26
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Dust management?
Any advice on how to clean & control dust in the home?
I live in an apartment with no central HVAC, and i suppose certain life choices contribute to excess dust build up.. like
- Air drying clothes-- All the fibers & dust don't get trapped in the dryer, they kind of stay on clothes until they dry and fall off in my apartment
- windows are left open (depending on weather)
- working on sewing projects
Not willing to change any of the above, so i might just have to deal with dusting all the time.
But dusting itself is difficult... Dusters that move dust off surfaces seem perpetually inefficient and can't capture 100%.
Wiping down surfaces is better but even microfiber cloths don't pick up everything either. Clumps up weirdly. And don't want to use a wet rag for dusting off books e.g.
Any suggestions are appreciated!
You will never capture 100% of the dust. Companies spend millions building clean rooms that still have particles in them. That said, a damp paper towel will clean up surfaces great. If you want less dust in the air, the cheapest and most efficient method is a furnace filter bungee corded to a box fan.
This does work to an extent, but the box fan can be bad at providing sufficient static pressure against the resistance of a filter directly on it - still, the concept is valid.
The better version (though a bit more expensive since you need 4 or 5 filters) is the Corsi-Rosenthal Box which was developed due to the issues of COVID-19 and has since gained more notice with the smoke from the Canadian wildfires sweeping through the US.
My parents use them, and they are very effective. High air-flow rate, long lasting, and sooooo much cheaper than a commercial product that does the same thing.
I would use one of these in combination with periodically using a vacuum with a brush-attachment end instead of a duster or damp cloth.
Yeah, the Corsi-Rosenthal is more efficient, but it takes 4 filters vs 1, is much larger and is more difficult to build. I've used the the simpler style for many years and it works very well. If you want something cheap, easy and gets the job done, it's the way to go. If you want something more, then step up to the Corsi-Rosenthal since the main parts are the same, i.e box fan and furnace filters.
Size / volume of a C-R filter is certainly a real issue - they are a big box you have to find room for somewhere and if space is a constraining issue then it may well just be unsuitable.
This is one of the most common detractors for this filter design and there are various mini-versions available that use computer fans. These models typically use 2 filters in a narrow-box configuration. They will, of course, have a lower flow rate (quite a bit lower compared to a full size box-fan), though they have the additional benefit of being quieter, especially if you select fans made by Noctua or similar.
Honestly, at that point the single-filter box fan design will almost certainly outperform in terms of air flow, with the only positive trade-off in favor of the computer-fan design is it being quieter and much more variably-scalable in terms of making the exact size you want for your situation.
Isn't it the case that MERV filters (or electrostatic filters in general) will lose filtration abilities once they are full? (not to mention losing airflow). I initially was hesitant to buy a HEPA filter myself because yeah, many are overpriced, but the Ikea ones are pretty cheap/effective, and there seem to be plenty of commercial options that while not as much CFM as a box fan, are more quiet. I did go with a grow tent style carbon canister though, for VOCs those are much cheaper in terms of lbs of carbon/filter cost, compared to HEPA/Carbon combo filters from almost every brand.
This is true of any filter media, and yes, they would need to be periodically replaced. How often depends on how much stuff they are pulling out of the air.
AFAIK, it can be the case that even when full HEPA can still filter, they just would have severely reduced airflow and more resistance to airflow. I'm not sure that that holds for electrostatic filters. That said, nothing stopping anyone from making a corsi-rosenthal out of HEPAs, it'd just be more bulky and expensive.
A quick search gave me this link: https://associationofanaesthetists-publications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1046/j.1365-2044.2003.03188.x which shows how there is a difference between loaded performance from pleated hydrophilic vs electrostatic.
You can do what I did and get an Australian Shepherd. Now my house is too covered in fur to worry about dust!
But seriously, dust is a perennial issue and there are no good fixes for it. In pre-modern times households had maids and servants whose entire job was to dust. Granted, homes burned fireplaces and factories burned coal back then, so there was a lot more dust around (and much nastier dust at that). But it's just a fact of routine household maintenance.
So what that means is, you need to make the routine maintenance easy on yourself. Avoid having stuff on your surfaces. Keep items in boxes or in closed cabinets (or shelves with glass cabinet doors so you can see things but they're partly covered. If dusting is a matter of just wiping surfaces instead of moving a bunch of crap and THEN wiping the surfaces you'll be much more likely to do it.
Regular vaccuming, regularly changing out your HVAC filter, and having HEPA filters in your house are also big helps. Due to the aforementioned dog, I tend to have to change these filters out more often than most. This is another thing you just need to make easy on yourself. Especially the vacuuming part.
I absolutely adore my Shop Vac for dust control. I put an attachment with a soft bristled brush on it and use it on absolutely everything. Mine is a wet/dry and the dry vac function is compatible with a (washable!) HEPA filter - they're meant to clean up things like drywall dust, so nothing's getting out of that. It's lightweight with a crazy long hose and it's so much easier to roll around on its 4 little castor wheels than any regular vacuum, canister or stick. You'll likely need a roller vacuum for carpeting, but for everything else including those same carpets when there's a mess or spill, I strongly suggest getting a little Shop Vac and giving the place a once-over on the daily. From the top of the fridge, to the inside of the fridge, to baseboards and shelves and vents, that thing is by far my most valued cleaning weapon. And they're so much cheaper, especially for the quality and durability, than your average vacuum advertised for household use.
I'm certainly not a professional cleaner, or even probably a good cleaner at that, but I find a little pledge goes a long way with helping some of the finer dust particles cling to a microfiber cloth.
Another option would be adding some HEPA air filters to your space and running them continually. Having some air flow to capture fine dust before it gets a chance to settle on surfaces helps a significant amount. Besides that I'm afraid I don't have much advice to offer. I have HVAC and air filters running and find the need to dust still quite often.
I was going to suggest this. It seems like it leaves a film on the surface which stops the dust settling; I’m not sure if this is actually how it works but I could swear my house is less dusty the next time I come to dust. This is vs a surface spray so I don’t think it’s only that the damp picks up more.
I am in a constant battle with dust. One huge help for me was getting a roomba-like vacuum and running it at least every other day (in addition to using a regular vacuum weekly). It's mostly automatic and I am always surprised at the amount of dust it picks up after each run. I also have air filters in my main living area and bedroom with HEPA filters. Other than that, frequent manual dusting with a damp cloth and using a handheld vacuum with a brush attachment to get things like blinds and other tricky surfaces seems to be the only way I can keep it all in line.
I got a pet vaccum and HEPA filter. I'm allergic to dust and my cat, aka my little allergin. I know I've fucked up when I can't sleep in my bedroom because I wake up couging.
Wash everything.
Open windows usually helps me. The air is pretty clean where I'm at and the breeze circulates stale air I say. Having windows that provide good airflow is helpful too.
My brother has asthma so bad he’s unable to work in a normal office and dust is one of the reasons why. My parents have built an environment in their home that is less triggering so I know some tactics that can help reduce dust in an environment.
As others have said, you’ll never eliminate dust. However, there are things you can do to reduce its creation and spread. Combined with cleaning you can reduce the amount of dust in an environment. Note that this is more and not less work and, depending on how far you go, expensive changes to your home. Here’s some advice I haven’t seen here from small changes to large.
I live in an apartment on a busy street. The amount of particulate dust I can see on my window sill is disturbing. Even if you live in a more rural area, if you are surrounded by loose blowing soil, you may have a lot of dirt accumulating in your house. If you’re in a relatively humid and green area maybe this works but take a look at the amount of car soot you see and think about if you want to let that in your house or body more than you have to. Others have posted links to filtering solutions and I’d look into those for sure, especially if you’re sensitive to smoke more than dust mites.
Dust covers for pillows and mattresses. A huge amount of dust comes from us as dead skin and gets trapped in pillows and mattresses. Since people don’t clean them often, this leads to a big dust and dust mite problem. You can cover your pillows and mattresses in plastic dust covers that limit this and then clean your sheets and pillow cases frequently to cut down on accumulation.
Remove rugs and carpets for hard surfaces wherever possible. Just like pillows and mattresses, our dead skin and hair accumulates in rugs and carpets. That material attracts dust mites. Vacuuming will reduce this but never eliminate it. Moving to hard surfaces won’t eliminate the build up but will make it more obvious and make cleaning it a little easier.
Cutting out carpeting is huge. I'm not as allergic to dust as your brother, but can't sleep in my bedroom when it gets too dusty. I got a cat and had more allergy problems as they got bigger, around a year old. I've only get places with no carpetting to reduce the dust accumulation. I can manage between vacuuming and washing floors.
Living on upper floors helps too. Seems like there's less dust up high. I'm also allergic to mold so higher up means less ground moisture it seems. Both the no carpeting and upper floors can make finding a place more expensive.
No one has mentioned good quality ostrich feather dusters yet. They do a better job of dusting than just about anything else. They won't completely eliminate the need to wipe down surfaces with a damp cloth from time to time, but they will cut it back a fair bit.
Just be sure to regularly and frequently shake the duster outside, and to always dust before vacuuming.