I’m not trying to clean the bugs themselves per se , just trying to avoid throwing out our furniture, all of which is covered in fabrics. Turns out my 3-yr-old daughter has asthma; she caught RSV and wound up in the hospital for four days.
We’re of course looking at reducing allergens in the home, and I ran across some articles claiming these sprays work. At $30/bottle, they should! But I’m wondering why none of the mainstream products at Target mention tannic acid.
Anybody used this with any luck? Any other cleansers helpful? I’m afraid our carpet cleaner’s upholstery attachment will just make it worse. I sprayed one chair with a bunch of Febreeze anti-allergen crap a little while ago, we’ll see if it helps.
(We’ve already taken care of her bedroom; it has no carpeting, curtains or stuffed animals, I washed the floor and put her mattress and pillow in those zippered covers)
I have a pretty bad dust mite allergy. I purchase sprays at www.nationalallergy.com I haven’t used the kind with tannic acid, because I think there is a risk that it will stain, but I have tried a variety of other products from them and all have been effective. Allersafe Dustroy and DeMite Laundry additive are two I know I use. I think I looked at Febreze and it did not mention dust mites as one of the things it is effective against. If I had to guess why the products you see at Target don’t mention tannic acid I would think maybe 1) they are designed for other types of allergens or 2) mass market retailers don’t want to mess with the stain factor of tannic acid. However, tannic acid is just one way to fight dustmites. It may be a bit less expensive than some of the ones I used, but it’s not worth the savings if you ruin carpet & furniture.
If your daughter is allergic to dust mites, getting them under control will make a big difference in how she feels.
I think just vacuuming your furniture with a HEPA-filter containing vacuum and removing all carpet in the rest of the home should be enough. If you decide to try the sprays, I’d test it out first on some fabric. I bought one some time ago (can’t remember the brand) and sadly discovered that I was very sensitive to it!–it was much worse than my dust mite allergy, and I could barely breathe in my own apartment for months.
, just trying to avoid throwing out our furniture, all of which is covered in fabrics. Turns out my 3-yr-old daughter has asthma; she caught RSV and wound up in the hospital for four days.