WHY IS MY HOUSE SO DUSTY? A Complete Guide To Managing Dust"

If you are someone who has a dust allergy and is wondering about the ways to get rid of this endless amount of dust in your home, you have come to the right place.

Even if you are lucky enough and are not prone to these allergic reactions. You have been cleaning your house but still, your furniture feels dusty.

You run your fingers across the newly cleaned floor and there it is, your hard work in vain. We have got the right solutions to tackle these problems. You are not alone in this battle to get and maintain a dust-free home.

Good To Know: A dusty and dirty house not only affects you mentally but also physically. Because, dust spreads many diseases such as respiratory diseases (Silicosis, Asbestosis, and Occupational Lung Disease), skin infections, etc.

All those particles such as dirt, pollen, mold spores, dead skin cells, hair, and fabric fibers, as well as airborne pollutants such as wood ash, chemicals, and vehicle exhaust may cause diseases and allergies.

Minimizing the amount of dirt and dust in your home can make a huge difference in air quality, and as well as it can help prolong the life of furniture and household electronics.

That's why it's important to have a dust-free house. Let's go over the reasons causing the excessive dust and figure out the best solutions for you.

What Causes Excessive Dust in Your House?

You might be thinking what exactly the dust is made up of?

Dust consists of small microscopic particles that are made up of fine particles of soil matter, it comes from various sources such as pollution.

There is a common misconception, that 75% of the dust in your house is actually composed of dead skin. This isn't true. Think about abandoned buildings they are usually dusty and don't have any occupants.

According to a study by Beamer Majority of indoor dust comes from outside your house, through windows & doors, and is stuck in the soles of your shoes."

Let's take a look at the most significant causes of excessive dust in your home.

• The most common cause of dust in your house is due to dirty and cheap HVAC (Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning) filters.
• Dirty and dusty pipe or tubular casings for carrying an electric power line, telephone cables, or other conductors are causes of excessive dust at your house.
• Many vacuum cleaners cause dust due to the absence of HEPA filters.
• Hair, clothes/ bedding fiber, dust mites, pet dander, dirt, and microorganisms (germs) are some of the common contributors to dust in your house.
• Dusty winds and storms are the biggest sources of dust and dirt in your home.

16 Remarkably Easy Ideas to Create a Dust-Free House

Stop suffering from allergies and sneezing from the dust! With these smart tips and tricks, you can easily maintain your house to be dust-free.

1. Make a Hierarchy for Cleaning:

Building a solid routine is very important for any type of work to be done in an orderly manner. Planning not only helps you to do your job better but also saves your time.

Here's how often to clean your house, and with this information, you can make a better plan for yourself. This will be helpful in organizing your work.

• Daily basis: Vaccum your all your floors.
• Weekly: Clean your doors, windows, walls, floors, bathrooms, kitchen and ceilings with proper equipment.
• Monthly: Clean your drawing rooms, and spare rooms.
• Seasonally: Do a thorough summer clean and winter clean.

2: Clean Areas of High Traffic First:

There are some places in the house where cleaning takes more time due to heavy traffic so plan thoroughly to clean these places first. And plan the areas of the house where it is easy to clean daily or weekly. We recommend cleaning these areas more often.

3. Daily Cleaning Routine:

Keeping your home completely dirt and dust-free requires consistency and vigilance. It all starts with regular cleaning. Regular house cleaning is all about establishing a consistent routine.

Create a daily cleaning routine and then try your best to maintain it. Areas of the house from which dust enters, such as doors, windows, and balconies should be cleaned regularly.

4. Use Doormats:

The best way to prevent dust and pollution from entering your house is to use doormats. Whenever you enter your house properly clean your shoes on the doormats. We also recommend that you take your shoes off before entering the main living area.

Doormats inside and outside of every entrance to your house, give people a place to clean their shoes before entering.

Did You Know: 80% of the dust comes from wearing shoes inside your house? Wash or vacuum all the doormats regularly and properly to get rid of dust.

5. Keep Pets in a Designated Place:

If you have pets, keep them in a specific place in your house where they can live comfortably. Hair and dead skin cells are a major source of dust and unfortunately, our furry and lovely pets produce a lot of hair and dead skin cells!

Set up a designated area for your pets. You can use a gate to prevent them from entering the other parts of your house.

6. Keep the Door and Windows Closed on Windy Days:

Dust and dirt enter through doors and windows in the form of mold spores, pollen, and airborne pollutants, all of which create a significant buildup that you can see on windowsills, glass windows, and at your doors.

Keeping the doors and windows closed especially on windy days will minimize the problem of dust and dirt.

7. Use Curtains to Stop Dust:

Using curtains in front of windows is a great way to prevent dust and dirt in your house. Curtains make your home beautiful and at the same time, they can help to prevent disease caused by dust.

On wind days, you should use curtains on all windows as a dust guard. 

8. Avoid Using Large Rugs on Damp Days:

Avoid using large rugs during humid days, often rugs become saturated with moisture on damp days when you open doors and windows.

This increases the risk of developing mold. Try to steam clean all your big rugs after rainy and humid days and keep them in direct sunlight as well.

Most importantly, if a rug has been wet for a long period of time, consider replacing it. Generally, spring is one of the best seasons for rug cleaning. Spring is a good season to remove road salt, dirt, and debris collected during the winter.

9. Replace Your Old mats and Carpets:

Whenever visitors come in from the outside, they track dust and dirt into the house and small dirt particles are a major cause of health problems. Wash or vacuum the mats and carpets properly to prevent dust.

Usually, mats can be used for about 5 to 15 years, depending on the quality of the mat. However, you should change the carpets after they appear worn down and stained with dirt.

One of the first signs that your carpet needs to replace, is when you notice the fibers begin to stay matted down frequently. Particularly carpets that are made of polyester fiber.

When stains can't be cleaned, then it is time to replace the carpets.

Extra Info: Even if your carpets have a stain-resistant coating, this treatment gradually degrades over time.

10. Properly Wipe Down Dust:

While dusting, you should use microfiber cloths, these are best for capturing dust particles. Microfiber makes the perfect material for removing tiny dust and dirt particles from all surface types.

Keep In Mind: In addition, take care to clean commonly overlooked areas that can attract dust including blinds or dark places, baseboards, room corners, closet floors, the spaces between headboards and walls, the sides cupboards, and lampshades.

11. Vacuum Properly:

Brooms with frayed bristles end up collecting dust and spreading the particles around.

A vacuum cleaner is one of the best tools to get rid of dust. A high-quality vacuum cleaner is a sure way to get rid of dust. After you have dusted all the surfaces down with a dust brush then vacuum up all the fallen dust.

TIP: Areas with furniture should be vacuumed two or three times within a week because they have more foot traffic and less-frequented areas should still be cleaned on a daily basis.

12. Use the Right Equipment for Cleaning:

Try to always use the right equipment to clean the dust.

If you use a feather duster then make sure you use a vacuum cleaner immediately afterward. Feather dusters can spread dust further.

Alternatively, to a feather brush, you can use the vacuum's soft-bristled dusting attachment, they can do a fantastic job cleaning drapes or curtains, mini-blinds, all types of surfaces, and baseboards.

A damp cloth cleans dirt and dust particles well. Be sure to rinse it consistently and switch to a fresh clean cloth as needed.

13: Take Your Shoes Off at a Designated Place:

To prevent dust in your house, you should choose a specific place to keep your shoes. This is a great way to keep dust and dirt out of your house.

In Scandinavian countries, this is a common practice and in fact, it is considered rude to wear your shoes inside.

Also, get shelves or cupboards to keep your shoes at your home, where you can keep your shoes separately. You will keep your shoes clean and the dirt contained in an area that you can easily vacuum.

14. Clean Your Bedroom:

Cleaning your bedrooms on a regular basis is important because bed sheets and pillows collect dust.

Wash your sheets and pillowcases once a week. We recommend using a duvet (sheet blanket) that you can insert your blanket into. This way you only need to wash the duvet and not the blanket itself.

Washing Schedule for Bedding:

• Weekly or Bi Weekly: Bedsheets, pillowcases, cushion cover, and quilt.
• Monthly: Mattress covers, and bed covers.
• Seasonally: Blankets, bed skirts, bedspreads, cushions, and pillows.

15. Keep Your Closets Clean and Tidy:

The best and easy solution to decluttering your closet is organizing your belongings on shelves (shoes, purses, and hard items) and using hangers for your clothes.

There are a variety of space-saving, vacuum-seal bags available in markets but even some good old-fashioned garment bags will help cut down on dust from clothes and fabrics and you can easily save your seasonally dresses in these bags from the dust particles.

Follow these steps whenever you organize your closet:

1. Take off everything from the closet.
2. Then, take a wet clean cloth and wipe down the shelving, dust, and then vacuum.
3. Clean up all the internal and external sides of the closet. Put everything back in the closet.

16. Buy an Air Purifier and Replace Air Filters Often:

There are many different air purifiers available on the market. Though an air purifier is useful to clean your indoor air you can't completely depend on it alone.

According to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), the best way to improve indoor air quality and lessen air pollution in your home is by proper ventilation. Also, maintain your HVAC (Heating Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) system and replace or clean filters regularly and properly.