NATURAL MATERIALS Home Comforts
At a time when many homeowners are looking to make their abodes as comfortable as possible, Martin Curtis, Chairman of the Wool Carpet Focus
Group (WCFG), discusses the issue of sick building syndrome and why opting for natural materials could be the ideal solution.
The term sick building syndrome (SDS) refers to symptoms caused by being in a particular building. It occurs most commonly in offices but you can get it in any building.
An article reviewed by T.J. Legg PhD CRNP and written by Kristen Cherney in
Healthline.com is worth a read if you’re interested in finding out more about the term. It explains that there can be health issues with up to 30% of buildings. These issues can be attributed to poor air quality and, among other symptoms, can cause headaches, body aches, forgetfulness, fatigue, irritability and allergy-like symptoms such as sneezing and itchy skin.
Possible causes of SBS include poor ventilation, formaldehyde (found in wood furniture and floors), dust, carbon monoxide, ozone from the use of printers and plastics.
As a retailer, it is important to be armed with the correct knowledge to assist customers concerned about SBS and looking for a solution. Aside from the basic pointers, such as opening windows and taking regular breaks, a good place to start is with the materials they choose to bring into their home. This is where wool comes in.
Dr Mike Madden, of ENco Global Testing Services, explained to me that wool carpets and other wool products, such as furnishing fabrics, actually absorb toxins from the air and trap them inside the fibre forever. This means that wool carpets and rugs help to improve air quality, as well as cleaning and looking better for longer.
Having endured various lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we all know what it is like to be enclosed for long periods. It is possible that, during this time, we were affected by SBS and, even though we are now heading out
22 | Tomorrow’s Retail Floors
of lockdown, we should look to the future and make changes where we can to the environment in which we live.
Health benefits of wool are very important but there are other factors that make living with this natural, sustainable fibre the best choice for your customers and their families. Wool carpets look better for longer and have Bouncebackability - the springiness of the fibre helps them to recover from footfall far better than synthetics, which tend to flatten and never recover. Wool is therefore easier on the eye and, in the long term, also easier on the pocket.
Wool is also naturally flame-resistant, making it safer. Wool needs more oxygen than exists in our atmosphere in order to sustain a flame. Under normal circumstances, a dropped match or candle or cigarette will singe the carpet which itself creates a barrier to the flame reaching more flammable items such as wood floors or underlay.
Living with wool also brings us back to a point we touched on earlier, Cleanability. As supported by the claim from Steve Bakker of the Woolsafe Organisation, wool carpets clean better than synthetic ones. Steve says that they also resist dirt and staining and insists that you should never ever use bleach to clean a carpet. Bleach is a poison- it remains active until it is neutralised by copious amounts of water, which is impractical.
Hopefully the above will give you pointers to consider when recommending a new carpet or rug to a customer. There is more to wool than we realise and I for one learn something new about it almost every day.
www.woolcarpetsnaturally.org www.campaignforwool.org www.britishwool.org
www.tomorrowsretailfloors.com
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