Crawlin’ Critters and Crud:
Guide to the Slime, Grime and Livestock That’s Seeping, Creeping and Galloping Through Your Rugs.
Asphalt. Aerosol sprays. Bacteria. Car exhaust. Chemicals. Dirt. Dust. Earth. Food particles. Fungus. Germs. Gravel. Grease. Grime. Grit. Hair. Industrial waste. Juice spills. Kitty catastrophes. Lint. Mold spores. Mud. Odors. Pet stains. Pollens. Pollutants. Rock. Sand. Scum. Smoke. Soot. Tar. Urine. Vomit. Viruses. Yard soil.
Plus, don’t forget living creatures, such as dust mites, fleas, moth larvae, carpet beetles and critters that live, hide, feed and breed in your carpeting and rugs.
The rugs on your floors, the carpeting installed in your home, your drapes, and your upholstered furniture ALL act as filters for your indoor air. The fibers “grab” particles and pollutants from the feet and paws that track them inside, and from the air that blows through your home. And as with any filter, when it gets full it cannot grab anything else from your air. So anytime you swat the pillow from your sofa, or lift a corner of your rug and swat it from the back side, you will see a big “puff” of the dust and contaminants released into the air. This means it’s time to vacuum these items at the very least, and to give them a bath to completely clean them.
Studies conducted by the IICRC (the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning, and Restoration
Certification) have shown that wall-to-wall carpeting can hold up to one full pound of soil per square foot before it begins to look “soiled.” That is why the first step to any IICRC certified cleaner’s process is to thoroughly vacuum every room.
Rugs can carry comparable amounts of dirt before they look “dirty,” depending on how thin or thick the rug is, and how tightly woven it is. A tightly woven 1920s Sarouk (Persian) entryway rug that has not been wet washed for 3 years can be expected to have pounds of dirt hidden and crushed into its foundation. This is why you cannot have this rug cleaned in your home, because if the rug is not vacuumed to remove the dry soil out of its foundation then an in-home cleaner will just make SOAPY MUD when he gets it wet with his machinery. And once this happens, you have a rug that has a combination of detergents and dirt embedded in its foundation which leads to problems down the road from quicker resoiling to color changes (especially if it’s in an area that gets any sun exposure) to – in extreme cases – foundation mildew damage and dry rot.
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