As a general rule, the majority of household dust — about 60% — comes from outside, through windows, doors, vents and, significantly, on the soles of your shoes. Smaller dust particles — from 28 to 49 microns, or thousandths of a millimeter — tend to stay on your shoes. The rest is shaken off inside. A higher share of the dust that floats in the air gets deposited, but again, there’s a lot that determines how much any one home will get.

“Here in Arizona,” says Beamer, “where we leave our windows open most of the year and have an arid climate, we would probably have a higher ratio.” Industrial centers or sooty cities have plenty of dust too, though for different reasons.

There’s not much to fret about in simple particles of dirt or organic materials such as pollen (though they can trigger allergies), but lead, arsenic and DDT can be a more serious matter. About one-third of the arsenic in the atmosphere comes from natural sources — volcanoes principally. The rest comes from mining, smelting, burning fossil fuels and other industrial processes. Even in relatively low concentrations, arsenic is not without risk, especially to small children who play on the floor and routinely transfer things from their hands to their mouths. The same is true for lead, which comes less from wall paint — the source most people would expect — than from auto exhaust, smelting and soil deposits. “Lead loading on floors is a key determinant of blood-lead levels in children,” Layton and Beamer wrote in their paper.

Let Eco Clean Carpet Solutions help lessen the toxins in your home & business.

David Gargan

Owner

 Over 40 million Americans suffer from allergies due to home bio-pollution. If you or your child has allergies or asthma, you already know that many things can bring on, or “trigger and asthma flare or episode. Some things that trigger asthma attacks are called allergens. Some people get symptoms from only one allergen-like dust mites. For other people, more than one kind of allergen can trigger an episode. 

Click the link below for a free report on how to help reduce allergies in your home.

10 Steps To allergery relief

 Carpet is an important health function in preventing the spread of contaminants throughout your home. Of course, it restricts by collecting pollutants, just as your air conditioning filter. And, just as your air conditioning filter should be changed monthly, carpeting should be cleaned at regular intervals for health reasons-especially in high traffic areas.

Unfortunately, many people view carpet cleaning as a nicety, not a necessity. Even more unfortunate, children, having under-developed immune systems, are the first to suffer the consequences. They live closer to the floor. Still, continuous exposure to contaminants, day after day, wears down the resistance of all, regardless of age.

Consider that we spend 85% to 90% of our time indoors. Day after day, we are continually exposed to many organic, inorganic, and biological pollutants that steadily increase in quantity when we don’t keep our indoor surfaces clean. Regular periodic maintenance is necessary.

Dr. Michael Berry, a deputy director in the EP A, commented at a Denver symposium that the average family spends less than ½ of 1 % of their income on cleaning. This fact certainly explains why more and more people are getting sick, . . . why health care is a multibillion dollar industry, doesn’t it? Surly, the preservation of a healthy home environment is worth more than that.

Never forget that I’m here to serve you. My customers often call just for advice on removing spots, and I don’t mind a bit. Call when I can help in any way.

Sincerely,

David Gargan

Eco Clean Carpet Solutions

691-5556

Outside plumbing

Caulk around pipes where they enter the house. Close all foundation vents. (Open foundation vents are probably the greatest cause of frozen or split water lines.) Cut wood or styrofoam blocks to fit vent openings, then slide them into the vents. (Styrofoam is available at hardware stores or from insulation suppliers.) Open the vents again in the spring to prevent dry rot.

Protect outside pipes and faucets. In some homes, the outside faucet has a separate shut-off in the basement. If you have a separate valve for outside faucets, shut if off. Then go outside and turn on all the faucets to drain water in the lines. Leave the outside faucets on while you go back and check your outside shut-off valve for a small brass plug or cap on the valve. Turn this plug far enough that water drains from the valve. Then, tighten the plug back and turn off all the outside faucets.

Wrap outside faucets or hose bibs. Do this if you don’t have a separate valve to turn off outside faucets. (Also remember to disconnect garden hoses.) Use newspaper or rags covered with plastic, fiberglass or molded foam insulating covers to wrap the faucet. (Molded foam insulating covers are available at plumbing and hardware stores.)

Drain in-ground sprinkler systems. Check manufacturer’s instructions for the best way to do this.

Inside plumbing

Insulate pipes in unheated areas such as the crawl space, attic, garage or basement. Use insulating tape or molded pipe sleeve and wrap it over the entire length of exposed pipe. Cover all valves, pipe-fittings, etc. with insulating tape or fiberglass. (Check your hardware store for supplies.)

Shut off and drain your water system if you are leaving home for several days. (Turn off the water heater before draining the system.) Leaving your furnace on a low setting while you’re gone helps, but may not prevent freezing. Turn off the main shut-off valve, then go through the house and turn on all faucets, sinks, tubs, showers, etc., and flush the toilets. Go back to the valve and remove the plug so that it can drain completely. Follow-up by re-tightening the valve and turning off the open faucets.

Open cupboard doors in the kitchen and bathrooms. Water lines supplying the kitchen or bathrooms are frequently located in outside walls. Any air leaks in siding or insulation can cause these pipes to freeze. Leaving the cupboard doors open when the temperature is below freezing allows pipes behind the cupboards to get more heat.

Let the water run if the temperature dips below freezing. (A stream slightly smaller than a pencil width should be sufficient.) Faucets farthest from the street should be the ones left running. Using cold water will save on your gas or electric bill.

David Gargan

Make Your Own Eco Friendly Disinfectants at Home

If you are buying disinfectants from the store, you may be exposing yourself and your family to various harmful chemicals.  The problem with these store bought disinfectants is that when you use them at home too much, they can make the bacteria resistant to those chemicals that you are using, which create super bacteria.  Using heavy disinfectants can create super strains of bacteria like staph, which then become resistant to most antibiotics.  The good news is that there are some greener alternatives that you can use in your home for disinfecting purposes.