When the dust in your Birmingham, Alabama, home becomes a problem, you need dust-busting solutions that don’t add a ton of extra work to your already busy schedule. From powerful HVAC filters to vacuuming robots, arm your home with tricks to keep your interior dust levels under control.
Use Electrostatic Cloths
Instead of an old piece of fabric, dust with an electrostatic cloth. These charged materials attract dust particles using static electricity. They hang onto the dust you pick up better than a plain dry cloth does, and they don’t send particles flying into the air the way a feather duster does.
Damp Mop Where Possible
You’ve probably noticed that when you dust with a feather duster or a dry cloth, as much dust ends up in the air as ends up on the duster. It’s frustrating to breathe in dust while you’re trying to get rid of it or to see a thin layer of it coating things you just cleaned a few hours ago.
Like electrostatic cloths, damp fabric picks up dust far better than regular dry fabric or feather dusters do. On your tile and laminate flooring, run a damp mop to clean up the most dust that you can. Use a damp dust rag on household surfaces that can get wet, too. Dust stuck to a wet cloth is far less likely to escape and float through the air. But for wood surfaces that are sensitive to water, your best bet would be electrostatic dry dusters and mops.
Schedule a Vacuum Robot
When you’re serious about getting rid of dust in your home, you need to at least dry mop once a day. Most people don’t have time to clean that often, so turn to a vacuum robot instead. You’ve probably seen videos of kittens riding these, but they’re good for more than just pet entertainment. These cute little robots run on a schedule, vacuuming your house during set times that you choose.
A robot vacuum is not as thorough as a human, especially in the corners of your house, so supplement its cleaning power with your own mopping or vacuuming at least once a week if you can make time for it.
Opt for Area Rugs Over Carpeting
The fibers in carpeting are comfortable to walk on and give bedrooms and dens cozy interior designs. Carpeting, however, holds far more dust than you’d expect. Even with a powerful vacuum, getting all of it out of a carpet is very difficult. Each time you walk across the carpet, your weight expels fibers from the carpet into the air.
We don’t expect everyone to pull up all their carpeting and replace it with tile, laminate, or hardwood. If you’re having serious allergy or asthma problems, however, carpeting could be a major culprit. Whenever you can, opt for a smooth surface floor over any sort of carpeting. If you miss the softness, use area rugs. They’re easier to clean because you can take them outside once a week and beat the dust out of them.
Upgrade Your HVAC Filter
Switch from the mid-grade HVAC filters to those with MERV ratings over 10. Higher MERV ratings trap smaller dust particulates than lower ones. If you’ve got an older HVAC system, call one of our technicians to your house to make sure your AC can handle pulling air through a more tightly woven air filter.
When dust gets into your HVAC system, it affects how well the system runs. Just like your sinuses don’t work as well when they’re clogged with a dust allergy, the equipment has a harder time running if it’s got dust and dirt inside it.
Unfortunately, dust is part of life, and since its main sources are dry human skin, pets, and fabrics, we’ll never be able to eliminate it. But that doesn’t mean you have to live with tons of it. Schedule one of our One Source Heating, Cooling & Electrical technicians to do maintenance on your HVAC system, recommend filters, and help you sort out your IAQ. Call us at (205) 509-1929.
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