HomeMaid Domestic Cleaning » allergy

Bed Bug Epidemic

HomeMaid — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 10:34:09 +0000

“Night night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed-bugs bite…” It’s long been a favourite rhyme to send children off to sleep, but a BBC report highlighted experts fears that the night time bloodsuckers are becoming an epidemic.

A survey of over a thousand pest control firms by the University of Kentucky and the United States’ National Pest Management Association, appears to indicate that the increase is global. This is further supported by evidence closer to home as London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, last year found the number of complaints about bedbugs in the capital grew annually, by an average of 28.5% between 2000-2006. And there’s no sign of the problem abating with Rentokil reporting the number of bedbug call outs has gone up by 24% in the first half of the year.

Experts have known about the bugs for years in fact since the banning of DDT based pest control products in 1972, it is thought the bugs have steadily been increasing. Whilst here in the UK it hasn’t made big news yet, across the pond they have been introduced laws to that require landlords to declare any infestations in the last 12 months. They also passed laws requiring schools to notify parents of any known outbreaks.

However it should be noted that although the bugs do suck your blood and can cause irritating bites they don’t pass on disease like rats or mosquito’s. Its possibly this lack of “lethality” that has led to the bugs being dismissed as harmless. The increase in allergy sufferers generally [covered in other posts on this blog] is something for maybe 25% of the population to be concerned about. They can trigger any number of other problems if you already suffer with allergies or skin conditions such as eczema.

If you spot any blood spot or are waking with “bites” and itchy marks, you should seek medical advice. Bed bugs can be treated and dealt with, but as with anything, the longer you leave things untreated the worse any infestation will become.

You can leave your comments below, have you experienced any problems whilst travelling or in your home?

Monsters In Your Bed?

HomeMaid — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:08:50 +0000

Why Sanitise a Mattress?

A normal household mattress used frequently will build up a food reservoir for dust mites. This food reservoir is the skin you shed as a natural process every day. As you spend around 6-9 hours each day in bed, its seems obvious you will shed a good proportion of the 1.5 grams a day you lose, in your bed. Now consider that the majority of dust in a bedroom is….literally a part of you….its your skin! Ever wonder why your bedroom seems to get dustier faster than anywhere else? Now you have your answer.

Add to this the fact that you lose around .5l of fluid each night, through your natural breathing process and through perspiration. You now have a the perfect dust mite breeding ground.

A regular six month mattress sanitisation keeps the house dust mite at bay and it doesnt need to cost the earth.

Read more about how to deal with dust mites and allergies such as asthma, rhinitis, hay fever and eczema in our allergy section….

HEPA Flo Filter Service Upgrade

HomeMaid — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 22:01:24 +0000

HEPA-Flo Filters

The scientists say that HEPA filters, by definition, remove at least 99.97% of airborne particles 0.3micrometers (µm) in diameter, who are we to argue! Infact we have been so impressed by the claims and information’ printed about these filters that we just had to trial them ourselves.

What is HEPA anyway?

HEPA stands for High Efficiency Particulate Air, and a true HEPA filter is widely regarded as the ultimate filter.

There are many types of air filters, but any filter that is labeled “HEPA” has a very specific rating. The HEPA standard states that a HEPA air filter must trap 99.97% of all airborne contaminants that are 0.3 microns.

This means that for every 10,000 air particles that are 0.3 microns, the HEPA filter will only allow 3 of them to pass through. Pretty effective filtration, you’d have to agree!

Healthier Homes

In a nutshell, our homes and offices are teeming with microscopic contaminants that are making us sick. This is especially true of modern airtight buildings with insufficient ventilation. A HEPA filter can help to improve the indoor environment by removing these contaminants before we breathe them in. This is vitally important – our lungs absorb gases and solvents and they pass into our bloodstream. When sufficient amounts accumulate in our bodies we can become sick with serious allergies and allergic reactions (hay fever & asthma for instance).

Unless airborne particles are removed from the air with a HEPA filter we will breathe them in. Our bodies are built to withstand a certain amount of these particles but not the levels that are increasingly found in indoor environments. (did you know the air indoors can be FIVE times more polluted than outdoor air?)

HEPA-Flo Filters Help Asthma & Hay Fever

HEPA vacuum cleaners are ideal for allergy sufferers because they contain microscopic allergen particles which are otherwise disbursed back into the air with traditional vacuum cleaners.

HomeMaid now routinely use HEPA-Flo filtered vacuums on all our service cleans; cleaning is about more than you can physically see; so even if you don’t suffer from dust mite allergies, hayfever or asthma, you can be assured that HomeMaid are not recirculating your dust, dust mites and other allergens: nor are we recirculating dust mites or dirt from any previous cleans.

Insist on HEPA-Flo Filters

You should insist on HEPA filters from your cleaning service and trade in any non HEPA vacuums you have for a full HEPA one; it can make your home cleaner and healthier.