35 Amazing and Interesting Facts about Carpets | Amazing Facts 4U
- The term “carpet” derives from the Latin carpere, “to pluck,” probably because carpets were made from unraveled “plucked” fabric
- Rug and carpet mean the same thing. Any piece smaller than 40 square feet is considered a rug while anything larger is a carpet.
- The oldest surviving carpet is the Pazyryk carpet, over 2,000 years old. It was found in the 1940s in a tomb in southern Siberia.
- Oriental and Persian rugs are not the same. Oriental rugs are those that are knotted by hand in Asia, Iran, India, Russia, China, Turkey, Pakistan, Nepal, and Turkey, while Persian rugs are created by fine craftspeople only in Iran (which was known as Persia).
- Only hand-knotted rugs are true Oriental or Persian rugs. All rugs so long as they are truly hand-made and made well will increase in value over time.
- Persian rug designs once were named after the city in which they were created but as their popularity increased, these designs started to be produced elsewhere. Still, they retain their original names.
- Persian rugs can be identified by their very thick pile of up to 160 to 200 knots per square inch for an average quality rug and 1,500 and higher for higher quality. They are also known for their exceptional and unique designs and rich combination of colors.
- Red carpets traditionally marked the ceremonial and formal routes of leaders and politicians. You find the first reference to a “red carpet” is Agamemnon (458 B.C.) by Aeschylus.
- The longest carpet in the world is the Qasr al-Alam carpet in Iran completed in 2007. It measures an enormous 5,625 square feet. It was designed by Iranian artist Ali Khaliqi and was woven by 1,200 women over 16 months.
- The longest red carpet in the world measured 5149 meters and was found in the city of Haarlem, Netherlands. The record was attempted as part of an annual shopping event, on 16 June 2011.
- The highest amount ever paid for a carpet was the ‘Vase Carpet’ for sale at Sotheby’s. It was a mid-17th-century piece from Southeast Persia which was sold for a record price of $9.6 million.
- The phrase “to sweep under the carpet” in its figurative sense was first recorded in 1963.
- Every year we unknowingly tread large amounts of soil and dirt into our carpets!
- The amazing fact is that a person sheds about 1.5 million skin flakes an hour, most of which becomes embedded in our carpets.
- The bacteria can survive even after four weeks on carpet. Germs such as Salmonella typhimurium, Campylobacter, and Salmonella enteritis may be transferred to food.
- Bed bugs can live in carpet fibers and wooden floorboards. They are extremely fast and can crawl more than 100 feet to obtain a blood meal, usually at night.
- Indoor air usually contains about twice as much dust as the air outside which is about a million microscopic particles per cubic inch of air. About 75 dust mites can live happily on one gram of carpet dust.
- Amazingly most people’s carpets are 4,000 times dirtier than toilet seats, and they are about 7 times dirtier than average city streets.
- Wall-to-wall carpeting is less healthy than smaller rugs because it tends to be more permanent and harder to clean places for moisture, chemicals, liquids, and other spills that provide molds, yeasts, and bacteria with a continuous supply of nutrients.
- Naphthalene is commonly found in carpet cleaners. In concentrated form, it is dangerous to breathe and can cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, and urinary irritation. It is a suspected carcinogen and can be toxic to children, infants, and pets.
- Some carpets made from knotted wool can house beetle grubs or “woolly bears.” Special chemicals in their stomachs can convert wool into sugar serving as their food.
- To make a carpet brighter, sprinkle salt onto the carpet for an hour followed by vacuuming it up. Salt is also effective in removing muddy footprints.
- Carpet near a fireplace can get very warm, making it a perfect place for a creature called a “firebrat” which has a long, flexible body and is able to eat almost anything.
- The caterpillar of the palm flower moth is fond of making its home in a deep cavity in a carpet. The caterpillar will use the fibers to make a cocoon.
- When Hoover vacuums first came out, they were very hard to sell to consumers because people were offended by the thought that “their” carpets were so dirty!
- Kawasaki Syndrome named after a Japanese physician first diagnosed in the 1960s is a rare illness that some scientists suggest may be triggered by the toxic chemicals in carpet cleaners.
- It is advisable to clean all carpets by professionals every 12 to 18 months.
- You can easily polish your oriental rug at home by simply wearing socks and walking over your carpet! Fiber against fiber is good for cleaning.
- When properly cleaned and maintained, the carpeting may improve the quality of air through trapping allergy-inducing dust and allergens.
- Carpets are highly effective places for mature fleas to live because fleas thrive in the carpet’s dry temperature. Conversely, flea eggs love wetter carpet that may be damp due to flooding, inadequate bathroom ventilation, or kitchen-generated moisture.
- Club soda is effective in removing fresh stains on the carpet. Just pour some on the spot, let it set for a few seconds, and then sponge it up.
- To remove candle wax from a carpet, place a brown paper bag over the spot and put a hot iron over it. The wax will be absorbed into the bag. To remove gum from carpet, try pressing ice cubes against the gum until it becomes brittle and breaks off. Then use a spot remover to get rid of the remnants.
- Carpets in particular can become heavily infested with mites. The chemical benzyl benzoate will kill mites, but their dead carcasses can still be allergenic and will need to be vacuumed up afterward. A diluted solution of tannic acid can be sprayed onto the carpet to kill dust mites, but tannic acid can be dangerous to humans.
- To raise depressions in the carpet left by heavy furniture, hold a steam iron close enough for steam to reach the carpet, but don’t let the iron touch the carpet. Lift fibres by scraping them with edge of a coin or spoon.
- The term “carpet bagger” is a derogatory reference to Northerners who sought to take political and economic advantage of the South’s defeat after the Civil War. The name refers to the travel bag made from carpet that many Northerners used to carry their possessions.
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