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aubratgyrl_gw

Dusty House

aubratgyrl
17 years ago

My house is so dusty, I can dust the furniture today and by tonight it is dusty enough to write your name. The windows in the house are fairly new, the doors as well. Whats the deal?

Thanks,

Dana

Comments (13)

  • davidandkasie
    17 years ago

    any pets?

    how about carpet?

    my house is the same way, and with 2 90 pound dogs and 30 year old carpet, it gets really dusty really fast. the dogs stay in the house most of the time, so they contribute a good bit of dust.

    the carpet is going to ripped up this spring, so that should cut out a good bit. as it is now, you can actually see the dust kick up when someone walks across it.

  • klimkm
    17 years ago

    Make sure your furnace filter is cleaned often. When we moved in, we actually had a type of furnace that had no filter. And maybe get your air ducts cleaned.

  • chris_ont
    17 years ago

    Got a fireplace? What color is the dust? Check to make sure that smoke and ashes aren't coming into the house.

    Re furnace: place a slightly damp, white washcloth over the heat register. (you can also buy filter cloths designed to fit into floor registers). If this gets dirty quickly, then your furnace is blowing the dust around. Like suggested above, have ducts and furnace checked and clean the furnace filter.

  • sameboat
    17 years ago

    Can you raise the humidity in the air? A dry house is a dusty house.

  • aubratgyrl
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    We do not have carpet, we do have 3 small dogs but they are short haired. What type of dust I am seeing is dust bunnies, no fireplace, we do have a filter in our heating/cooling system and I change that monthly. I have since added filters to all our vents. This seems to have helped a bit but not much. How do you make the air in a house more moist?
    Thanks for all your help.

  • sniffdog
    17 years ago

    does your house have a humidifier? is it a forced air heating system? if so, home depot and lowes sell humdifiers that you might be able to add to your hvac system that injects water into the hot air when the heater is on and the fan is blowing. if you are handy, these aren't too hard to install. if not, call an hvac company and have them put one in.

  • mikie_gw
    17 years ago

    Maybe a 20" box fan running on low with a pleated air filter taped to the intake side - perhaps sitting in an inconspicuous spot. Amazing how much dust it will attract and catch.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Lasco filter fan

  • tircuit
    17 years ago

    I'm having the same problem with dust. I just had my air ducts cleaned on Sunday and I hope this will cut down on some of the dust. I was also told that I need to change the fliter every 30 days. I have heard a lot about the Grab It polish wipes and mop.....has anyone used these products, if so, do they work?

  • davidandkasie
    17 years ago

    i pulled out the carpet in our den yesterday. i literally FILLED a 5 gallon bucket with the dusty and dirt and fiber that 30 year old carpet collected. after running fans for a couple hours, you could already tell teh difference in the dust in there.

    i know the OP does not have carpet, so that does not apply.

    also, hair length on a dog has NOTHING to do with the dust they create. their skin flakes of the same as a human. almost 100% of the dust in any house is skin cells from one animal or another. dust bunnies are just masses of dus along with hair and fibers, so the dogs probably are contributing.

    tircuit, if you have the regular filters that go in the returns, and not the high end 3or 4 inch thick filter, then yes you should change them once a month, more often if they are extremely dirty.

    i have no experience with GrabIt, so i can't tell you one way or another.

  • ksaginak_yahoo_com
    16 years ago

    Our house is about 15 years old. We have carpet also. The dust is so bad that I can never keep up with the dusting and cleaning. It is very depressing. We have a small dog that does not shed. However, we do have three cats and their litter box is in the basement. My husband thinks the dust is caused by the litter dust. We had our air ducs cleaned and nothing changed. We use a high-quality heat/ac filter and change it regularly. No change. We live in a neighborhood with little traffic. I am totally at a loss and very frustrated. Recently I purchased Kenmore's vac with the dirt sensor. It takes me 30 minutes to vacuum each room, weekly!

  • lucy
    16 years ago

    I think a lot of this has to do with how well (or not) the house is sealed and how much air is circulating in and out. I'd check all appropriate places, seals, etc. and see if there is proper ventilation, and/or whether you've sealed things up so much that you're keeping air out.

  • carolbarrel07
    16 years ago

    Do you folks live in urban areas, suburbs or out in the country? Doesn't traffic and road dirt contribute much of the dust that comes into a house? No house can be hermetically sealed up from the outside, right?

  • fandlil
    16 years ago

    I can't tell you what's causing dust in your house, but will tell you how we manage in our house.

    We have forced air heating and central air. Here in North Carolina we almost never open the windows because it's usually too hot or too cold. During only about 6 weeks, 3 in spring and 3 in late summer/early fall, can we comfortably open windows for a while. That means we are dealing with continually recirculating air.

    Indoor air quality is a problem. It can get polluted (and dusty). We use MMM air filters, which cost about $15 each. They are probably the most expensive air filters on the market but, unlike the cheap filters that last only one month, these last 3 months. These filters are endorsed by the American Lung Association, and they do a very good job filtering even very small particles.

    We also use a vacuum that has a HEPA filter. This is very important because vacuum cleaners that do not have such a filter do redistribute fine dust particles into the air. There are several vacuum cleaners on the market that come with HEPA filters. Ours cost over $500, but we found out after buying ours that there are several that cost much less. Shop around.

    I don't know how much activity or how many people are in your house, but I would say, vacuum often, and sweep the kitchen floor at least once a day.

    To control indoor air pollution build up, they say it's a good idea to open the windows for a few minutes once or twice a week. We try to do that when the temperature is mildest -- early morning in summer, midafternoon in winter.

    An old fashioned wood burning fireplace can generate a lot of dust, especially if the chimney has not been cleaned for some time.

    When dusting furniture and other surfaces that gather dust, be sure to use SWIFERS (or whatever they're called), or use a paper towel that's very lightly dampened with water, so you'll catch the dust and not cause it to go into the air. (It's true that water is not good for wood furniture IF IT'S ALLOWED TO PUDDLE AND STAY THERE FOR A LONG TIME), but if you use a very lightly dampened cloth you won't harm it.

    I hope these suggestions help.