When the human eye looks at carpet, it sees an expanse of flooring that warms the feet, enhances the decor, and creates a cozy, comfortable environment for living. But peek through a microscope at any section of a carpet, and you’re transported to a landscape that reads like a horror movie, with alien-like creatures, strange biological particles and disturbing remnants of human and pet activity.
Your carpets may look clean, but they’re actually a hotbed of microscopic activity, bustling with life and likely causing a number of health problems for members of the household, including those of the four-legged variety. Here’s a look at what is likely making a happy home in your carpeting.
Insects
Perhaps the most disturbing and prolific insect living in your carpet is the dust mite, a microscopic arachnid whose shed skins and droppings are potent allergens to which some 20 million Americans are allergic. Your carpet may contain as many as 100,000 dust mites in a single square yard, and each of them excretes 20 droppings a day. Dust mites feed on dead skin cells shed by you and your pets. And considering the average human sheds 36 million skin cells in 24 hours, that’s a lot of food for these tiny creatures. You may also have silverfish and cockroach parts, plus their droppings, calling your carpet home.
Dust
You might not think dust is so bad, but it contains a huge number of allergens and chemicals that can cause all sorts of illnesses and exacerbate allergies, asthma and other respiratory conditions. About 40 pounds of dust is generated in the typical home each year, and contains toxic substances like volatile organic compounds from building materials and paint, mold spores, pollen and gaseous chemicals from cooking and using household cleaners.
Insecticides, Pesticides and Fungicides
The Environmental Protection Agency conducted a study in 1996 that concluded that the levels of insecticides, fungicides and pesticides were up to 100 times higher in the carpeting in the home than they are outdoors. We track these dangerous substances into our homes on the bottoms of our shoes, we use them to rid our homes of pests, and they come in on the paws and fur of our pets.
Bacteria
It’s estimated that a square inch of carpeting contains 200,000 individual bacterium, which is more than you’ll find on the average toilet seat. The most common bacteria found in carpet include E. coli, which is typically tracked in on shoes and pets; staph, which is transferred to carpet from blood, skin, dirty hands and feet, fingernails and mucous sent flying when you sneeze; and salmonella, which comes from feces, contaminated food and is tracked in from outdoors.
Soil
We talked with the folks over at Chem-Dry who said, “Carpets attract several pounds of soil every year, tracked in by our feet and our pets and deposited on carpets as dust falls from the air. Soil contains lead dust, which can gather in your carpet over time and is difficult to vacuum out due to its microscopic size, and it also contains microscopic bugs, dangerous chemicals and fungi.”
So now you know that what looks like a clean carpet is actually a thriving microcosm of harmful particles and microscopic organisms that has the potential to affect your health, both in the short term and the long term. The good news is that there are a number of things you can do to considerably reduce the number of contaminants lurking beneath your feet.
- Use a vacuum cleaner equipped with a HEPA filter, and vacuum your carpets thoroughly at least twice a week. Spend about a minute vacuuming each square yard to remove the most contaminants.
- Remove your shoes before entering your home to avoid tracking in pollutants.
- Have your carpets professionally cleaned at least once a year. If you have pets or small children, the EPA recommends having them cleaned three times a year.
