Where Does Dust Come From?
Dust is found in almost every part of the house, on surfaces, and in the air. It finds its way into the home through opening and closing doors, and windows or sucking it in with a vacuum cleaner. Dust particles are so small that they are always invisible to us but we can feel them when they land on our skin or see them floating around us.
It is important to keep our homes clean and tidy, but if we make them too clean, the dust can become a problem. It will settle on surfaces in different shapes and sizes or may be visible as a cloud of dusty particles. If not collected and cleaned up regularly, it will stick around all day on surfaces such as laminate flooring or plastic furniture covers and create an unpleasant environment for everyone in the house.
Dust particles come in many different shapes and sizes. Slowly, they are all bound together by an invisible glue called air. This glue is very strong, but as a result of this strong ability, it is also very light. If air could be made into a solid object, it would be about the size of a grain of sand. When dust particles are assembled into bigger and bigger clusters, they turn into dust droplets.
Why Is There So Much Dust In My House?
It’s not just the surface dust you can see, either. With every step you take, tiny particles are kicked into the air and they settle on your furniture and carpet. Dust is made of so many things that it’s hard to know exactly where it comes from. The most obvious source is our clothes as they rub against surfaces during the day; microscopic fibers stick to everything and are carried around with you until eventually deposited on your furniture or floor.
Pollen is another common source of dust, and in the autumn, it is common for leaves to be blown inside from outside by drafts, resulting in small piles of leaves that can collect dust until you sweep. The problem with pollen, however, is that it will eventually fall to the floor and stick to whatever happens to be there. Because it settles on any surface at random, sweeping won’t really get rid of it – you’ll push it under your furniture instead.
Contact with other people is also a common source of dust in your home. Think about how many times you touch things at home, and how many surfaces you touch at work or school. When you sit in a chair that someone else has sat in, or hold the hand of a person who has just touched something, you become covered in the same particles that they were. The air carries the particles to you and deposits them on your surfaces.
Where Does Dust Come From In A Closed Room?
It might seem impossible, but even a room that is closed off can get dusty. The dust particles could come from people, pets, or furniture. People and pets can leave behind skin cells and hair that are so small they are invisible to the eye without a microscope. Upholstered furniture will also shed dust all the time as it gets rubbed while being used by family members or other guests in the house it’s in.
How To Reduce House Dust?
Dust reduces air quality, triggers allergies and asthma, irritates sinuses and throats, and spreads viruses. ! Here are some tips to reduce house dust.
1- Declutter often so dirt doesn’t have time to settle into nooks and crannies.
2- Change your clothes and shoes before you enter the house.
3- Empty garbage bins frequently, especially after cooking.
4- Change your bag regularly when vacuuming and choose a HEPA filter vacuum for better performance.
5- Keep your windows closed as much as possible to keep those dust particles from entering through cracks and invading your indoor air.
6- Use an air purifier in your home or at least by your bed.
7- Use a dehumidifier in humid climates or if you live in the southeast (like I do).
8- Get your ducts cleaned at least once a year.
9- Have a professional collect sample to test your indoor air quality. Their report will give you greater insight into where to focus your efforts and how to improve your indoor air quality.
How To Dust Plants?
If you want to make sure that your plants are not being weakened by dust and dirt, you need to take a few simple steps. The key is in removing the dust particles from the top of the leaves and below.
First, clean the leaves by hand. Most of the dust that is on the plant is stuck to the leaves and will come off in your hand. Use a very soft brush or a damp cotton cloth to do this; do not use an abrasive cleaner or spray. If you are using a cotton cloth, dampen it by running water over it before you begin.
Second, remove loose dirt from the pots and containers you use. Dirt will collect around the base of the plant if you are not potting it in a self-watering container. If you use a large pot, you may report the plant into another container.
Finally, be careful when watering your plants. Do not spray water or use jet streams of water to clean the dust off of leaves with delicate skin or petals. Instead, take a damp cloth and wipe the leaves clean.
How To Get Rid Of Dust Floating In The Air?
The most obvious way is to get rid of your carpets and replace them with hardwood flooring. However, this will only work if your house is made in a home-building setup. If you are remodeling or doing some minor repair work, you’re better off sticking with expensive carpet fibers.
The next best way to eliminate dust floating through the air is to fumigate the room(s). Fumigation is the process of exposing items to fumes that will repel other items and kill them. This method is usually used against insects, but it also works on dust.
How To Keep Dust Out Of The House?
Here are a few tips to help you avoid dust getting into your home.
1) Use dust-absorbing filters on all vents, and keep windows closed when not being used. Dust absorbs through the window and particles accumulate on the inside of the window and then get blown in by the high winds near your house. The filters catch the dust before it ever reaches your furniture.
2) Vacuum carpets and rugs well every week. Take advantage of the dust-cleaning mode on a vacuum cleaner. Otherwise, you have to clean it out with a broom and a bit of Windex every week as well.
3) Keep up on painting and other maintenance around your home. This is also important for getting good indoor air quality (IAQ). One way to test the IAQ before painting a room is to use a UV light to look for mold.
4) Store shoes in a shoe rack or in a box when they are not being worn. Shoes release dust particles into the air every time they are taken off, so this is one of the easiest ways to clean house as well.
Start With Your Closet
As mentioned before, fiber is one of the major compositions of dust. Do you know where fibers are concentrated the most? Yes, it’s in your closet. Your towels, beddings, and clothes are most likely stored in your closet. Every time you swing the closet door, you create a dust storm that you can’t see with your naked eyes.
Of course, you can’t really prevent your clothes, bedding, and towels from shedding, but there is a way you can minimize the problem. What you can do is box or bag your clothes, towels, or beddings. The best ones to use are clear plastic boxes.
Clear plastic boxes, lockdown, and isolate dust. Furthermore, it prevents other sources of dust from settling on your clothes. Lastly, it’s much easier to clean the outside of the box than to clean your clothes from dust.
Regularly Change Your Beddings
Your beddings may not sound like a major dust contributor at first. However, if you think about it, it’s made with cloth fibers. Then, it’s most likely that you rub off the fibers when you toss and turn as you sleep. Thus, your beddings collect skin flakes when you use them at night.
When you add all of those things, it’s easy to see that your beddings are a major contributor to dust. Thankfully, there is an easy solution. Simple change your beddings regularly to minimize their dust contribution. In fact, you should change your beddings once a week.
Check Your Cleaning Supplies
When it comes to cleaning your home to get rid of your dust, you must check the tools you are using. The key to eliminating dust as much as possible is to use cleaning tools that capture dust and not just spread them around. That is the real problem with dry clothes and feather dusters.
When you use these kinds of cleaning tools, you are not capturing dust. You are simply moving them around. Hence, use the right tools to make your tasks easier. The cleaning tools that are good against dust are the ones that incorporate wax or oil as these kinds of cleaning tools lock in the dust into their “sticky” surface.
You can also use cloths or cleaning tools that are electrostatically charged as they are good at attracting dust.
Beat Like A Madman
If you have carpets in your home, you should know that it’s a major Revoir for dust. Not only do these home additions shed their own fiber, but they also capture dust. Hence, if you want to eliminate dust in your home, you must know how to clean the carpet properly.
This article talks about how you need to beat your carpets like a madman. Of course, you want to do this outdoors. Hang your carpets outside and start beating them with a stick.
For best results, don’t stop beating until you can’t see any puffs of dust that come out when you hit it with a stick. You can also do this with your upholstery, especially if your upholstery is of the non-leather type.
Clean Your Aircon Filters
Most Singaporean homes have an air conditioning system to ward off hot weather. These air conditioning systems may be useful in providing cool air, but they could be distributing dust all around your home. How come?
Well, let’s look at how dust is distributed. The primary mode of transport for the dust is air. Hence, if you have a device that circulates air, it could also be distributing pesky dust. To minimize your dust problems, one thing that you can do is to clean the filters of your air conditioning system regularly.
Usually, air conditioners have a mesh that captures the dust. The problem arises when it’s not regularly cleaned. This is because the filters will do a poor job of capturing dust. If the system is uncleaned, your air conditioning system may help distribute dust; rather than capture them.
An easy solution is to clean your air conditioning filters regularly. As a bonus, you will increase the efficiency of your air conditioning system. It is important to book your aircon servicing once every 3 months.
Make Friend With Air Purifiers
You may think that air purifiers are worthless because you can’t see what they are exactly doing. Most of the time, you only see a fan-like device sitting in the corner of a room. In reality, air purifiers are specially designed devices that suck-in air and capture floating dust.
Air purifiers are very recommended if you or any of your family members are allergic to dust. It may be hard to see what these air purifiers are actually doing, but once you see the dust they have captured when you remove the filters, you would instantly convert into a believer.
Don’t Forget The Floors.
When cleaning for dust, it’s easy to miss the floor. This is because it’s easier to see dust if lying on a figurine or any decorative items in your home. In reality, dust is most likely going to settle on your floor. This is not easy to imagine as your floor covers a wide surface area.
That’s a lot of space for the dust to settle on. Therefore, do not forget to clean your floors against dust. The first thing you can do is sweep your floor regularly, like twice or thrice a week. Once you have swept the floor, it’s time to further minimize the dust. This is achieved by mopping your floor with a damp mop.
Completely removing all the dust in your home is next to impossible. As long as you will be wearing clothes or fabric and shedding skin, dust will always be present. However, this does not mean that you can’t do anything about it.
In fact, to minimize the dust in your home, you can start with your closet, change your bedding regularly, use the right cleaning supplies, beat the dust out of your carpets, clean the filters in your air conditioning systems and make use of an air purifier.
Conclusion
While it may not be fun to plan an indoor environment that is safe from dust and other dangerous pollutants, it is up to you to do this. If you don’t keep on top of bad indoor air quality (IAQ), you could end up with serious health problems. For example, if a family member has asthma and they catch a cold, they might not be able to breathe well enough at night. To make sure that this doesn’t happen you need to take these steps.
Dust is one of the major problems in the home. This is especially true in Singapore. You see, dust is mostly composed of dead skin flakes and fibers. And in Singapore, the weather gets really hot, increasing skin shedding.
While it is true that it’s almost impossible to completely win the battle against dust, you can do plenty of things to minimize its proliferation in your home. If you are looking for house cleaning or office cleaning services, you can contact us today.