What Causes Dust Buildup in the Home?

Dust can come from many different sources. You might be aware that a lot of dust comes from dead skin cells, but that’s not the only place. Dust is also caused by dirt, pets, environmental issues, and more. Why is there so much dust in your home and what is causing it to accumulate? Here are the answers you might have been looking for.

Leaving the Door Open

A lot of the dust that is in our home comes from the outdoors. If you leave the door or windows open, then dirt from outside can come inside. Some of it turns into dust after a while. This problem gets worse when there are high winds or dust clouds in your area. Some places around the world get visits from Saharan dust clouds or dust clouds from other deserts. These can hang around for weeks at a time and cause dust to accumulate faster than normal.

The fix for dust getting into your home from the outside is to simply close the doors and windows when you don’t need them open. In those times when the winds are very turbulent or there is plenty of dust in the air, make sure to close the doors and windows more frequently so that you don’t have such a dust problem.

Tracking in Dirt

We mentioned already that a lot of dust and dirt will come into the house from outside, and not all of that can be blamed on people leaving the doors open. You also need to be careful about what is tracked into the house.

Dust can easily be carried into your home on people’s shoes, coats, and other clothing. As they shake these things off or leave them around the house the dust spreads into the home and ends up in corners and on shelves. The solution is pretty simple- just dust off before becoming inside. That will eliminate a lot of the dust in the home that is tracked in. You can also place shoes outside the door or in a mud room, if you have one.

Probably the best way to prevent this kind of dust from getting into your home and spreading around is to require everyone to take off their shoes once they are inside the house. You can make this easy with a shoe rack by the door or a mat for them to leave their shoes on. Then, be sure to knock out the mat regularly so that the dust there doesn’t spread either.

The Pet Culprits

Do you have pets in your home? Then of course they are guilty of causing some of the dust. Pets tend to be pretty dirty, no matter what animal we are talking about. Dogs and cats will shed, and some of them will leave their dander or droppings around the house. Their dead skin cells will be added to yours and create mere dust. The larger your animals are and the more of them there are, the more dust there will be.

The best solution to this problem is to clean off your animals once they come into the house from outside and to brush down their fur regularly so that it doesn’t spread around. A well-trimmed and brushed coat of fur will have less dust on it and leave behind less dust as well.

Dirty Floors and Curtains

Dust collects easily on carpets and in curtains. If these areas of your home are left dirty, they will accumulate dust quickly. You will want to clean your home frequently to keep dust away, and a really reliable service in Staten Island for home cleaning can make a big difference. If you cannot keep your home clean on your own, then it is prudent to hire a professional cleaning service to take care of that for you.

Regular cleaning in these areas makes it harder for dust to accumulate too quickly. Dust tends to collect with other dust, so if you keep your home as dust free as possible, dust will tend to just float around rather than sit and collect.

Regularly cleaning your curtains and doors will help them to last longer and to look better. You will also prevent damage to your carpets by having them cleaned often, as dust and dirt can cause friction to occur between your feet and the carpeting.

Make sure you use the right cleaning methods that will not make dust fly into the air and spread around. You want to get rid of dust where it is rather than just push it somewhere else in the house. All rugs and carpets should be cleaned outside so that they do not spread dust in the house.

Your floor cleaning methods for hard floors should be cleaning techniques that keep dust in one place. You may want to use a wet mop or other damp cleaning method that sticks to dust rather than pushes it up and away.  

Dirty Air Filters

Do you clean and clean and yet still your home looks and feels dusty? That’s a problem that may need to be addressed by looking at the air filtration system in your home. Check the air filters and see if they are dirty and in need of changing. If so, then they will be spreading dust into your home until you clean them or change them out.

The more people and pets you have in your home, the faster the air filters are going to become dirty. Don’t wait until the manufacturer-suggested date to change the air filters. Check on them every month to see if they are in need of changing, especially if your home is a high traffic area.

If you have a dust problem in your home, then one or more of these could be to blame. Take time to figure out what is causing a lot of dust in your home. With a few changes, you could cut down on the dust quite a bit and have a home where it is easier to breathe and everything feels cleaner.