Why are wood floors healthier?
Wood is a natural material and wood oils often have strong anti-bacterial properties. Wood floors, unlike carpets, do not trap and accumulate concentrations of harmful chemicals and fumes, nor do they become homes for unpleasant parasites and dust-mites. Some environmental bodies recommend that in the interests of family health, consumers should seriously consider switching from carpet to wood floors because all carpets harbour microscopic dust-mites, whose dung when breathed in has been shown to aggravate asthma and to trigger allergies. Estimates place the number of dust mites in one square metre of typical British household carpet at between 10,000 to 100,000. It may not be nice to imagine but carpets also contain pet allergens, faeces and urine, flea and lice eggs, traces of excreta trodden in from the garden, and high concentrations of toxic dust. A house with wooden floors and rugs will contain only a tenth as much dust as a carpeted house.
