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Carpet vs. hard surface floors

(Health related issues)

The Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) has a number of very interesting studies that Action Carpet Care thinks you should be aware of.
Here are 3 of the studies you might find interesting when deciding on new floor surfaces.

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The first is a study done in 23 countries that looked at individuals that had carpeted and non-carpeted bedrooms to determine in which type of rooms people have less allergic reactions. The study revealed that individuals who had carpeted bedrooms had lower allergic reactions to contaminants in the air than did those with non-carpeted bedrooms!
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The second study examined asthmatic children in carpeted schools, non-carpeted schools, carpeted bedrooms and non-carpeted bedrooms. Researchers found that those children that had carpeted bedrooms had much less severe symptoms and used less medication than all three of the other groups.
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The third study looked at the protective influences of carpet in bedrooms for those children who suffer from asthma. Researchers again found that the filter-like capabilities of carpet in the bedroom allowed the children to use lower levels of medication to deal with their asthma than children in non-carpeted bedrooms.

All of the studies were done by independent researchers, not by the CRI. Werner Braun, president of the CRI, said the researchers began the study with the same pre-conceived biases as those in the medical community.

It was predicted by the researchers that they would find proof that carpets are harmful. The CRI knew what they would ultimately find though, Braun says, because the carpet community already had the facts.

10 year study, Carpet vs. hardwood floors,

(health issues)

In one study on the Carpet and rug Institute’s website, carpets were removed from commercial buildings in Sweden in the late 1970’s and replaced with hardwood floors.

Researchers attempted to determine whether the removal of carpet would result in a decrease in allergy levels of occupants of the buildings, but the opposite was found to be true.

Over a 10-year period, allergy levels went up in the buildings, not down, as there was nothing in the hardwood floors that could trap the dirt, dust and contaminants that float through the air.

Regarding the types of the flooring that can be put in homes and buildings, Dr. Berry says that allergic reactions can occur at the same frequency in any type of environment if it is not effectively cleaned on a regular basis and managed with regards to pests and rodents.

“Most advice to remove carpeting is a well-intended prudent avoidance measure,” say’s Berry. “However, all too rarely is it properly advised by medical authorities to clean effectively on a scheduled basis… if that is done, there is no need to replace anything because there is limited exposure to allergens”

He believes that effective cleaning in the form of maximum extraction and minimum residue reduces exposures to concentrated allergens and other pollutants that in turn reduce risks of adverse health effects.

According to Hill, there have been measures taken by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the CRI to determine the contamination in carpet before, during and after cleaning, and it has been found that carpet cleaning greatly reduces the contamination level of allergens and other pollutants.

"The allergists are a very big part of the staunch medical community and their party line is to rip it (carpet) out, because they haven’t read the latest data,” says Hill. "They’re not up to speed on the facts.”

The benefits of carpet

Braun says that allergic asthmatic reactions are caused because pollutants get into people’s eyes, nose, and lungs.

If you have the same number of allergens in a room that has carpet, he says, your exposure is going to be dramatically less because the carpet acts as a beneficial filter.

But with the room with the hard surface, particles easily become airborne,

“The doctors are flat wrong, and we are in the process of trying to convince them that their recommendation (to rip out carpets) is actually hurting their patients as opposed to helping them if they are telling them to take them out,” say’s Braun. “There are dramatic differences between the numbers of materials that are released into the air from people walking on carpet as opposed to walking on hard surface.”

Carpet cleaning is important, he say’s because you want to refresh the filter-like properties of carpet so that it can continue to improve and create a healthier breathing environment.

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