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To clarify my first post, all testing has shown off-gassing to be gone in no more than 72 hours. I'm not saying that YOU can't smell it but that scientific tests say the odor is gone.
I need to recarpet the second floor of my new house. The current carpet is in pretty bad shape. As I am of a "green" mindset, and also b/c of allergies/asthma, I want a carpet that has the least amount of off-gassing/smell. I can't stand "new carpet smell" and once had to get rid of a brand new cat tree that arrived in a box b/c the new carpet smell (cat trees have carpet on them) was too overwhelming and caused respiratory symptoms.
I love the look and feel of Berber carpet, but am unsure how badly that smells.
I have been to a few carpet stores to research and see what's available but beyond recycled bottle cap carpets, which does not sound appealing, I am having trouble researching what would be the best option.
I hear cork is good for flooring but our first choice would be a carpeting of some sort, as I feel that's better for bedrooms (cozier).
Any advice?
Yep........ forget the carpet and use hardwood in the bedrooms and halls w/ area rugs and tiling in the bathrooms.
Hardwood can generally be had for about $8 per sq installed by a competent company. It lasts for lifetimes, and never needs big time cleaning and doesn't smell to make you sick. The most hardwood usually needs is an occasional light sanding and wood polish to bring back the luster.
I found a sale 10 years ago on birch for $4 per sq ft installed so look around, particularly now, since home building is slow ans sales are lagging behind them.
If you're in the market for a new floor in your home, you've probably considered hardwood, laminate, and carpets--these are the most common materials. This article takes a look at why hardwood flooring is the better choice.
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You'd be hard-pressed to find a homeowner who doesn't want hardwood floors. Wall-to-wall carpeting is out, and hardwood floors are in. But are they worth the price? Let's face it: at $8-$10 per square foot (installed), wood flooring is more expensive than carpeting or the increasingly common laminates that offer a similar look.
If you're on the fence and can't decide whether to install hardwood floors (or maybe peel back your old carpeting and refinish the wood underneath), this list may be able to help. We're going to take a look at some of the benefits of hardwoods
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3. Hypoallergenic
Got allergies? Unlike carpets (read: breeding grounds for mold, mildew, and dust mites, all of which can be tough on anyone with allergies), wood floors don't give pollen, animal dander, mold, etc. any place to hide and thrive. Even when you steam clean carpets, it's impossible to get them entirely clean. In fact, getting them wet just makes things worse. Hardwood flooring is an excellent choice for anyone with any kind of environmental allergies. (And it makes good sense for everyone else too--who wants to lie down on a floor that's hiding mold?)
Actually if to want to read up on this, wood floors have more airborne allergens than carpet. According to scientific tests, carpet holds the allergens until they are vacuumed. Wood, tile and vinyl allow all allergens to become airborne. I have been in the floor covering business for 40 years. Selling and installing. I am now retired. But I don't like so much misinformation to be spread.
Actually if to want to read up on this, wood floors have more airborne allergens than carpet. According to scientific tests, carpet holds the allergens until they are vacuumed. Wood, tile and vinyl allow all allergens to become airborne. I have been in the floor covering business for 40 years. Selling and installing. I am now retired. But I don't like so much misinformation to be spread.
Really? Can you vacuum up mold and mildew? My physician would differ with you also. He recommended wood floors for the very allergens the poster mentioned here. I realize he isn't a "carpet expert", thank god, but he should know what would be best for his patients, I think.
Can you show us these "scientific tests"? I am interetsed in this to see who funded the tests, and how they were conducted, and what the results were in them. On the surface, what you write may seem to make sense, but I am suspicious about tests that may have been conducted by the carpet industry.
Should we assume that it is better to buy upolstered furniture since it traps allergens rather than let's say Mission Oak style furniture with more wood and less upolstery?
Also, if this home in the OP is a forced hot air and central air conditioned home, the "floating allergens" could be filtered through a very good hypoallergenic filter made for this purpose for any HVAC system. Perhaps this is the real answer for them if they have a forced air HVAC system.
The OP mention carpets, and the allergen problems associated with them, which is why I suggested the alternative, but if you can show the OP originator that hardwood and tile floors are worse, as you stated, I am certain they would be all eyes. Me too.
I was born into the flooring industry and worked in it for many years. Yes, your carpet acts as a filter and therefore does reduce allergens from the air. Now here's the deal. Yes, hard surface floors are often recommended for those that have respiratory problems and here is why.
Although carpet acts as a filter, like all filter it must be cleaned. Most people are not going to get their carpets PROFESSIONALLY CLEANED using the Hot-Water extraction method every 6 months. Heck, most people do not vacuum everyday, as they should. So of course your rug become a big dirty filter that you are living on.
Hard surfaced floors of course can be swept, removing all allergens. Again, the problem with hard surfaced floors is that they are often not thoroughly cleaned until 'dust bunnies' are present. Which, at that point means there are a lot of allergens in the air.... and nothing to trap them from floating around.
So, if allergens are the concern... do a hard surface floor but you must keep them clean, sweeping and moping often.
I visited a carpet store today and one thing I learned is that pretty much all carpets come with a stain repellant on them. This is one of my concerns, because I do not want children or pets ingesting this if/when they lick the carpet or lick their paws that were on the carpet. My cats, for instance, eat stuff that has fallen on the carpet and I don't want them ingesting any kind of stain repellant product. I would like to find a carpet that does not have any kind of stain repellant on it, but all of them seem to have it already in the carpet before it gets shipped.
The repellant isn't on them, on most, it is in them. It is put in the yarn before the carpet in made. It is very doubtful that you could get it on you.
Back to the original off-gassing. It is actually 4PCH an abbreviation for 4-phenylcyclohexene. It is one of the few odors the human nose is extremely sensitive to, somewhere in the neighborhood of 4-5 parts per billion is detectable. The smell most often gone within 24 if there is decent ventilation.
There are no health issues with 4PCH and it has been studied exhaustively by many researchers to verify if there is any link whatsoever.
4PCH is also in latex paint and a whole host of other things like the smell in your new car.
If you are having reactions to new carpet, it is most likely not the off-gassing, but something else. So finding a carpet with no off-gassing probably won't help the problem.
The actual info is copyrighted, so I can't publish it here. The study was done by John Hopkins University.
I can respect that but aren't there any other studies to support you contention? just one is pretty thin evidence.
Also I ask again, how does one vacuum up mold and mildew?
Like the other member wrote here, I doubt one is going to professionally clean all of this carpet twice a year, or even once a year, if they have allergy problems.
I think the answer is in the HVAC filter to air born allergens if the house has forced hot air and cooling system.
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