Why have your carpets cleaned?
Good indoor air quality is crucial for human health and particularly important for vulnerable groups i.e. babies, children, the elderly, as well as people living with respiratory and allergic diseases. The UK has some of the highest prevalence rates of allergic conditions in the world, with over 20% of the population affected by one or more allergic disorder. In the UK 5.4 million people are currently receiving treatment for asthma: 1.1 million children (1 in 11) and 4.3 million adults.
Social behaviour has changed and today people spend on average 90% of their time indoors. Our indoor environments are often poorly ventilated causing humidity to rise and creating ideal conditions for mould and house dust mites to thrive in our soft furnishings, carpets and bedding. We are a nation of pet lovers, with our pets often living indoors which can also add to allergens in the indoor environment.
In the average UK home over two million dust mites feed on the protein from your dead skin scales. House dust mites are tiny creatures, just a quarter of a millimetre long, which is the only reason you have not seen them. House dust mite allergy is very common and associated with asthma, eczema and perennial allergic rhinitis. Mites are found in carpets, soft furnishing and clothing but a significant amount of exposure to house dust mite allergens happens in bed. It is not just the mite that is the problem but their harmful faeces, which are so small that when disturbed can stay airborne for over ten minutes.
As mites live mainly in your carpets – it’s now the carpet that gets the blame. HOWEVER, MITES DO NOT FEED ON SOFT FURNISHING AND CARPETS BUT ON THE DUST THAT LIES WITHIN THEM. Regularly cleaned carpet and upholstery will therefore help to massively reduce the presence of both dust particles and dust mites, whilst also acting as a filter to remove dust and dust mite faeces from the atmosphere. However, your carpet and upholstery can only act as a filter if they are regularly cleaned.