Best Methods For Removing Dust From Your Home

Removing dust from your home is a goal to shoot for. Eliminating all dust isn’t really practical. That’s because the source of most household dust is within the house. Dust is made up of everything from tiny skin flakes to floating fibers from everything like rugs, draperies and blue jeans. Control, not prevention, is the answer to dust problems.

Here Are A Few Strategies To Tip The Odds Of Removing Dust From Your Home In Your Favor:

• Upgrade your HVAC filter. The least expensive filters with MERV (minimum efficiency reporting value) ratings of 1 to 4 remove only the largest airborne particles of dust. By moving up to a filter with a MERV rating in the 5 to 8 range, you’ll be removing up to 85% of household dust from the air. If you want to do an even better job, select a filter in the MERV 11-13 range. Always be sure that your HVAC system has enough oomph to be able to achieve the needed airflow with these better, but more restrictive air filters.
• Change bedding every week.  Your bed is a dust magnet. It not only accumulates skin flakes, it also sheds fibers and disperses these dust components into the air every time you lie down. Wash sheets and pillowcases every week. Bedding that isn’t machine washable should be taken outdoors and shaken once a week.
• Capture dust, don’t redistribute it. Plain cloths and feather dusters just disturb dust and it settles elsewhere later. Use damp cloths or commercially available dust cloths with an electrostatic charge.
• Beat area rugs outdoors.  Floor coverings are a dust storehouse — not only a source of dust fibers, but a dust magnet for airborne dust particulates that settle on the floor. Every time you walk across them, dust is launched into the air again. Hang area rugs outdoors and beat them vigorously with a broom or tennis racquet.
• Vacuum installed carpets regularly with a high quality vacuum cleaner. (Many vacuums feature high efficiency, HEPA filter that is very good at trapping the dust picked up by the vacuum itself.)  
• Consider a whole-house air cleaner. Mounted in your HVAC ducts, a whole-house air cleaner efficiently removes up to 99% of dust particles from the air. Because the entire air volume of your home circulates through the ducts multiple times per day, dust removal is continuous. These units can require frequent cleanings or filter replacements to maintain their effectiveness, so read your owner’s manual carefully.

Since 1936, P.K. Wadsworth Heating & Cooling has served Greater Cleveland with indoor comfort and healthy air quality. Call us for more tips on removing dust from your home.