergy symptoms.
Dust-mite allergens can affect people with allergies or asthma. Fleas and bedbugs are separate pest problems and should be identified and treated appropriately; ordinary carpet cleaning is not a guaranteed pest treatment.
Thousands of ill-tempered bacteria
Carpets can collect dirt and material carried in from outside. That does not establish a count of dangerous organisms in an individual home. Focus on appropriate maintenance and specific contamination rather than a frightening unverified number.
A list of bacteria does not establish that those organisms are present in your carpet. If there has been specific contamination, explain what happened before arranging an appropriate assessment or cleaning method.
Mould (not of the blue cheese kind)
If your living room suffers from high humidity levels, then you probably have a mould smell problem to worry about.
A damp carpet needs investigation of the moisture source and a suitable assessment. Odour alone does not identify mould or its health effects. Do not assume that routine cleaning will resolve a leak or hidden damp. Read the material care guidance.
A vast sea of human skin flakes
People and pets shed skin and hair, which can become part of household dust. The amount varies; an uncited hourly figure does not show the condition of an individual carpet.
Remove accessible dust and debris using a method appropriate for the carpet. This reduces a source of material in the home without implying that every rug is dangerous.
Sneeze-inducing allergens
Your cosy rug will attract lots of pollen and dust, which will usually land there by skillfully gliding past your open windows.
Once they’ve reached their fluffy landing site, these invaders will become entangled in your carpet’s fibres and will waste no time causing sneeze-fests of epic proportions.
Suitable vacuum filtration may help with dust control. It does not remove every allergen or guarantee that symptoms will stop; NHS advice covers several measures and when to seek medical help.
An unsettling bouquet of toxic chemicals
Do you smoke? It turns out that the smell is not the only thing that sticks around.
Keep the home smoke-free. Cleaning a carpet does not remove the health risks of smoking, and an unspecified claim about all carpet treatments causing cancer is not a basis for judging an individual product.
Old-fashioned, unsightly mud stains
Comfortably clinging to the soles of our shoes or the hems of our pants, these watery samples of Mother Earth tend to make quite a mess once they land on our carpets. Besides being unsightly, these muddy stains can also damage your rug’s fabric – their razor-sharp particles will cut through its fibres each time you accidentally step on what you thought was a clean carpet.
Food and drink spills from last night’s party
Besides recolouring your carpet in wondrous new hues, food crumbs and beverage spills also serve as an abundant source of food for all those bacteria and bugs that we’ve mentioned earlier. So, whatever you do, try to avoid picking up and eating the food once it has fallen on the ground – the 5-second rule is a giant myth and you’ll be sure to regret your decision later!
