Carpeting and Dust Mites

people with allergies really should pull up their carpeting and replace it with tile  or a laminate. We have a friend that pulled it all up and just painted the slab. Looks pretty good.

The problem with carpets and allergies is that carpeting, no matter what kind, holds dirt. In the dirt you will find dust, dirt, pollen, dust mites, pet dander and everything else yo stepped in.

No I know the carpet cleaning company will tell you they can get everything out and make it as good as new. Nice line but not really. It will be just as good as new for about a day or two unless the cleaner has a bad water extraction system and then it will be worse.

If you can’t pull it up you should look at using a product called X-Mite. It’s a powder that you sprinkle on to the carpeting that neutralizes the allergens. Here is an article that does a pretty good job of explaining it.

“X-Mite Powder made by Alkaline Laboratories harnesses the power of the acids in tannins to denature the allergy causing proteins.  Tannic acid is found in woods like oak, mahogany, and redwood.  It is also found in tea.  Alkaline Labs uses a patented process to convert this into a 3% tanacetane formulation which is highly effective in denaturing proteins from animals, molds, pollens and dust mites.  They combine this denaturing agent with a water-based solution of surfactants that also absorbs some soil.

The result with X-Mite powder is that the proteins are denatured and thereby made harmless and some soil is removed making the carpets appear cleaner.” Read complete article

I’m not a fan of carpeting. I have allergies and pets. I know many people will tell me that carpeting is no that bad as long as you vacuum it.I’ll save my comments about that for another post but If you have bad allergies, vacuuming is not one of the best things you can do.

Chemicals for Killing Dust Mites

“New research describes four highly effective dust mite-killing products designed to help patients avoid mites in allergic disease management. They are simple, safe and cost effective in the battle to control indoor mite infestation.”

“For patients, avoidance of mites and their allergens is the first step in managing symptoms, but as dust mites live in close proximity to man indoors, full avoidance can be quite costly or problematic. Therefore, the application of chemicals with mite killing activity is necessary.” Read complete article.

Just read this and while benzyl benzoate is a very common chemical used for controlling dust mite allergens I’m not 100% sure on the ” is necessary”. many people have had very good success in controlling their allergies by using non drug and non chemical alternatives.

Keeping you bedroom clean and free of clutter, using the special dust mite covers for the bedding, running HEPA air cleaners and using good ac filters goes a long way in stopping the problems associated with dust mites.

Research the alternatives before you start spray all sorts of chemicals around the house. There are already enough of them there now.