Asthma: Carpets vs Timber Floors

Just as everyone is pulling up their carpets and sanding back the exposed floorboards out comes new research to say “Whoa”. According to Dr Heike Neumeister-Kemp, from the School of Biological Science at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia, all is not be as we first suspected. Her research has uncovered some myths about vacuuming and floor surfaces. Seems that “mould and bacteria spores, and fine particles, PM 10 and PM 2.5 - that's the little one that can go in your lungs” after falling on hard timber floor are being disturbed by air movement and sent back up into the air (and throats). Whereas vaccums with high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters lift and clean carpet fibres, so they can hold such particles out of harms way. Now a HEPA vacuum costs about $800 AUD but the good doctor says you only need it once a month, so share it around. That sure sounds like a Product Service System (PSS) to me. Via ::ABC News Online