A Healthier Home: How Modern Carpet Manages Allergens

For years, carpet was unfairly blamed for worsening allergies. However, modern scientific studies and advancements in manufacturing have revealed a surprising truth: quality carpet plays a beneficial and active role in managing indoor air quality. For families in Green Bay, Appleton, and across Wisconsin, where keeping homes sealed tight against the winter cold can concentrate indoor pollutants, carpet acts as a crucial, passive filter, trapping dust and allergens and helping to create a healthier environment.

At Macco’s Floor Covering Center, we believe that choosing the right flooring should enhance both the beauty and the well-being of your home. Understanding carpet’s filtering capability is key to making an informed decision.

The Carpet-as-Filter Concept

Unlike hard surfaces, which allow allergens to remain airborne or recirculate every time they are disturbed by foot traffic or drafts, carpet fibers actively trap and hold these particles.

Trapping Airborne Irritants

• Holding Dust and Dander: Carpet fibers act like a three-dimensional filter, effectively pulling airborne particles such as pollen, pet dander, dust mite droppings, and ordinary dust down and locking them within the carpet’s structure. This mechanism prevents these irritants from circulating back into the breathing zone.
• Reduced Circulation: When you walk on hard surfaces, you continually stir up settled dust, sending it back into the air where it can be inhaled. Quality, dense carpet minimizes this effect because the fibers hold the particles securely until they are removed through vacuuming.
• The Difference is Density: The efficiency of this filtering system is often tied to the carpet’s density and pile height. Tightly woven, high-quality carpets are generally more effective at trapping and containing allergens than sparse, low-grade alternatives.

Maximizing Carpet’s Health Benefits

To ensure your carpet remains an effective filter and continues to promote healthy indoor air quality, a consistent maintenance routine is essential.

The Power of Maintenance

1. High-Efficiency Vacuuming: Regular vacuuming is the primary method for removing the trapped allergens. It is crucial to use a high-quality vacuum cleaner equipped with a HEPA filter. A HEPA filter ensures that the trapped dust and allergens are not simply sucked up and then blown back out into the air. Vacuum at least two to three times per week, especially in high-traffic areas.
2. Professional Deep Cleaning: Even with regular vacuuming, professional steam cleaning is necessary every 12 to 18 months. This process reaches deep into the carpet pile to remove deeply embedded soil and biological materials, ensuring the carpet’s fibers remain clean and effective at filtering.
3. Low-VOC Materials: When selecting new carpet, look for products that are low in Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). Reputable manufacturers adhere to strict indoor air quality standards, such as those set by the Carpet and Rug Institute’s Green Label Plus program, ensuring that the carpet contributes minimally to indoor air pollution.

By choosing a modern carpet and maintaining it properly, you are essentially installing a passive, floor-level air filtration system that works 24/7 to manage the allergens common in the Green Bay area. This makes the soft, warm comfort of carpet an unexpectedly healthy addition to your family’s living space.

Ready to explore carpet options that promote a healthier home? Contact us or visit one of our showroom locations in Green Bay WI, Sheboygan WI, Marinette WI, Appleton WI, Schofield WI, Sturgeon Bay WI, Janesville. At Macco’s Floor Covering Center, our goal is to provide our customers with genuine old fashioned family service backed with honesty and integrity. We create inspiration to express yourself with a distinguished collection of designer choices and flooring essentials to enhance any home décor, and competitive prices suitable to match any lifestyle, even if your style includes an eye to the bottom line. We’re proud to feature carpet, hardwood, laminate, luxury vinyl, and tile flooring from all of your favorite brands. See expert installation displays, designed to help you visualize how your future renovations will look in your home. Our design experts will work with you to select the prefect options for you and your family. At Macco’s Floor Covering Center, we take pride in the quality of our workmanship and customer service.