Carpet for asthma sufferers – this has long been a bone of contention.  Thankfully, the scaremongering of days gone by has ceased.  That said, we cannot get away from the fact that the message has stuck with some.  There is still a misconception that for those with asthma, carpet should be avoided.  We as an organisation, and as an industry, have long been guarded and defensive about the contribution carpet can make to indoor air quality.  But is it time to get on the front foot? In January the Daily Mail ran a piece entitled ‘Could the air in your home be killing you’?  The text was factually accurate and drew attention to the potential effects on health from airborne toxic chemical pollutants that are not dispersed because of inadequate ventilation in UK homes.

Increasingly, however, research is producing evidence that carpet, rather than being hazardous, has distinct health benefits.  The three dimensional construction of a carpet is such that many airborne pollutants, which need to be breathed in to cause harm, become collected in the pile of a carpet, until removed by routine vacuum cleaning, so preventing their recirculation in indoor air.

Carpet is not bad for you if you have asthma – fact!

Thank you to the Carpet foundation for this blog.