Allergy Control Products
50 million plus people in the US suffer from some type of allergy or asthma and it is getting worse every year. For some it is nothing more that a runny nose and is more of a nuisance than anything else. For others the symptoms are much more severe and in some cases life threatening. Name it, someone is allergic to it. Allergies are caused by dust mites, pet dander, trees, flowers, food, molds, cleaning products, household dust and hundreds of other things.
For almost 20 years the Allergy Store has been providing their customers with the most effective allergy control products available. We continually review and test the various products being introduced into the allergy control market and are confident when we say “The Allergy Store only carries products we know are effective in controlling allergies and asthma symptoms”. We have helped thousands of people get control of their indoor environment and get control of their allergies and asthma.
All of the allergy control products found in our store and on our web site are used in our homes and in our office. They have helped us, our employees, our customers and they will help you.
This series of articles/reviews will cover the various allergy control products we carry. We will discuss what allergies they are for, where to use them and how to use them. We will also tell you why we do not recommend certain allergy control products that are being sold elsewhere.
Allergy Control Carpet Treatment Products
The carpets on our floors are a perfect environment for collecting dust mites, pollen, mold, dust, dirt and other common household allergens not to mention food crumbs. As people walk on the carpet they two things, stir up the settled bits of allergen, causing them to become air-borne and grind them into the fibers of the carpet. Air-borne allergens are easily inhaled and may trigger an allergic reaction
The number one way for allergy sufferers to treat and control the allergens in the carpet is to get rid of it. The reason for this advice is that it is impossible to really clean carpet.
You can pay to have them professionally cleaned, rent a carpet cleaning machine and do it yourself, or you can buy one of hundreds of carpet cleaning products available it your local grocery store. The carpets may look cleaner but none of these choices really cleans the carpet.
You can think of it this way, suppose you took a heavy sweater or shirt (with lots of thick fibers) and threw it down on the floor and walked on it for 6 months. It would get pretty dirty, right? Then suppose you splashed the dirty shirt/sweater with some warm soapy water and then vacuumed the water out with a wet vacuum extraction system.
Do you think that sweater would be clean? Of course not, and neither are your carpets after using any of the numerous methods of carpet cleaning. This is why people with allergies or asthma are told to get rid of carpet.
Unfortunately it is not realistic for everyone to just get rid of their carpeting. We lived with it in our house for 7 years before we could get rid of it and it made a tremendous difference. The alternative is to focus on the allergens in the carpet and target their destruction.
Alkaline Laboratories makes an allergy control product specifically for carpets. X-Mite Anti-Allergen Carpet Cleaning Treatment Powder harnesses the power of the acids in tannins to denature (or deactivate) the allergy causing proteins of dust mites, pollens, molds and animal dander. Tannic acid is found in woods like oak, mahogany, redwood and other hardwoods. It is also found in tea. Alkaline Labs uses a patented process to convert this into a 3% tanacetane formulation which is highly effective in denaturing the proteins from animals, molds, pollens and dust mites.
They combine this allergy control denaturing agent with a water-based solution of surfactants so that they also absorb some of the dirt found in the carpet. The result with X-Mite anti-allergen control powder is that the proteins are denatured and thereby made harmless and some of the dirt is removed making the carpets appear cleaner.
To use the X-Mite anti-allergen carpet cleaning treatment product, you sprinkle the moist powder on the carpet. Because it is not a fine, dry powder it does not float into the air like the products introduce by Johnson & Johnson a few years back. X-Mite allergy control carpet treatment comes out in “clumps” which need to be simply swept into the carpet with a broom. By sweeping them into the carpet it also causes the allergy control product to be worked further into the fibers, allowing for more effective denaturing action.
After about 3 hours, the carpets are vacuumed to remove the powder and absorbed dirt. It is not necessary to move furniture and treat under furniture. Each treatment last about 90 days, but it really depends on what is going on in your home.
As always the manufacturer recommends that you test their product on a small hidden area of the carpet before you use it. The concern is that any prior chemicals or cleaners that you have used might interact with the tannic acid and cause a stain or discolor the carpet.
We are fortunate that we have been able to remove all the carpeting from our home. It certainly has made a difference in the control of our allergies. Until we were able to get them out, X-Mite allergy control carpet powder was an important part of our allergy control regimen in our home.
Mike has been in the indoor environmental business for over 10 years. He has owned and operated an air duct cleaning and decontamination business, a water purification business, and is currently one of the owners of
The Allergy Store which has been serving allergy and asthma sufferers for almost 20 years.. He makes his home in South Florida.
