Strange but true facts about carpets

1. Carpets can hold up to 4 times their weight in dirt
Even when a carpet looks clean, it might be hiding dust, pet dander, dead skin cells, food particles, and even insect faeces.

2. The 2008 Olympic Games used carpet—on the walls
To improve acoustics, designers lined parts of the Beijing National Aquatics Centre with specially treated carpeted panels.

3. The world’s largest hand-woven carpet is in Abu Dhabi
Housed in the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, it covers over 60,000 square feet and took over 1,200 weavers to complete.

4. Carpets were originally invented for walls, not floors
In ancient times, carpets were used to decorate walls and as blankets—floor use came later as a sign of luxury.

5. The average person sheds 1.5 million skin flakes per hour
And where do many of those flakes go? You guessed it—into the carpet. A feast for dust mites!

6. Vacuuming doesn’t remove all the dirt
Studies show that up to 85% of the dirt in carpet is buried deep down and can’t be removed by regular vacuuming—professional cleaning is the only way to fully lift it.

7. Historic carpets have been found preserved for over 2,000 years
The Pazyryk carpet, discovered in Siberia, is the oldest known carpet—dating back to the 5th century BC!

8. Carpets can be 4,000 times dirtier than a toilet seat
Especially in high-traffic areas or places where shoes are worn indoors. Yikes.

9. Shoes drag in over 400,000 bacteria per step
When you wear shoes indoors, carpets become a landing zone for everything from E. coli to pesticides. Now imagine what’s in your hallway!

10. Some carpets are made from recycled plastic bottles
Yes—your old water bottle might be living a new life as your living room rug! Eco-friendly carpets can contain hundreds of PET bottles.

11. Carpets can affect indoor air quality—for better or worse
A clean carpet traps allergens and dust, keeping them out of the air. But a dirty one? It can be a constant source of airborne irritants.

12. Ancient Persians used carpets as currency and dowries
They were so valuable that a good rug could be part of a marriage arrangement or even traded for livestock!

13. Dust mites love dirty carpets
A square metre of unclean carpet can harbour up to 100,000 dust mites—a nightmare for anyone with allergies.

14. There’s a Guinness World Record for fastest carpet roll
Set by four people rolling up a 10-meter carpet in just 17.28 seconds. (Vacuuming it first? Probably not.)

15. Static electricity is stronger on synthetic carpets
That zap you get in winter? Blame nylon or polyester carpet and low humidity—some shocks can reach up to 35,000 volts!

16. Wool carpets can “self-clean” to a degree
Wool naturally repels dirt and moisture thanks to its lanolin coating—but it still needs deep cleaning to stay healthy.

17. There’s a right way to vacuum (and most people don’t do it)
Experts recommend slow, overlapping passes in multiple directions—like mowing a lawn—to lift deeply embedded dirt.