5 Reasons to Get Your Carpets Professionally Serviced Right Now
Have Mercy
Your carpets are begging you for relief. We're practically carpet whisperers, so we would know. "What's that, Mr. Saxony? Ms. Frieze? NO—you haven't been cleaned in eighteen months? How awful! That must mean your warranty is void." Indeed, we've found a pattern in feedback from the underside, so we've agreed to act as a medium between carpet and homeowners. Here follow the 5 blights of your flooring, the 5 reasons to get your carpets professionally serviced.
1. Polluted Indoor Air
"In the last several years, a growing body of scientific evidence has indicated that the air within homes and other buildings can be more seriously polluted than the outdoor air in even the largest and most industrialized cities." - EPA
The EPA estimates that indoor air can be 2-5 times more polluted than outdoor air. That's crazy. Imagine the LA skyline after a damp sunrise and multiply it by two. It's like drinking in fumes—you might as well pour it into your cereal and call it part of a complete breakfast. Household pollutants come from many places: combustive sources like oil, coal, wood, and tobacco; humidification devices; certain kinds of furniture with pressed wood, led-based paint or formaldehyde treatment; and anything that comes through the doors and windows like smoke, carbon dioxide and organic gasses.
Question: So how does this affect your carpet?
Answer: Your carpet is the largest filter in your house.
If you don't get your carpets professionally serviced, then several pounds of soil can accumulate in your carpet! And while regular vacuuming can offer carpet relief, it's only a temporary solution. A study on vacuum cleaner emissions found that vacuums that aren't of a professional grade actually contribute to indoor air pollution by spreading bacteria and releasing ultrafine particles of copper and carbon. These toxic emissions come from the motor, and can trigger allergies.
2. Monsters Under the Carpet
An unexpected benefit of carpet is that it traps particles that would otherwise be airborne— it is the biggest filter in your home, if you recall. Those with allergies can actually benefit from this feature, for a time. Once the carpet becomes saturated, however, it's far from hypoallergenic.
And to think that the average carpet holds 200,000 bacteria per square inch…
To put that in perspective, a toilet seat holds about 50 bacteria per square inch.
The biological load on flooring can be alleviated by getting carpets professionally serviced. How often you should have your carpets professionally serviced depends primarily on your warranty, but also on your local climate. For instance, humidity can increase the rate at which bacteria grows. Warm and damp are the ideal conditions for fungus. While you may not see mushrooms popping up from your living room floor, discoloration and mustiness is likely from mold or mildew. The consensus among microbiologists is that humidity should never be above 60%, although some advocate for as low as 25%.
Humidity can also draw in colonies of dust mites, microscopic critters that roam your floors and eat you up. Average human sheds 1.5 billion dead skin cells per hour, fueling the critters in your carpet. They themselves don't induce allergies, but their fecal matter does.
On the other hand, bed bugs do direct harm. Many of them make their homes in carpet and bite humans, causing pain and irritation.
3. Chemical Overload
Traditional detergents pose two problems. First, sticky residue remains in the carpet. It's the equivalent of a magnet for dust and allergens. Second, the soaps themselves may be irritating, particularly to small children or folks with allergies.
According the Natural Resources Defense Council, more than 80,000 chemicals are used in the United States, and very few of them are well-tested in regards to human well-being. It's not just in factories. Many of these chemicals are in our furniture, our clothing and our cleaning products. Archaic chemical testing laws allow for loopholes that the chemical industry exploit for profit.
The WHO studies the effects of chemicals on human health and how it contributes to disease. In their 2016 report, it was documented that 1.3 million people died from exposure to certain chemicals. On their list of top ten chemical concerns, at least three are found in cleaning detergents: benzene, cadmium and dioxin. Another study published on PubMed showed that chemicals that collect in dust are associated with increased risk of childhood disease.
Your carpets are begging for relief from any detergents or cleaning products used on it. Hot water extraction is the best (and perhaps only) way of reversing the cycle perpetuated by traditional cleaning methods.
4. Secret Stains
The modern carpet is engineered to withstand stains and spills. There's one drawback to this added durability—carpets are in need of cleaning long before they look dirty. Stain-resistant does not mean stain-proof. If you're the experimental, need-to-see-for-yourself-type, you can use a black light to determine what's actually there.
Another indicator of invisible stains is unidentified odors. These can mean trouble for your carpet as well as your carpet pad. Urine and other spills quickly penetrate through carpet layers and can reach all the way to your floorboards. How does this happen? Some substances are invisible until they oxidize: cooking oils, tea, liquor, soft drinks, sweat, urine and glue.
5. Warranty
Most warranties are only valid if you have carpets professionally serviced every 12-18 months. If you're willing to put a little TLC into your carpets, then it goes a long way. Zerorez® generates high pH (alkaline) Zr Water™ from ordinary tap water at the facility and brings it to you in specially equipped cleaning vans. It cleans more effectively than detergents or soaps, and dries more quickly than traditional wet methods, giving you the best of both methods. Additionally, we have a Platinum Rating from the Carpet and Rug Institute, meaning we offer the best clean in the industry. To learn more or schedule an appointment, reach us at zerorezsocal.com or give us a ring at (949) 387-2222.
