How Old Carpets Affect Your Health

If someone you visit frequently lives in an old house or if you are planning on buying a new property for yourself, you know how disconcerting and unhygienic the idea of an old carpet is. Every person is entitled to be concerned about the safety and sanitation of their carpet and how they affect the health of your loved one.

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Do Old Carpets Affect Your Health?

Being a leader in carpet cleaning and restoration industry, we often get queries regarding old carpets and their effects on health. There is truth in the belief that old carpets can make one sick. But, what is the solution? How can a person repair, restore, treat, or even throw out an old carpet without getting ill? If old and infected carpets are capable of making you sick, then how can you get rid of them without being the victim of all the allergens that will be kicked up during the process? Our today’s article will try to answer these and several other health-related questions about old carpeting.

Are Old Carpets Making You Sick?

The answer is, yes. Old carpets do affect our health and make us sick. Because unfortunately, they are very suitable for retaining allergens, fungal spores, dust, dirt, and soil particles. This problem gets worse when you have bought a new house, only to find that the last owner did not regularly clean and maintain the carpeting. This can create a myriad of challenges for you and your family, especially if you have children or pets.

As time goes by, the carpet padding and its fibres become more and more vulnerable to problems in its surroundings. These include the microbes, bacteria, and allergens that hang around in the atmosphere of your building. This issue can be further aggravated if you live in a building owned by multiple residents. Factors such as insufficient ventilation, chemical contamination due to internal sources like bleach, paint, pest sprays, etc., chemical contamination due to external sources like mould, mildew, pollen, biotic toxins, etc. also pose a danger to old carpets and your health.

Anyone who lives or works in an unhygienic and discarded premises with carpet flooring is at high risk. You might notice early symptoms of respiratory problems like chills, chest tightness, and coughing.

And therefore, yes, old carpets can make you sick! And unlike the physical wear and tear caused to the carpeting itself, the effect of old carpets on health can be severe.

Do Old Carpets Affect Home Atmosphere?

Owing to their proclivity for harbouring dust mites, dander, pollen, dust, and other particles, carpets can act as a form of blessing for homeowners by trapping these contaminants in their fibres. This keeps them out of indoor air circulation.

But this does not mean you should ignore cleaning forever. You have to make sure that carpets are regularly cleaned and sanitised. This effectively eliminates bacteria and allergens, preventing a massive build up which can account for a hazardous living condition.

How to Keep The Allergens at Bay?

If you suffer from asthma or any other respiratory disease, make a habit of vacuuming your entire carpet at least twice a week without failing. Make a proper housework timetable and schedule fixed time for maintenance of carpets. Even if a carpet floor looks clean and sanitary on its surface, you can never know what is lurking within its fibres, in every nook and corner at a microscopic level. You also need to adjust your schedule and time allotted for cleaning depending on the season and amount of foot traffic your carpet receives.

In order to provide the best treatment for your beautiful carpets and eliminate all microscopic pollutants within them, we recommend hiring the services of a Professional Carpet Cleaning in Sydney. A professional technician possess the required skill and knowledge to deep clean your carpets with the effectiveness that DIY treatments cannot even come close to. In addition to that, by hiring a technician you eliminate the need for renting heavy equipment required for cleaning carpets. These equipment are an indispensable part of any treatment plan and are almost all carpet technicians own them. Professionals also use comparatively less amount of water for cleaning, which is good because water and carpet fabrics do not do well together.

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Mould and Mildew in Old Carpets

If you suspect a mould infestation in your carpeting, dealing with it by yourself is generally not possible, and also not recommend to try. Treating a mould-ridden carpet requires specialised care to prevent any adverse effect on health and surroundings. Moreover, in most cases lack of professional attention only ends with the entire carpet in trash.

Whether the area affected by mould and mildew is small or big, whether you have caught on too late or early on, the only way to salvage such carpet is to call an expert. You can find several professional technicians who are well-versed in carpet mould and mildew removal. These specialists guarantee the safety of your health and property.

As a homeowner, there are several things you can do to prevent the growth and infestation of mould and mildew in carpeting. For instance, place an air mover or a dehumidifier in the room to keep the humidity level in check; fungal spores thrive in high humid environment. As soon as a spill occurs, act quickly and soak up all the residue water from the affected area. When scheduling regular clean up for your carpets, try to use such benefits of carpet cleaning which don’t involve too much water.

How Often Should You Clean Old Carpets?

There are two aspects to this question. If we consider the scheduled Do It Yourself cleaning and maintenance, we recommend vacuuming your entire carpeting two to four times a week depending on the amount of foot traffic it receives. On the other hand, when we consider the frequency of deep cleaning from professionals, we recommend calling them at least twice a year.

How to Deal With Old Carpets Without Getting Sick?

As treating and even throwing out an old carpet kicks up a large quantity of bacteria, dirt, and allergens in the air, one must take necessary precautions to make sure they don’t contact any illness.

Most people choose to be on the safe side and hire professional carpet technicians to deal with such problems. But if you prefer to take the risk, make sure your pets and children are not around as they can inhale dangerous toxins. As for yourself, buy and use special face masks, hand gloves, and apt clothing in order to protect your entire body from germs.

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Final Conclusion

After grappling with the topic of this discussion, we can conclude that yes, old carpets can affect your health. We hope you will find our article helpful and are now better prepared to deal with your old carpeting.

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Fresh Cleaning Services specialises in providing best carpet deep cleaning services and sanitation services for carpets in both commercial and residential premises. Our trained technicians have more than 20 years of experience in this industry along with a certification from the IICRC.

Call us today to Make an Appointment and get a free quote of our professional carpet cleaning and restoration services. You can also get in touch with our experts by filling out the small contact form on the right side of your screen. Our team will get back to you in no time at all.



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