Smelly Carpets, Meet Silver Ions:

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Smelly Carpets, Meet Silver Ions:

Products for an Odor-Free Home

 

By June Fletcher

From The Wall Street Journal Online

 

The battle against bad smells is moving to a new front.

 

For years, makers of room deodorants and plug-in air fresheners were

the big players in the home-odor-fighting business. But lately,

textile manufacturers have entered the fray. They've taken some of the

home's most odor-absorbent materials, re-engineered them, and created

a host of new products that promise to neutralize bad smells. Among

the latest technologies: fabrics treated with bacteria-killing silver

ions, upholstery its maker says is woven so tightly that smells can't

get in, even drapery embedded with the same sort of enzymes found in

yogurt.

 

In July, Home Depot introduced a new line of carpeting, Puresque,

which has salts that are chemically bonded to its fibers. The retailer

says the salts " act like magnets to trap and destroy odors. "

Manufactured by Beaulieu of America, the carpet sells for $1.77 to

$3.22 a square foot, uninstalled, about the same price as

non-odor-eating carpets. Last year, textile giant Milliken & Co.

started putting odor-fighting ions in all of its carpeting and fabric.

And Interface's FLOR carpet tiles, introduced in 2003, have

antimicrobials the company says inhibit the growth of smelly bacteria.

 

House Talk

More home and garden articles by June Fletcher

 

Researchers say the market is ripe for such products. Americans are

more obsessed with sanitation and personal hygiene than many other

cultures, says chemist Craig Warren, a visiting scholar at the

University of California in San Diego and the science adviser to the

Sense of Smell Institute in New York. Fabrics that clean up after

themselves are an attractive alternative: Americans spent an average

of 12.3 hours a week on housework in 2004, down from 14.05 hours in

1985, according to John Robinson, a sociology professor at the

University of Maryland. To make matters worse, soft surfaces like

carpets, drapes and couches are hard to clean, so they get cleaned

less often, says Dr. Warren. " They become the home's odor sinks. "

 

Mike Judge had 200 square yards of Puresque carpeting installed in his

five-bedroom home in Marietta, Ga., last week. An executive at a firm

that builds germ- and dust-free clean rooms for hospitals and computer

facilities, he says he was initially skeptical that the carpet could

neutralize bad smells. (Mr. Judge says he has never used such products

in his job.) But so far, he says, it's handled every olfactory

offender, from cat litter to burned pork roast. Indeed, it's worked

almost too well, he says, erasing pleasant scents, too, such as his

wife's lavender air fresheners.

 

Bad odors are caused by the microscopic organisms found in bacteria

and mold. Although individuals' perceptions of what constitutes a bad

smell differ, most people are turned off by aromas that are redolent

of decay, urine or fecal matter, says Alan Hirsch, a neurologist,

psychiatrist and director of the Smell and Taste Treatment and

Research Foundation in Chicago, an independent research group. As

smoking has declined over the past 15 years, people's sense of smell

has improved, Dr. Hirsch says, which may be one reason Americans have

become so intent on clearing the air.

 

And then there are pets. Some 69 million U.S. households have them,

according to the latest statistics from the American Pet Products

Manufacturers Association, up from 51 million in 1988, a 35% increase.

 

'All Dogs Are Good Dogs'

 

Crypton, a textile manufacturer in West Bloomfield, Mich., is making

an appeal to pet owners. Its marketing tagline: " On Crypton Fabrics,

all dogs are good dogs. " The company says its tightly woven fabric is

highly resistant to moisture, stains and bacteria. It recently rolled

out a line of fabric designed by Michael Graves, in nine patterns and

95 colors, and has designs by artist William Wegman, famous for his

paintings of Weimaraners. And this month, Crypton debuted its first

upholstered-furniture collection, ranging from $900 rockers to $1,500

sofas.

[FLOR]

FLOR's Modern Mix tiles with antimicrobials

 

The idea that there was profit in perfuming a home began to gain

traction in the early '90s, when bathroom air sprays were joined on

the supermarket shelves by products like plug-in air fresheners and

battery-operated scent diffusers. But the $4.4 billion air-care

industry is languishing -- sales were up less than 5% last year.

Meanwhile, according to Kline & Co., a Little Falls, N.J.,

market-research firm, the use of so-called specialty biocides that

promise to kill odor-causing microbes in the home is rising. " The

technology is getting smarter, " says Gillian Morris, a chemist who

manages Kline's chemical and material division.

 

The fastest growth segment is biocides that use electrically charged

silver ions that interfere with a microbe's respiration, destroy its

cell wall and squelch the smell. It's not as futuristic as it sounds.

Silver has been used as a bactericide for centuries; the Egyptians

threw silver coins into wooden water barrels to keep them clean.

Today, silver nanoparticles are being added to everything from the

watertanks of spacecraft to the linings of air-conditioning ducts,

though researchers say that questions remain as to their durability

and whether they can handle heavy growths of bacteria.

 

" In principle [the new technologies] could all work, " says Daniel

Berger, professor of chemistry at Bluffton University in Bluffton,

Ohio. Much depends on how they are applied. However, he says,

consumers should " take any commercial claims with a grain of salt. "

 

One company that's gotten into silver ions in a big way is the fabric,

yarn and chemical maker Milliken. Eighteen months ago, the

Spartanburg, S.C.-based manufacturer started putting a combination of

its silver-ion biocide and a stain treatment into everything it

produces, including more than 50 lines of carpeting and 20 lines of

fabric and upholstery. Although declining to give sales statistics,

company director William Gregory says the company decided to go all

out for the biocides when in-house customer research showed that

smells -- the lack of them -- were a priority. " A major problem is:

How do I keep the air clean?' "

[Wieland Furniture]

A chair from Wieland Furniture with Michael Graves-designed Crypton fabric

 

Meanwhile, Fabri-Zyme, a company in Charlotte, N.C., plans to roll out

its enzyme-based product, Odor-Ace, in drapery and upholstery fabric

within the next six months. The company introduced the product --

which bonds friendly bacteria, the kind found in yogurt or beer, to

carpeting and carpet pads -- five years ago. Marketed under a number

of names, including Mohawk Forever Fresh, the embedded enzymes break

down spills from organic substances like wine or urine into carbon

dioxide and water.

 

Smelly Cat

 

Company president Rae Anne Cordick says that she invented Odor-Ace

because a friend had a house that " smelled like kitty litter. " With

the original formula, it sometimes took more than a day for the air to

clear, Ms. Cordick says, but she improved the product last year. Now,

she says, odors disappear within a few hours. Carpets and pads with

Odor-Ace are guaranteed for up to 10 years, but Ms. Cordick says she's

yet to get a return. She declined to give sales statistics.

 

The new textile technologies are not the last word in the smell wars.

They only work when something is spilled on them, after all, or when

an airborne odorous molecule brushes against them. That's why sales

have remained solid for a decade for Procter & Gamble's Febreze, the

industry's top-selling rug and upholstery deodorizer, a spray that,

unlike these products, attacks bacteria in the air.

 

But for Alicia Dorf, who's been trying to rid her Austin, Texas, home

of the scent of her daughter's hamster, Peanut, the spray's fragrance

is a bit cloying. So she's ordered the Bag, from Earth Care, a $10

sack of scentless minerals, including silica oxide and magnesium, to

keep near the animal's cage. The negatively charged minerals attract

and bind to odor ions, which are mostly positively charged, so they no

longer float through the air. The odor-fighting effects last up to

four months, says the Vista, Calif., company, which has seen sales

rise 35% to $500,000 over the past year. Ms. Dorf, a property manager

who used the Earth Care Bag successfully once before when a rat died

in one of her tenant's walls, hopes it will work as well for Peanut.

" He's a stinky little rodent, " she says.

 

Stop Making Scents

It's impossible to get rid of all " occupancy odors, " as household

smells are known in the trade, but there are ways to tame them without

high-tech carpet or fabric. Here are some old-fashioned tips from the

pros:

ODOR COMMENTS

Cooked cabbage Cooked cabbage emits " sulfur notes " that can be

neutralized with sprays specifically targeted to kitchen odors. But

some cooks say that adding a whole unshelled walnut or a celery stalk

to the cooking water will also reduce the fumes.

Smelly paws Pet stores are filled with deodorants for Fido's favorite

napping spot, but simple baking soda also works. Dog devotees also

recommend stashing a cotton ball soaked with clove oil nearby to mask

the stinkiness.

Pet urine Don't use a steam cleaner, since the heat will set the

stain -- and the smell. Instead, extract the spill with a wet-vacuum,

and then rinse with cool water.

Spilled milk Those old standbys, baking soda and vinegar, often make

rancid milk odors on fabric smell worse. Instead, try enzyme-based

laundry detergents or cleaners.