Lessons Learned from the Darkside

By Tesla Falcon

I have a confession to make.

I warn you; this is NOT for the faint of heart, or the weak of stomach. Cover the eyes of your children or else they might be led astray by my improper example.

I was a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman.

I realize it's shocking, almost too much for words. You may deride me, but I derided myself harder.

Truth be told, I didn't do very well.

I guess that's the saving grace of my character over my empty wallet; I couldn't quite be THAT heartless or believe my own lies.

However, there is something I learned from my 6 months talking with total strangers about their dirty floors...the problem is not the sweeper ... it's the
carpet.

I've never once entered a home without carpet and made an effective demonstration. I never once entered a home without carpet and encountered the level the filth that the carpeted folks had.

Not everything a vacuum cleaner salesmen tells you is a lie.

Dust mites ARE horrid.

House dust IS the dirtiest dirt there is on the planet.

The solution is NOT to clean more, but to arrange your home to clean less.

I've yet to meet a woman, married or single, who didn't want a clean home faster.  (Leave the guys out. Let's admit it; we're pigs on 2 legs.)

You see, fashion seems to dictate the furnishings of our home rather than good, old-fashioned common sense.

From the first commercially successful vacuum cleaner in 1908: the Hoover, the sales pitch was to recreate the work of their mothers & grandmothers without the work.

Their famous line of "Sweeps, Beats, & Cleans" was exactly what Mom & Grandma would do to clean the rugs & floors.

Sweep with a broom.

Beat with a stick.

Resulting in a clean floor.
 

Consequently, this marketing resulted in a "sweeper brush" & "beater bar".

The early machines didn't work as advertised (surprise, surprise). As a matter of fact, they still don't. Even with billions of dollars poured into their development and improvement, the modern vacuum is barely any better than the ones developed 100+ years ago.

Oddly enough, they even advertise that they don't work. Read the label on CarpetFresh (use the vacuum to throw the dust in the air) or the side of any vacuum cleaner bag (don't pick up fine dust).

You could vacuum every hour of every day for the rest of your life and NEVER get all the dirt out of the house.

Why?

The problem is NOT with the machine, but with the carpet.

The woven fibers of all carpet, whether shag or short knap, prevents air from circulating. No air flow; no dirt movement.

Even worse, the dirt can get UNDER the carpet where there is DEFINITELY no air flow.

So what's the answer?

Get rid of the carpet!!!

You don't need to be able to lift a bowling ball in order to lift the dirt off hardwood, tile, linoleum, or concrete. All you need is a little air flow and away the dirt flies.

Another interesting fact of hard floors, the dust collects in out-of-the-way areas where people don't walk. Walking on a hard floor keeps the main floor cleaner than not. Walking on carpet traps the dirt right there. That's why we put rugs on either side of outer doors...to trap the dirt.

This fact is made even more profound when you realize that the majority of tracked-in dirt is made up of sand. Sand crystals, under magnification, reveal dozens of razor sharp cutting edges that rip carpet to shreds while being walked on. This quickly shortens the life of the carpet. Carpet professionals give carpet a lifespan of 5-10 years for rooms, but less than a year for a major hallway! The sand stays where you tracked it & continues to grind away at the carpet.

Care to guess the lifespan of a solid hardwood floor? 50+ years. It's more likely for the house to fall down around the hardwood floor than the hardwood floor to wear out! Quality tile and concrete behave similarly.

Unfortunately, shoddy floor construction of most homes nowadays necessitates wall-to-wall coverings like carpet and prevents an easy transition to hardwood or tile. However, a quality linoleum makes an adequate substitute. Softer than wood or stone, linoleum has similar properties of air flow that allow the dirt to move away from foot traffic until it can be properly disposed of. Another plus is that linoleum is one of the least expensive floor coverings available.

"Fashion makes slaves of us all" someone once said, but fashion in wall-to-wall carpet puts the lives of everyone at risk. Instead, use area rugs and carpetemnants that are movable. Sad but true, Grandma had it right again...sweep, beat, and mop.

That's the lesson I learned from my time on the darkside of vacuum cleaner sales... The carpet is the problem. Converting from carpet to wood, stone, or linoleum can greatly reduce the amount of time spent cleaning, make your cleaning time so much more effective, and sharply reduce the allergens that respiratory systems of so many.

Remember, a clean house is a happy and healthy house.
.

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About the Author: A farm boy from birth, Tesla's wandered far from his
roots but wants to get back where he belongs. His
website, http://www.3Pastures.com , is his first step
toward both his past and his future.

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