Spring cleaning Christmas Pet accidents Crying over spilt milk Mother-In-Law coming to stay! All very good reasons.     Yet, there is another extremely important reason you should have your carpet cleaned - Your family's health. That's right! A cleaner carpet contributes to a healthier home environment.   Carpeting as a sink Have you ever thought about what types of soiling and other conditions that your carpet is subject too? Your carpet acts like a sink. It collects and filters almost every spilled material, airborne contaminant and tracked soling that enters your home. As a matter of fact, carpet is designed to hide soiling. By the time a carpet "looks" dirty, it can have a great deal of contamination collected in it.   What Is Lurking In Your Carpet? Biocontaminants, volatile organic compounds, combustion products, dust mites (we will cover in greater detail later), waste, chemical contamination, migrated outdoor pollutants, insoluble particulate soiling, grease and oil, sand soil, dirt, food particles, pesticides and allergens. Big words, but what do they mean? Quite simple, if your carpets act like a sink, then it filters and collects sources of soil, bacteria, allergens and pollutants from the indoor environment. This "collection" and "filtering" process allow carpet to trap contaminants within the carpet. Hard surface floors may allow these contaminants to "roam" throughout the indoor environment. But like any filter, your carpet needs to be periodically cleaned out. If these contaminants are in the house they could be contributing to you and your family's health and allergy problems. Bacteria, pollutants and allergens trapped in your carpet can contribute to an unhealthy indoor environment.   What Do You Do About All Those "Lurking-Things." For one thing, regular vacuuming. Vacuuming can remove a great deal of soiling. But all vacuum bags allow small particles to pass through them. These released particles tend to build up over time and have the greatest potential to cause harm as they are inhaled deep into the lungs. They also wear away at carpets and furnishings causing them to be replaced much sooner than is necessary. Many types of contamination simply cannot be removed by regular vacuuming. That is why it is absolutely essential that you have your carpets periodically cleaned professionally. Professional Carpet Cleaning by Hot Water Extraction method makes a significant positive contribution to removing those contaminants. Recent tests performed have demonstrated that professional cleaning can contribute to a reduction in indoor air pollutants. Here's what Dr Michael Berry of the EPA has stated; "Every time carpets and fabrics are emptied of their pollution build-up through professional cleaning methods, there is a health benefit. Cleaning processes that extract pollutants from the environment enhance the quality of the indoor environment by reducing exposure. Cleaning, especially through extraction, improves environment conditions and health protection."   How Often Should You Have Your Carpet Cleaned? How often you should have your carpet professionally cleaned depends on a number of circumstances. Du-Pont, the world's largest manufacture of fibres, recommends cleaning at least every 12 months. But other considerations may increase the frequency rate: smoking habits, number and ages of children, soling conditions, humidity, temperature, condition of outdoor environment, health status of occupants, allergy conditions, number and type of pets and the types of activities being conducted are just a few.   What Do Fibre Producers And Carpet Manufacturers Say About Carpet Cleaning? The five largest fibre producers-Allied, BASF, Du-Pont, Hocchst, Celanse and Monsanto-all recommend periodic professional cleaning. Most major carpet mills agree. Shaw Industries, the world's largest carpet manufacturer recommends hot water extraction carpet cleaning by a "trained" professional. Du-Pont in their report on "Indoor Air Quality. A Technical Review of Carpet Contributions" states "Since carpets do act like sinks" for many types of particles, periodic professional cleaning is very important."   A Healthier "Indoor Environment." Professional carpet cleaning can be an important contribution in maintaining the health of your family's environment. So don't delay. Just because your carpet may not look dirty doesn't mean that it doesn't need to be cleaned. We look forward to the opportunity of serving you soon.   PROmite Introduction Due to the change in life-style in the UK over the past twenty years with the introduction of double glazing and central heating systems we have made our homes into breeding grounds for microscopic, skin eating creatures called Dust Mites - these ugly pre-historic looking eight-legged cousins of the spider and tick are not visible to the naked eye, but just one gramme (approximately half of a teaspoon) of house dust can contain up to a thousand Dust Mites and several thousand Dust Mite droppings. Astonishingly 90% of all house dust is made up of our skin. That's because on average every three days we shed a layer of skin. It's the protein in these tiny particles of dead skin that we are constantly shedding which is manna (heavy food) for Dust Mites. As mites only measure 0.3 mm they settle anywhere in our warm humid (70% Rh or greater) climates including in our - carpets, mattresses, pillows, upholstered furniture, clothing and in our clothing draws, wardrobes, etc. In fact, an average house can contain over 2 million Dust Mites with a new generation arriving every 3 weeks.   Each Mite lives for 3 to 4 months, each female lays 20 to 50 eggs every three weeks. Each Mite produces around 20 droppings per day, (that's nearly 200 times their own body weight). There are so many droppings in our homes that any soft furnishing in a bedroom of two years old, that has not been professional cleaned, will weigh 10% heavier than when new. It is the digestive enzymes contained within the Dust Mite excrement that triggers most respiratory allergies such as Asthma, and is the single biggest cause of eczema and all year round rhinitis, the sneezing and runny nose associated with allergies. Once airborne, Mite faecal pellets remain aloft for an extended period of time (10 minutes or more) and are easily inhaled. With 28% of the population suffering from respiratory allergies, Dust Mites are one of the main reasons that indoor air is more allergenic than out door air. However there is proof that childhood Asthma is on the increase in the UK with one in three children begin affected by exposure to Dust Mite droppings in their early infancy.