Are Carpet Cleaning Chemicals Safe?

Having clean carpets is an incredibly important part of keeping a healthy home. Especially in the winter when we spend more time inside, couped up with our pets and family. Dirt, dander, and dust settle into our carpets fiber, so keeping our carpets clean is a must. Getting carpets cleaned by professional carpet cleaners is a common part of our modern lives and most carpet cleaners have become great at their craft. They show up in the window of time they give you, they clean your carpets, and then leave them nice and clean. These days, very little separates carpet cleaning companies from each other, but one important difference is the chemicals used in cleaning.

Dangerous Cleaning Chemicals

For the most part, carpet cleaning companies try to use relatively mild cleaning chemicals, but “mild” doesn’t always mean “good.” Some carpet cleaning companies still use small amount of dangerous chemicals that could cause adverse health problems. Some of the potentially dangerous chemicals used in carpet cleaning include:

perchloroethylene, a popular dry cleaning chemical known to cause nausea, dizziness and fatigue, and has also been thought to cause kidney and liver damage.

Naphthalene, a popular cleaning solution that helps dissolve dirt. Naphthalene is derived from coal tar and is commonly used as a pesticide to kills moths and other small insects. Exposure to Naphthalene has been known to cause confusion, nausea, vomiting, never damage, and liver damage.

Butyloxy Ethanol, which can enter your body by both breathing it in and by it coming in direct contact with your skin. This chemical has been connection to never, liver, and kidney damage.

As important as safe chemicals are, there is still more to consider when evaluating how healthy a carpet cleaner’s method is.

Carpet Cleaning’s Effect On Air Quality

Our carpets act as filters in our home, trapping dust, allergens, and bacteria. This helps improve our homes air quality by keeping these things out of our air. As dirt builds up over time, however, it makes it difficult for your carpets to keep it out of your air. When we get our carpets cleaned, we hope that it improves the air quality in our home, but that isn’t always the case. Many people have had the bad experience of getting a carpet cleaning only to have their carpets smell like mildew after. This is because wet carpet is an ideal environment for mold and mildew to grow. When a carpet is left wet for too long, mold, bacteria, and mildew begin to grow. This can cause poor in-home air quality due to the spores and airborne bacteria that the mold and mildew released into the air.

What To Look For In A Carpet Cleaner

Green-Certified, Non-Toxic Cleaning Solution

As previously mentioned, most carpet cleaning solutions are relatively mild. However, there is a difference between have a chemical cleaning solution be “non-toxic” and being “not too toxic.” When you’re choosing the best professional carpet cleaner for your family, be sure to choose one that uses a cleaner that is safe for both you and for the environment. Companies that use cleaning solutions that only use ingredients on the FDA’s Generally Recognized As Safe list is recommended.

Shorter Dry Times

Mold, mildew & bacteria can grow and spread quickly. That is why it is so important to choose a carpet cleaner that doesn’t leave your carpets soaking wet. If your carpet takes one to two days to dry after a cleaning, then you are at risk of being left with musty smelling carpets. Generally, carpet cleaners that use steam cleaning tend to have longer dry times as opposed to carpet cleaners that cleans with carbonation. That is because the carbonation allows them to use less water, that way your carpets aren’t left sopping wet.

Effective & Thorough Cleaning

Finding a carpet cleaner that has green, non-toxic solution and a fast dry time doesn’t mean anything if they don’t do a good job. A safe bet is to look into the leading carpet cleaning companies first. Business don’t expand by doing a poor job at their trade. Research the potential company’s cleaning process and see if it seems effective. Some carpet cleaners use cleaning solutions that leave a stick film which attracts dirt and dust, so your carpets don’t stay clean for very long. Look for carpet cleaners that don’t leave a sticky residue on your carpet. This will not only keep your carpets cleaner longer, but will also help your carpets last longer in the long run.

Good Reviews

Read local reviews and see what other people in your area are saying about a particular company. Every company will tell you that they are the best, but not every customer will tell you that they are. Read both the good reviews and the negative reviews. See if the negative reviews are even relevant. A one-star review about them being bad drivers really has no bearing on how good or bad they are at cleaning carpets.

To Sum Up

Keeping your carpets clean is an important part to maintaining a healthy home. Choosing the best carpet cleaning company is important to keeping your carpets clean. Many carpet cleaning companies use toxic chemicals that can be harmful for us, our family, and our pets. When you’re looking for the best carpet cleaning company for you, look for one with green-certified, non-toxic cleaning solutions, shorter drying times, good reviews, and who does a great job.