Six Easy Ways To Reduce Allergens In Your Home

by Jeremy Strickland

Poison Ivy? That’s more of a Batman problem.

When I was a teenager, poison ivy would grow through the crevices of the sidewalk leading up to my Grandma’s house. While poison ivy was a vile menace to be avoided by my aunts and cousins, it posed no threat to me at all. I was a virtual Superman, allergic to nothing, indestructible. I pulled the three-leafed nemesis up by hand. And Grandma treated me like a hero for saving the rest of my family from certain disaster, treating me to fast food, fresh-baked treats, and endless, uninterrupted hours of watching cable TV.

Until that fateful summer day in 1995.

Like any other morning of yard work at Grandma’s, I spent a couple of hours mowing and weeding, then spent the next six in the lap of luxury. I went home in the evening full of meat lover’s pizza and peanut butter cookies. Later that night, I woke up, feeling itchy… Everywhere. I couldn’t open my right eye. I had a golf-ball sized blister on my right hand, in between my pinkie and ring fingers. Finally, when I gathered the inner-strength to look at myself in the bathroom mirror, I discovered that my entire face had swollen. I looked like the Elephant Man.

The doctor said he’d never seen an allergic reaction to poison ivy that was so severe. He stepped out of the exam room and beckoned his colleagues. “Guys, you have to see this!” They stood around me, oohing and aahing. “Can we take some Polaroids?” he asked my mother.

My God, when was the last time someone dusted that ceiling fan?

Allergies, it seems, can develop over time. I experienced more proof of this emerging phenomenon when I moved to West Virginia several years later and ended up at the doctor for a cold which had lasted for months. Well, it wasn’t a cold, man. It was my first ever bout of seasonal allergies, and it certainly wasn’t my last. Seasonal allergies became the bane of my existence for a long time, but as an adult, I learned to manage the symptoms. Sure, there are pills and nasal sprays, but there’s an excellent non-pharmaceutical solution I’ve picked up in my time working at Randy’s: I have the carpet of my home professionally cleaned on a regular basis.

The average home is full of allergens. Even if you don’t own pets, you’re likely to have brought pet dander in from the outside on your shoes and clothes, and if you broke out your microscope to have a peek at your surfaces or carpet fibers, you’d also find pollen, mold, dust, dust mites (and their waste), and more. Gross? Yeah. Sneeze inducing? Oh, yeah.

Dust mite. Cute, huh?

So, your house is full of allergens, and not just in your carpet. What do you do about it?

1. Take your shoes off when you come in the house. Who knows what you’ve stepped in. You probably don’t want to know. Just leave the shoes at the door.
2. Vacuum often, at least once a week, more if possible. Invest in a vacuum with a HEPA filter and take the time to go over the carpet thoroughly, using the attachments to get the corners, cracks, and crevices of rooms.
3. Have your carpet professionally cleaned at least once a year. Professional carpet cleaning not only keeps your home looking its best, it also kills dust mites and removes allergens. I don’t want to press my luck, but it’s best to keep your upholstery clean too.
4. Wash your sheets weekly. Use dust mite proof covers on your mattress and pillows.
5. De-clutter and dust thoroughly on a regular basis. Don’t forget blinds, ceiling fans, the tops of windows, etc…
6. Change your furnace filter every two to three months.

Some folks will tell you that number seven on the above list should be removing your carpet, saying that having carpet is bad if you have allergies, but that’s not the case. The problem isn’t the carpet, the carpet actually acts like a filter and traps allergens (one of many important reasons to choose carpet over hard surface flooring). This is a good thing! However, you have to keep it clean in order to receive the benefits. Vacuum and have your carpets professionally cleaned once a year. Don’t allow the allergen menaces to gather forces and attack you and your family. You’re no Superman after all.