How to Reduce Dust in Your Home in 5 Steps

According to studies, the average home collects 40 pounds of dust in just one year. When you consider what dust is made of, that’s 40 pounds of a mixture of dirt, pollen, soot, clothing fibers, carpet fluff, hair, and dander. It’s constantly circulating throughout your home, landing on its surfaces, and entering your breathing passages. While that might be uncomfortable to think about, dust brings with it a worse problem: dust mites, which can trigger allergic reactions.

When it comes to reducing dust in your home, a multi-pronged approach is best. You’ll need solutions that not only diminish dust on surfaces but also reduce it from your indoor air.

Step 1: Stop Wearing Shoes Indoors

Your shoes bring a lot of unwanted particles into your home, including dust, pollen, and countless germs. By leaving the shoes you wear out and about by your front door, you’ll not only track less dust into your home, but you’ll also make your living space more hygienic. To make hard floors in your home more comfortable to walk on, consider investing in a good pair of memory foam slippers.

Step 2: Dust “Smarter,” Not Harder

To dust effectively, you need the right tools. Instead of a traditional feather duster, opt for cloths and wands made with microfiber material. Microfiber cloths have superior particle-attracting properties and are less likely to spread dust around as you continue to clean.

Some microfiber dusters are even specially shaped to accommodate tricky places to dust, such as ceiling fan blades and window blinds. Bottom line: the easier it is for you to dust your home, the more likely you are to continue doing it.

Step 3: Use An Air Filter With a Higher Efficiency Rating

Your HVAC system's air filter is there to keep dust and other airborne particles out of your heating and cooling equipment--but it also plays an indirect role in your indoor air quality. The higher a filter's efficiency rating is, the more particles it's able to trap. By upgrading your air filter to one with a higher efficiency rating, you will be able to keep more dust out of your HVAC system and indoor air.

Step 4: Launder Your Bedding Weekly in Warm Water

Your bed provides an ideal environment for dust mites because it’s nice and toasty, and it generally contains a lot of human dander and cotton fibers for them to feast on. Laundering your bedding in water that’s at least 130 degrees Fahrenheit will kill dust mites and also remove dust and other allergens. If you can’t wash your bedding in water that hot, Mayo Clinic recommends putting it in the dryer for 15 minutes or longer at a temperature of at least 130 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step 5: Choose a Whole-Home Air Purifier

A whole-home air purifier plays a vital role in keeping dust out of your indoor air. It’s usually installed in your HVAC system, and it continuously and quietly captures or destroys the particles passing through it. Not only does this equipment create healthier air for you to breathe, but it also reduces the amount of dust that gets into your HVAC system’s components, allowing the system to operate more efficiently and even last longer.

With so many air purification solutions on the market, trying to narrow down your options can be overwhelming. At Rescue Air and Plumbing, we only recommend indoor air quality products that we genuinely believe will make a positive difference in our customers’ lives. If you need help improving the air quality in your home, give us a call at (972) 201-3253.