Do any of you fantastic people out there have any suggestions regarding the mundane problem of household dust? The furniture in my house collects dust at an alarming rate. I am hardly finished dusting and the furniture at the other end of the room is beginning to build a new covering.
Some details about my home environment:
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[li]House is approx. 2700 sq. feet.[/li][li]The house is two stories. All four bedrooms and two bathrooms are upstairs. Kitchen, dining, a half bath, and two living areas are downstairs.[/li][li]All of the upstairs is carpeted except the w/c areas of the bathrooms. Downstairs, only one living area is carpeted. The rest is vinyl tile or sheet vinyl.[/li][li]We have two central a/c units (one up, one down). I usually install a medium grade filter in each unit. However, I am not always good about remembering to replace them. The intake for the downstairs unit is near, but not in, the laundry room. The laundry room does not have a door.[/li][li]The intakes for both a/c units is usually quite dusty.[/li][li]We rarely open the windows. It’s hot outside![/li][li]Our house is on a corner and both of the streets adjacent to us are paved.[/li][li]Our house is occupied by three humans and three Dachshunds. Getting rid of any of these is not an option. :)[/li][li]I dust using a cloth rag and Pledge, Endust, or whatever is on sale at the grocery store.[/li][/ul]
How can I reduce the dust problem in our house? I figure that if it is settling on the furniture so much, there must be lots of dust in the air, too. That cannot be healthy.
How often do you vacuum? I’d increase the frequency to a couple of times a week until the dust is more under control. I’d make sure to get under furniture and between cushions. Have you checked the vacuum filter/bag to make sure it isn’t blocked or full?
Could dust be coming from old items? For example, carpet pads can reach an age where they literally turn into dust. Old paint, sheetrock, cushions, etc. might be crumbling as well. I have an area rug in my dining room, and the backing of that rug is disintegrating; I pull it up periodically to clean the dust that this creates (though this dust doesn’t go anywhere else).
If you’ve done any recent home improvement projects, the dust from this can take some very thorough cleanings to get rid of.
The insides of houses are much dustier than the air outside. Most dust comes from carpets and clothing shedding fibers. People and pets also shed a lot of skin cells and hair (or fur). You might try setting the fan on the AC to run continuously, but that is not very energy-efficient.
In addition to the other recommendations . . . get a better vacuum cleaner. I recently bought a Dyson “Animal” machine (for households that have shedding pets), and it’s amazing what it sucks up, that my older vacuum missed. You should also check the outtake and filter of your clothes dryer.
I hate ducted systems for this very reason. First off, replace your filter every two months, minimum. Have it pop up on your computer calendar. Secondly, buy a better grade of filter. Thirdly, if you have floor registers, buy filters for those, also. They sell all of these on Amazon. Lastly, get rid of carpets, if you can, and keep your closet doors closed. Don’t allow piles of clothing and newspapers to accumulate.
You might try upgrade your furnance filters to MERV 8 or better and have your ductwork cleaned. You can upgrade to MERV 11 but they’re expensive.
Run your furnance fan non-stop for several days to suck up particles.
Vacuum your carpets, chairs, lamps, tables, closets, cabinets, piano, TV’s, shoes, etc. Tops, bottoms, underneath, and the side facing the wall. Use a horse hair brush attachment if you have one, or can find one, on furniture and lamps.
Check your consumers magazine if your vacuum cleaner has a good record for blowing out dust. Some are better at it then others. You might want to check for a model suitable for people with allergies. Also, check the dust filter on your vacuum. It should be replaced every time you replace the dust bag.
You will find you have a lot less dust if you have your ducts cleaned. When we moved here i had to dust at least 2 times a day. After we had the ducts cleaned I could get by on once a week and even then there was very little on the furniture.also if you have the windows open and there is a gravel or dusty area around your house it would help to close the windows. Once we have the Ir on we don’t open the windows very often. Found it is also healthier.
The ducts are “storing” dust that may be blown around later. If your goal is to get rid of the dust, then it makes sense to actually get rid of the dust.
I live in a hot dry dusty climate too. We got rid of all carpeting about 4 years ago and that helped. I have 2 kids and a dog, so the outside doors are opening and closing constantly.
I have to swiffer the floors every day. It doesn’t take long and the pads do a much better job than a broom.
ALSO - before you swiffer or sweep or mop - take a spray bottle of water and mist the air. There is tons of free-floating dust in the air that you don’t see unless the light is streaming in through the windows just right. This seems to help clear the dust out of the air and get it down to the floor where it can be picked up.
I don’t use any chemicals to dust. I use a washable microfiber mit(mitt?) from the dollar store. Just slip it on, and quickly go through the house.
I used to live in Austin, and we had amazing levels of dust there. Part came from the nearby dusty hill country, part from cedar etc. pollen and atmospheric mold spores, and a big part from the nearby elevated freeway throwing exhaust particles higher and farther into the air than most.
What we did to control it:
Get rid of all the damn carpets. You would not BELIEVE how much crud they trap where your vacuum can’t get rid of it, and as said above, they generate extra dust in the form of shed fibers, too.
Use machine-washable coverings on everything, and wash that everything a lot – this goes for area rugs, curtains, pillow covers, couch covers, anything you can think of. As many square inches as you can figure out how to cover. When you take things off to wash them, practice getting them off gently and folding them up inside-out so as not to throw their dust back into the air. Make sure your dryer vents fully outside, and clean its filters often. Get its ducts cleaned or replaced.
Get HEPA air filter units like they sell to allergy sufferers, sized to the actual spaces they are filtering, and keep up with the pre-filter and main-filter changes. The brand I use isn’t on the market any more, I don’t think, unfortunately, because it’s effective and relatively quiet.
As I understand it, another significant factor in normal household dust is your own skin cells, too, and whatever dirt sticks to your shoes and clothes from outside, so a shoes-off-inside policy as mentioned above is a great idea. I could never convince my husband to go along with that, though. It’s probably too hot where you are to institute an outside-layer-off-inside (like coats) most of the time, but maybe you can think of something.
Clean out the fireplace, make sure that the flue and cleanout doors are closed as well as the glass doors to the fireplace. If there is any negative pressure in the house near the fireplace or wind blowe the right (wrong) way down the chimney it could cause ash to fly into the living area.
Thank you for the many fine suggestions. I will explore several of these options. I was really hoping for a “buy this gadget and all the dust goes away” sort of solution, but it’s all good.
If you have forced air, a lot of dust accumulates in the cold duct returns( and the heat) You would be amazed at how much dust they get out of them…we were. Dust is sucked in from the air exchange just as the filter accumulates dust. But doesn’t get it all!
That isn’t the case with us, there is a farm across the road, and the dust is stirred up from there. Now we have central air we don’t open the windows once that is on, and we have very little dust, before that I could dust in the morning and write my name in the dust in the afternoon. Having the ducts cleaned made a big difference.Plus it helps with allergies!
