If you are putting in new floors, consider using hardwood, vinyl, linoleum tile, or slate instead of wall-to-wall carpeting. The carpet is an ideal home for dust mites. These tiny insects are one of the worst enemies of people with allergies. Too small to be seen with the naked eye, they live inside carpeting, cushions and bedding. There they excrete waste products that cause allergic symptoms. Bare floors with small, washable area rugs are much easier to keep free of dust mites than carpeting. (See the Asthma and Allergy Answer article, "Living With Dust Mites.")

Before you install new flooring, talk to your contractor or salesperson about the type of finish that can be used if your symptoms are triggered by fumes. Hardwood floors are an ideal type of floor for persons with allergies and asthma. Still, finishing products can cause a temporary reaction to the chemicals used in the process. To lessen these effects, choose varnishes and waxes with low volatile organic compound offgassing potential (ask your paint dealer to recommend safer products) and leave the house while floors are being finished. Ventilate the house for several days. Wait until the odor is gone before returning to the house, do not just ventilate and stay in the house. If possible, have the house professionally cleaned afterward to remove sanding and dusting residue.

My husband & I both have allergies, I have athsma, we just remodeled and did the entire house in "non-permeable" flooring, which means wood, tile & cork floors. Wish I could've done the whole house in cork. Quiet, clean and soft on the feet! (did I mention clean?) Cork is a closed-cell product, therefore, no place for dirty little mites to "get comfortable"... best yet, cleans easily, like linolium or pergo.

Possible actions: you could heal your asthma bu takes time, you could hire someone to do the work for you but that costs money or you could use a protective mask and hope that this mask is enough to save you...

Possible actions: you could heal your asthma bu takes time, you could hire someone to do the work for you but that costs money or you could use a protective mask and hope that this mask is enough to save you...

You pulled up a 3 year old post to say "wear a mask"?

Please don't necropost.