Carpet Facts We Bet You Didn’t Know!
1. Ancient tribes wove reeds and grass together to make rugs and keep the cold ground warm.
2. The carpet industry in the United States began in 1791 when William Sprague started the first woven carpet mill in Philadelphia.
3. Humans shed about 2 grams of dead skin in a 24 hour time frame. It doesnt seem like much, but if you add that up over a lifetime, you are looking at about 73 lbs. of discarded flesh. Wow!
4. Wool can be home to beetle grubs (maggots), that have chemicals in their stomachs that convert wool in sugars, causing the insect to eat through carpets and rugs like yummy candy!
4. Several pounds of soil and dead skin are collected under carpets each year. Frequent vacuuming sessions can clear out some of this debris but most importantly professional carpet cleanings. Although it may seem disadvantageous to have wall to wall carpet in your home, a unique ability of carpet is that it keeps allergens and other contaminants at bay and out of the breathing zone.
5. Unlike carpets, hardsurface flooring does not have the ability to serve as a “human filter”. For allergy sufferers, hard surface flooring should be cleaned/vacuumed more often than carpets and should also be professionally cleaned at the minimum, once per year.
6. All carpeted areas should be professionally cleaned using a low moisture disinfectatnt type of cleaning at the minimum every 6-12 months (more often if there are kids and pets in the home) even when they are not noticeably stained or dirty. Dust and other air pollutants settle on your carpet and have an adverse effect on your health.
7. Carpets are said to have been originally from the Middle East.
8. Carpet and rug making has been a trade since early BC times; a skill that many choose to master artfully to this day creating beautiful masterpieces for homes.
9. Hubert Cecil Booth created the first vacuum cleaner back in the 1900’s.
10. New carpet gives off chemical off gassing and should be professionally cleaned soon after it has been installed.
Hoping this served as a reminder of the importance of maintaining our home wall to wall carpets as well as our hard surface floorings to live a healthier life.
Happy Holidays!
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