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2005_8_dustmite.jpgHello AT,

I just found out that my 3 year old daughter has allergies to dust mites and cockroaches - both the leading causes of childhood asthma.

Thankfully we don't have any cockroaches in our apartment, but we have two carpeted staircases inside our apartment (it's a duplex and one staircase leads into our apartment and the other leads up to the second floor of our apartment) that likely haven't been deep cleaned in years.

After googling dust mites, I discovered that they must be cleaned in a particular way. I can't imagine that our landlord will allow us to rip out the carpets so I am looking for a service that will deep clean these carpets to get rid of the allergens. Do you have any suggestions? Also, the more green the better. Anything you can offer would be terrific. Thanks, Brooke

Dear Brooke, dust mites are hard to get rid of, so if you are really concerned about the carpet and it is old AND you plan to stay in your apartment for some time, we recommend working out a deal to replace the carpet with your landlord. He may go for it if you share the costs.

As far as cleaning goes, we don't have a lot of carpet cleaning experience, so we would call the following recommended sources and ask for help or info:

  • New York's Little Elves - AT recommended
  • Imacuclean - AT recommended
  • Rug Renovating - Recommended by NY Mag
  • Zelf Rentals will rent you everything you need to do it yourself.
  • Simple Green is a great STRONG non-toxic carpet cleaner for spot cleaning.
  • A2Zcarpet.com says they have a big database of tips for deep carpet cleaning.

    Good Luck! MGR